A few pics from panama

Speedo · Since 07 May 2007 264 Posts Obsessed

Here are a few pics from Panama. Its a place that looks like its got a lot of potential when its too cold for most of us here in the good ole Pac NW.

Due to lack of planning and other factors, not as much kiting happened as I had hoped for. However, it was still a great place to go during the winter that was a little bit off the beaten track.

Onad · Sat Mar 29, 08 8:43 am

Nice pics! Looks fun... Reminds me of Costa Rica...

That last pic looks more like flipper than jaws... Wink

pkh · Since 27 Feb 2005 6549 Posts Couve / Hood Honored Founder

nice! what was the wind like?

Speedo · Since 07 May 2007 264 Posts Obsessed

The wind was solid 9m (waroo). I'm a 175 lb guy. The first day there, I got set up around 500p and kited until about 630p as it was getting dark. The wind kept going even though it was dark. It was probably a little windy before i got there. That day I pumped up 13m, but in a few minutes was over-powered and easily could have been on the 9m. I didn't want to waste any kiting time pumping up another kite though. It stayed that way until dark. We met a dude there named Erik, who said he was from PDX, and he is working on opening up some sort of B&B or something. He was a really nice guy. I was surprised at how nice ex-pats were. A buddy of mine, who lives in Panama city said that its a small world, in terms of english speakers down there, so a lot of them are very willing to help you out- since it probably wasn't too long ago they were the gringo. They were very friendly and we had a couple offers for translation help or a place to crash the night. Things are much smoother if you can speak spanish, because not a lot of people down there do.

The only other day I was able to kite, we arrived around 1pm. I was told the wind had just come up. It was 9m the rest of the time, except for the 30min lull after one squall. It was windy enough to play around and work the 9m, until the wind picked up again- which it did. A couple small storm squalls blew through, but nothing major. I had been told that the best wind was from 4-6pm. And also very good wind in the morning. Sounds like thermals to me.

The place is VERY empty during the day. We were staying with my friend in Panama city, so i don't know what the morning sessions are like. But when I was kiting during the day, I had the beach in front of the launch site all to my self, apart from a few fishermen, maybe a few couples, and a few beginners learning kite skills or body drags. It was awesome! The "crowds" show up after 4 or 5. The beach is VERY loooong, so if you don't like it when the others show up, its easy to go up or down wind for your private patch of flat water. I didn't need to do this, so i don't know if there are any problems with going up or down wind, in terms of obstacles, or goofy wind shadows, but it certainly didn't look like there would be and there wern't any points sticking out to create a wind shadow.

The pictures are from a couple different places in Panama, but the kiting ones are from Punta Chame on my second day. The tide was coming in. There is a lot of tide action in panama so it is generally helpful to know the cycles. Since its a very sandy beach, its fun to play on the shore break, since its pretty flat in-between the waves. The waves were pretty fun even though they were small. There are no obstacles to worry about either. I've never had any desire to kite in very shallow water, but playing in there has got me thinking twice. Until I bonked my head, it was really very safe and fun.

The things to watch out for included stingrays, jellys, and the tide. I was told that when the tide comes in, you need to pay attention because you might run out of beach to land on. This didn't seem like that big a deal to me, since there seemed to be a bigger beach upwind that you could land on if it really came down to that. I saw some dead jellyfish on the beach, but no one seemed to be that concerned about them.

I had hoped to get my girlfriend some lessons there, but that first day, a dude out there stepped on a stingray. After that, she refused to take any lessons, or even step in the water there. They say to avoid problems, you shuffle your feet as you're walking out there. I don't really know how that dude got stung, because he was kiting at the time. I wasn't paying a lot attention, and didn't know about it until much later. He must have stepped off his board and then got stung somehow.

Punta Chame is about 1.5 hr west from Panama City, on the Pacific side. about 30 min of the drive is off the main highway only a short distance but the road is crappy.

There is one kite school there, and another school off the main highway (at coronado). The second school is 7km past the punte chame turn off, or something like that, but they still kite and teach at punte chame. I think rooms can be had at punte chame for $70-90. The place at coronado is cheaper, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook we were using.

At punte chame, there is a small hotel with a restaurant. There was also some John Wayne compound near by. I heard something about him owning a large stretch of land there at one time, but can't remember the details.

The kite instructor from coronado, told me he had just been out to the San Blas islands (carbean side), and said it was great for sailing and kiting. google images of San Blas. It looks awesome out there. I had heard, from a tour guide that spent a couple years in San Blas, that the best wind was dec and jan, and maybe FEB. But the instructor (xavier), said he had great conditions a few days earlier and is planing on putting together a catamaran/kiting tour there next year.

Phew!
That's enough typing for now!

tonyb · Sat Mar 29, 08 12:23 pm

Thanks for all the info and pictures Ken. Looks like a neat place to try one day. Hope your head is feeling better!

Tony