Costa Rica, One heck of a surprise . . . ~

[ScoobyDoobyDoo]

lol...seriously scoobs?

they think you are tony montana or something?

just kidding. they did stop me on the way when i was about a mile offshore. they were just checking on me. i told them i was just out exercising and they went about their business.

 

[ScoobyDoobyDoo]

made the swim and then some yesterday. i left in the late morning timing the tides and my friend said he would pick me up. 2.6 miles so i told him give me 2 hours cause the currents were really strong and the wind was blowing hard. plus there was a 3-4' chop on the water.

well, my friend got drunk and passed out. it took me about 2.5 hours to get there cause i misjudged just how strong the currents were plus i was stopping to take video of rays and stuff. i never saw my friend as i approached the island so i swam about a 1/2 mile out of my way over to some fishermen who were anchored up off the cliffs. i asked them to call me a panga taxi (there are 20 of them on the island of contadora where i left from. they said no problem and even offered me a ride but i told them i had to actually touch the beach. so i swam to the beach and took a rest. after 10 minutes the fishermen left and i didn't see a taxi coming. so i tried waving down some boats. i was too far away. so then i swam about a mile over to a smaller island which was closer to the channel people were passing through in their boats. tried to flag them down from that island with no luck so i swam back to the original island i swam to. figuring my buddy would come looking for me eventually. after about an hour i realized i was on my own and it was getting dark fast. so i swam the 2.6 miles back in stronger current with even bigger waves and more wind.

total time in the water was 6.5 hours. total distance of the swim was around 8 miles. video to follow.

 

[GreatwhiteNorth]

Any remora's find you attractive on this swim ?

 

[ScoobyDoobyDoo]

Any remora's find you attractive on this swim ?

lmao! i don't think so but who knows with that much time in the water. got some decent video of some rays and cool fish. problem is i spend all my time taking video i don't have enough time to edit it. lol.

 

[joe macclennan]

that's one hell of a swim! Probably a little sore today huh?

buddy got drunk and passed out eh? fucker

 

[Jack Harer]

Alcohol will do that to you, I hear......

 

[Wait, what?]

I'll be a mule if I can come over next July

I'm Irish, so I've already got the stubbornness down

 

[ScoobyDoobyDoo]

Crazy morning spear fishing off the coast of Contadora. A small island in the Pearl Islands of Panama. About 40 miles off shore from Panama City. Had to share a small clip with you guys. If i try and upload a fully edited video then it will take 16 hours. just this little 30 second clip took 45 minutes to upload...the internet here is so slow.

Swam up on a whole in the reef and caught 3 white tip reef shark about 5-6' long swimming in the hole. After filming for a little bit i saw a HUGE snapper hiding under the ledge. I waited 40 minutes trying to get a shot on him. finally he exposed himself a little and i got him through the back section as he was going back under the reef. After that it was straight NatGeo shit. The sharks went ballistic and tore the fish apart. It was insane.

I'll get the full video uploaded when I am back to civilization.

[video=youtube;-06Y1HAYCD4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-06Y1HAYCD4[/video]

 

[ScoobyDoobyDoo]

here's a little something for ya GWN. make sure to turn the sound up and watch it in FullHD.

 

[GreatwhiteNorth]

here's a little something for ya GWN. make sure to turn the sound up.

Rock on !
And the dude with the fishing rod looks like a pro.

 

[Yessica...]

Mrs GWN and I decided well over a year ago to quit waiting and plan a Lifetime adventure for ourselves and many possible exotic destinations came up. We looked into Java, Fiji, Tahiti and several South Pacific vacation spots and after seeing pictures of Costa Rica posted by Scooby, (neither of us having been anywhere even close) we came to the decision to look into it.

I PM’d Scooby asking for local knowledge of things for us to see and do in that beautiful country, plus I specifically asked for a recommendation on where we might stay, somewhere not touristy ~ off the beaten path so to speak that wouldn’t break the bank.

He gave me an honest assessment of the usual vacation spots in the country, but then floored us with “if you are looking for the opposite of the drunk college crowd you are more than welcome to stay at my house”. I have to say at first I was really apprehensive and taken aback at the generosity of the offer (we’d never met IRL or even spoken on the phone).
I remember thinking the usual negative shit like kidnapping, forced into being Coke mules, having our kidneys (or worse yet my ponytail) sold on the black market and the like, but after more research and subsequent PM’s Momma and I decided to throw caution into the wind & booked tickets for the 5000 plus mile journey south from Alaska to a latitude lower than either of us had ever been (we went from 58 to 8 degrees !).

Preparations began months ago with much research on my part and immunizations – and then some more immunizations (to make sure).
Passports were next on the list as were just a couple more shots only because I think the nurse just liked poking us !

