Author Topic: Panama- best sup spot?  (Read 2155 times)

RunningBull

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Panama- best sup spot?
« on: October 26, 2014, 01:17:19 PM »
Thinking about heading down to panama. Is there a nice resort to sup. any suggestions or should I just go to Costa Rica?
9'1 Allwave, 9'8 nsp cocomat
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Wetstuff

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Re: Panama- best sup spot?
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2014, 06:16:24 AM »
Bull,  My wife was born/raised in the Zone.  I have been a few times.  I never bothered to go to Bocas but lots of people like it.  I prefer the weather in the Azuero Peninsula, the SW corner of Panama.  It reminds me of the central coast of CA in terms of terrain.  There is a kitesurfing shop/training/rental shop in Pedasi that had the best choice of rental boards when I inquired last year. There are also a number of breaks.  The good news/bad news: Panama is a helluva lot better place to drive a car. We basically built the roads for them ..whereas (15yrs ago) even the largest highway in CR would turn into a goat path.  Panama has built a lot of Donald Trump styled resorts but their smaller places were less developed and expensive for what you get.  CR seems to be a better plug-n-play bet, but keep your eye on everything you own

We had our plane tickets stolen at the airport going thru a 3-4 stage boarding process on the return leg to Miami. After making a big fuss with the help of American Airlines the counter people at LACSA airline boarded the plane to find two people in our seats.  Rather than remove them, these people simply pulled out their other tickets and moved to their original seats.  A local Doc had his rental car 'throughly cleaned' while he, wife and two kids stopped for lunch outside SJ on their way for a week on the coast.  Wonderful country, tons of breaks compared to Panama but don't relax your guard.

Jim
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adamrod

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Re: Panama- best sup spot?
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2014, 08:34:59 AM »
spent 10 days in Panama (Bocas del Toro) last christmas for the express purpose of SUP surfing.  Waves and breaks everywhere, rights, lefts, beach break, point break, reef break. You have to take a water taxi to any break (don't plan on finding a place to stay on the beach where you can surf from), but there are so many taxis going back and forth it's easy (just tell the dude to pick you up in 2 hours and he'll come back).

biggest issue? no good SUPs to rent. I spent several hours trying to find some. Most places rent Foam sups (terrible for surfing), this one place had some reallly nice surf sups, but refused to rent them (only for sale). They had some other more cruising sups, but refused to let you use them in the surf. Ended up using the SUP from our hotel, an 11' Laird which was fun, but in steep shallow reef-break, it would have been nice to have something more maneuverable (my every day board is a 7'10").

So, if you bring your own SUP, you'll have an epic time. There are no big resorts in bocas, only small little hotels. fun times tho.

Zooport

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Re: Panama- best sup spot?
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2014, 10:18:59 AM »
What size was the surf when you were there?
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