Ojos Del Mar - Bocas Del Toro 2009

Bocas holds so many memories for me it is hard to describe what an impact the place has had on my life. Good and bad I mean. I mean it was here that in 2005 I contracted Lehmaniasis (the flesh eating parasite). It was here that I got one of the best backside barrels of my life. It is also a place where I have seen fist fights on the downtown street broad daylight two days in a row (2003).
Welcome to the Caribbean of Panama my friend.
I started coming to Panama in 2003 at the urging of my now deceased friend Greg Gund. Greg was a pilot and loved to fly around the world in his single engine Cesna. Greg also had a home on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica near Playa Negra. We became friends as I was housesitting his neighbors house on the hill (Redman) in Negra. Anyways Greg knew of my need to renew my visa and explained that he had an apartment in Bocas Del Toro and I could rent his extra room for 10 bucks a night. I agreed and he dropped me off in Bocas showing me the ropes for a day and then took off back to Costa explaining that he would be back in 3 days and I could reenter Costa Rica legally. Over the next three days I scored insane surf with no crowds, met cool people, and basically fell in love with Bocas. I flew back to Costa with Greg, grabbed all my stuff and flew back to Bocas under the agreement that I would rent the apartment for the next couple months while Greg literally flew around the world. Crossing the Atlantic in his single engine plane.
Over the next three years I would come back annually and stay in the apartment, work at my buddy's restaurant, and surf.
I left Bocas in 2005 after an attempted move down didn't work out. A month later I received the bad news that Greg had crashed his plane off the Tamarindo area of Costa Rica passing away with 5 others.
Bocas chapter closed until 2009...
I was back last year and at the urging of good friend Harmodio "Moyo" Barrios I brought artwork along and did a show at the Hotel Las Brisas. It was a good show with little promotion. People were stoked on my stuff, people bought my stuff and I made good contacts with Fidel Ponce and Kyle Lantier (Fox's east coast rep who purchased two pieces).
This year I came down really focused on a show in the city with the back of mind notion of possibly having art leftover to do a show in Bocas when I got there. What turned out as a back of mind notion turned into a succesful reality. First night on the island my buddy John Griffo takes me to dinner at the Ultimo Refugio restaurant on the water. At dinner he introduces me to the owner and the show is on that quickly for Friday night. The next day in the water I tell my buddy Chris (Aqua Lounge) I am doing an art show on Friday and he tells me his girlfriend does art and that she also happens to be Mexican (I find that cool since I live in Mexico).
I meet Estrella the next day and she had actually been at my show last year so things are clicking for a succesful show. I make flyers and get them out wondering what the results would be like. It worked and we had a pretty good showing that Friday night. I sold one piece at the show and four more before I left the island so all in all it was a huge success.
Special thanks to friends Moyo, Gregory, Jose Bocas Surf, Chino Daniel, Chuleta, and Luis Bertone.
Hope you enjoy the pics