Departure day finally arrived & were grinning like a couple of grade-schoolers at recess when we finally boarded our late flight as during our departure the snow and high winds threatened to shut down our small airport. But after two long days of travel (each direction involved 5 planes), we arrived in the small coastal town and Scooby was at the tiny runway to greet us and take us to the house.

The house itself is a stunning colonial style 4br masterpiece that is placed in an impeccably manicured botanical garden that just begs to be photographed. Add that to the constant parade of some of the most beautiful birds you can imagine. Scarlet Macaw’s, Chestnut mandibled Toucans, King vultures a dozen specie of parrots and then the hundreds of parakeets. Flycatchers, humming birds wood peckers, and a bazillion other birds I’ve never seen before vied for my attention (read camera) before flitting out of view.
I believe I may just be the King of bird “ass” shots. Lol.

Our host departed on business the next day leaving us in the remarkable hands of the home staff. We literally had nothing to do except drink (Hey, it’s hot down here for an Alaskan boy & Imperial beer tastes pretty good with limon @ 8:00 am) and lay about the pool or explore the private gated compound. Traveling through foreign countries with weed is something I’m not prepared to do and this was solved handily as a beautifully cured ½ oz or so appeared and stayed filled throughout our visit and proved ample plus some for our needs.

Meals were fabulous, we were not allowed to assist in anything, and calling the Caretaker a Central American Chef would be a serious demotion. That man is gracious to a fault with an unbelievable sense of humor and he literally would not let us out of his sight when we took forays into town.
We like him and his family. (Mouy-Grande understatement).

Scooby returned several days later and we were treated to a day of Offshore fishing that was simply spectacular – 6 beautiful Dorado in the 30-40 lb range (we kept 4 to eat and share), 6 sailfish released, my best went 220 according to those on the boat in the know, which was most everyone except the Mrs. and myself. The grand finale was a beautiful 350 lb Blue Marlin that put on a great show jumping and tail-walking before finally trying to slug it out down deep.

Once she was worked back to the surface, Scoob put on his gear & got into the water with her. She was pretty tired by this time and he was able to work himself close enough on the leader (she’s still jumping halfheartedly mind you) and finally with a swipe of the knife she swam free.

Long and the short of the situation is that we quickly became friends with a common interest in fishing, weed and the outdoors – is he brash? You bet.
Is he self confident to a fault? No doubt.
Is he fake ? Not a chance – the dude has heart and never once made us feel like we were anything less than long lost best friends.

I’ll post more pic’s as I get through them – we literally took thousands.
And no negativity in this thread please – I’d prefer the shit-talking stayed in politics’.
Thanks for sharing our biggest adventure to date, and a huge thanks Scooby for helping it happen.

More pics to follow.

That's super awesome! The boyf and I have been wanting to go to Costa Rica for awhile now! SOLD!

 

[AKDrifter]

Awesome trip GWN ! Sounds like quite the adventure. Love the fishing pics!!

ohhh man I want some fish tacos! Mahi is second to none on the table thats for sure. I spent some time down in Golfito years ago , to this day have not had food that good!

Nice bear too!

58* N...we are neighbors hahaa

 

[Metasynth]

RIP Scoob

You turned out to be a cool dude, and we lost you too soon...

You're missed bro.

 

[Mad Hamish]

You ever want the same treatment in Africa, give us a shout Thing with us smaller or developing countries, we LOVE to host guests more than anything on this planet. Hard for us to see the world so it is GREAT when the world comes to us.

 

[curious2garden]

You ever want the same treatment in Africa, give us a shout Thing with us smaller or developing countries, we LOVE to host guests more than anything on this planet. Hard for us to see the world so it is GREAT when the world comes to us.

You are such a sweetie! How are you and the missus doing? I loved her dreads.

 

[Zig-Zag Blue]

Wow,,Sorry i never had the chance to interact with Scooby sounds like an amazing person...Thanks so much for sharing your experience here with us .I myself have only been outside of Canada once ,nothing exotic just to Las Vegas for a week .Living in the prairies now for the last 15 yrs i miss the mountains terribly (Grew up in the Kimberley B.C.)and envy both Scooby and yourself for living in gods country.Goes to show you how short life can be and that you have to enjoy every minute of it.

 

[AKDrifter]

Sorry folks, I didn't realize this thread was that old when I replied, and and did not know that Scoob was no longer around.
Sad news for sure.

 

[Mad Hamish]

You are such a sweetie! How are you and the missus doing? I loved her dreads.

Errr... ex missus, and it was a right ugly mess towards the end there... Only girl in my life is my daughter and I am content with this.

 

[ttystikk]

You ever want the same treatment in Africa, give us a shout Thing with us smaller or developing countries, we LOVE to host guests more than anything on this planet. Hard for us to see the world so it is GREAT when the world comes to us.

TRUTH, spoken right here! Where in Africa?

 

[ttystikk]

Scooby just isn't on the forums anymore, or did he pass away? Either way, an opportunity lost to meet a great guy, it seems.