Paddling in Bocas del Toro, Panama

angiebocas (54)in #sports • 7 years ago (edited)

Cayuco Paunch is the only cayuco team from Bocas del Toro, Panama, an archipelago in the Caribbean of Panama just south of Costa Rica.

We are the only canoe racing team from this area and are pretty much the pioneers in paddling for this area. Everyday we set a different course and explore the Bocas islands in our 4 man canoe.

Bocas del Toro is an archipelago with all sorts of conditions: we have mangrove mazes, open ocean, channels, beaches, etc... If we want to paddle in flat water we can but if we want to find some bumps for surfing that is also definitely an option.

Bocas del Toro has it all! The water is warm all year long and because of our location the tides can only change about a foot a day so you can go paddling in any time of the day- tides here simply just don't matter.

Because of how easy it is for us to paddle we are in the water everyday. Paddling in the ocean is the best way to become the best paddler possible, we are lucky to live in a place where water access is still very easy and conditions allow us to paddle for most of the day.

There are many places we paddle to. One place is around isla Solarte. This route usually starts going around the front side facing isla Colon towards the 'the Gap', through Bahia Honda and then punch through 'The Channel' back home. It's about 12 miles long and takes about 2 hours to complete. It has parts that has a lot of waves as well as flat water sections. Some with wind to the back sometimes going against. We usually do this route about once every week.

Another longer distance paddle is what we call our 'Lake'. During the second day of the Ocean to Ocean Cayuco Race you have the longest paddle- a 20 mile race from Gatun to Gamboa. 'Our Lake' is from Bocas Town to Cayo Coral and back. To do this we paddle through the mangrove mazes of Solarte towards Cayo Coral and then come back the same way. It's a long paddle but a beautiful one. The water is clear and some parts are very shallow. You can even see octopus in the water when we are paddling.