Lets Flip on it

February 18, 2014 in BLOG POST, Travel

Lets Flip On It!

The Woman of Playa Muerto and Pina's make these incredible Panamanian baskets. They are hand made authentic baskets, plates and other things carved out of Mahogany and Cocobolo Wood. The woman drive a pretty hard bargain when it comes to the buying of their merchandise, but sometimes they are willing to Flip on it!!

Here is just a small selection of the new baskets that have been added to "Jefe's" (the boss) Collection. Most likely the largest Panamanian Basket Collection in the United States!!!

John Winning his Coin Toss. Texan Guns out!

Johns slowly adding to his collection!

The boys can't even watch anymore!

Fishing Continues

February 14, 2014 in BLOG POST, Travel

Fishing Continues....

Here are more shots from our 3 months of Fishing in Pina's Bay, Panama. Some of these images where taken aboard the Picaflor, under the direction of Captain Adolfo. The first Marlin gave us a dazzling display. Jumping straight at us. The boat was powering forward and Justin, the angler, was reeling as fast as he could in order to take up line. When I get a chance later in the week, I will post the video that goes along with this fight. It was pretty amazing to see this fish jump like this. Nice release on the fish after as well.

Justin reeling his heart out to try and take up line on this crazy jumping fish.

This Marlin just kept jumping and jumping. These are the flights that photographers dream of.

Hook out and lure back, the boys release this nice Marlin.

The special Lure to win them all! Custom Made by Matt, even has our Mates face pictured in the Lure.

Marlin's Bill hitting the drop back bait

Mike Crossland taking a breather on his nice Blue Marlin

Justin trying his hand at pitching a fly back to a sailfish. The sail hit the lure a couple of times, but just couldn't get her to bite.

Nice Sail, our Mate Jonathan almost got a Bill in his arm.

JACK!!!!

The Captain looking over things!

Playa Muerto-Continued

February 12, 2014 in BLOG POST, Children Portraits, Travel

Playa Muerto- Continued......

Here is the continuation of the Embera people in the Village of Playa Muerto.

If you come to this page first then here is the link for the other Playa Muerto Post: Playa Muerto, Panama

The view of Playa Muerto from a small hill beside the village.

A group of girls managed to snag some of the stickers from me. I gave up trying to give them out individually. The kids where better at picking them off then I was.

This is the Mother and Father of our Captain Adolfo. His mother is over 90 years old, while his father is over 106 years old. They are incredible people and where very gracious to allow me to take some photographs of them.

To see him walk out of his house to say hello at the age of 106 is humbling.

I got my own coconut to sip on. It was delicious!

This man was making some art work carving a very hard wood called Cocobolo.

The view looking down at Playa Muerto.

I was told that they make bread in this out door mud oven.

A typical village house. You can see they collect a lot of things that wash up on the shore. Anything that can be used will be used.

Outdoor bathroom. All the cloths laying around look kinda like a typical kids thing to do.

A lot of the people keep chickens under their homes. I also saw a small pig pen set up under one of the homes as well.

A nice looking roof on this house.

Doing laundry!

There are some solar panels through out the village and fashion and style never take a holiday!

My fellow tourist, Susie!

Playa Muerto, Panama

February 12, 2014 in BLOG POST, Children Portraits, Travel

Playa Muerto, Panama

I think the best Part of heading down to Panama to go fishing is when we get the chance to go and visit the Village of Playa Muerto, Panama. (Dead Beach). The Embera (meaning people) live in Playa Muerto and getting to go and visit with them is truly something amazing. It’s hard to describe the Village; homes build mainly on stilts, open family concept with Hammocks for beds. The Darien Jungle surrounds the Village, while the Pacific Ocean provides access and food for the Embera. The white sandy beach and Palm tree's greet visitors as you come ashore. Kids from all over will come running as fast as they can to come and great you (secretly hoping you have a sweet treat for them). The people of Playa Muerto are always friendly and go out of their way to perform their traditional dances and play their traditional music.

With school supplies, stickers & candy in hand, we headed up the beach to meet with the Chef of the Village. The Chef and the Elders will generally formulate a nice little list for us of things that the village really needs, like wheels for their wheel barrel, soccer balls, batteries and various other things. Helping out is just a small part of going there to visit, but getting a chance to photograph these beautiful people is really an honor.

I have separated this bog post into two different posts, because I had so many images that I wanted to post.

Here is the first post of images. The shots where taken with a Nikon D800, Sigma 35mm 1.4 Lens (sharpest Wide open lens I have ever shot with) Some pictures where also taken with a Nikon D600 70-200mm 2.8 lens as well.

This child is wearing the traditional dye on her body. The Dye is similar to Hena, but comes from the Genip tree berry. This is not only traditional, it also helps to keep the bugs away.

Susie Handing out stickers.

This woman is beautifully dressed. The necklaces that she has on are usually passed down from generations.

Traditional Dress for the men.

The beach of Playa Muerto.

The Woman danced for us. It was very beautiful.

The Jewelry is all hand made.

This little boy was trying his hand at a yo yo that Kyp brought with him.

The men played some music for us.

For more pictures please go to Playa Muerto Continued!!!

Blood, Guts & Glory

February 12, 2014 in BLOG POST, Travel

Blood, Guts & Glory

Around 55 days of Fishing off of Pina's Bay Panama, have finally come to a close. We packed up the ships, pulled the anchors and headed on home. Overall the Fishing was not that bad through out Dec/Jan/ Feb, but the fishing was not the usual Pina's Bay Fishing that you would normally see at this time of the year. The Black Marlin didn't really show up in hordes like they normally do at this time of year, but we managed to catch a couple of those nice Black Marlin along with mostly Blue Marlin and some Stripes as well. Battle's where won and lost, full Blood, Guts & Glory stories where had.

Here is our total for Dec/Jan/Feb:

Raised over 51 Marlin

Caught 23Marlin (Mix of Black and Blue)

1 Grand Slam (Blue,Black & Stripe)

Caught over a Handful of Sails

Plentiful Tuna (1 over 200lbs) /Jack's/Mackerel

Bryan Trying his hand at filleting some Dorado.