I posted awhile back about my upcoming fishing trip to Panama and it was awesome. I booked a week long camping/ocean kayak fishing trip back in October my second time with this outfitter. About a month prior to the trip he messages me and says he can't tell me who I am fishing with but it's a group of well known people. Come to find out it's a group from Black Rifle Coffee company filming some videos for their youtube channel. At first I wasn't exactly thrilled based on the stand they have been taking with the second amendment and distancing themselves from Rittenhouse I felt they had sold out and they said I was not alone in that opinion and it was their higher ups. These guys were a great group of guys real down to earth people. 3 actual vets and their camera crew. Black rifle was with their own group and I was with 4 other guys in my party. The camping was definitely roughing it, with the exception of the meals, the meals were first class. Fresh fried fish and sashimi. At night there was a crab migration of thousands of hermit crabs and various others coming through out site and under our tents which i found fascinating. Every morning we woke up with howler and Black faced monkeys. The fishing gods didn't exactly smile on me this trip like they did on my first expedition. I did hook into a shark around 8' which made for a hell of a ride in a kayak. After a hour it managed to break free which was probably for the best. When I arrived back to Panama city I booked a charter to try my hand at peacock bass and landed around 40. Such a beautiful fish.

On my first visit I met a American who was missing a leg and we hit it off almost immediately both of us missing body parts. He was in a bad motorcycle accident in the states. He said he died on the table three separate times before they brought him back. He moved to Panama because he wanted to get off the pain meds the doctors kept giving him and Panama was his best option for stem cell research. Within 5 months he was off all the meds. He owns a Vegas style cabaret/circus Olay type place which he invited me to and the shows he puts on are incredible.
I called him to let him know I was in town and he said come on over he's having some friends over for a friendly game of poker if I was interested. A 100 dollar buy in is more than I ever play, I only play with friends usually 20 bucks max, but what the hell.
The poker gods were better than the fishing gods and I won 2 grand.

While we were playing my friend says everyone is going out on his boat on Saturday and I'm more than welcomed to tag along if I want. Unfortunately I was scheduled to fly to Ecuador on Friday to visit my friend.
I arrive at the gate Friday morning for my flight and the clinic had given me the wrong covid test for entry into Ecuador so I couldn't make my flight. The next available one was Monday so Lemons into Lemonade.
I called my friend and explained what happened and he said meet him at the Marina on Saturday. I show up to the Marina and my friends boat is a 150' yacht. I knew my friend was well off I didn't realize the extent. He told me he made and lost his first million before he was 25 being young and dumb.
It turns out the boat ride wasn't just a joy ride my friend and the guys I were playing poker with we going to look at a island to buy (40 square miles) so they parked the yacht and shuttle me and the other guests to a nearby island to enjoy that and a helicopter picked them up to scout out the island. After what was quite possibly the best day of my life we went back to the club for dinner and round two of poker and the poker gods were still smiling on me.

Monday I made my flight to Ecuador to visit my friend, it's a two hour trip to her city, a had already arranged transportation prior to arriving with a taxi driver who was from the area and who was highly recommended by Americans living there. Safe reliable and spoke English through the course of my research I learned that he is working two jobs trying to put his daughter through med school. I had a idea of what I wanted to do and after chatting with him the way there I felt I was making the right decision and gave him a 400 dollar tip which payed for her books for the school year and then some. In two days I went from experiencing the pinnacle of life to some of the very lows. I walked out of my friends house to see her and her neighbor trying to siphon gas from one moped to another so she can get to work. I never mastered the art of siphoning gas without tasting some but better me than them.

Ecuador was a very humbling experience absolutely beautiful places mixed with a lot of poverty. I plan on going back to explore the galopagos and maybe the Amazon. It's been a little over a year since my accident and it's been the best year of my life. It took a near death experience to get me to start living life.

As I was leaving the kayak lodge the owner said he is doing a two week scouting trip in Indonesia to see if they can open a lodge there. Would Iike to go? Hell yeah stay tuned for part two


photos

Excellent, thank you very much for sharing!

Great story and pics Irving

Sounds like a blast.

Every yacht need a stripper pole!

Looks and sounds like you had fun!

Very cool, thanks for sharing. And a stripper pole to boot LOL

Now ya got me thinking, I wonder if the bow pedistal on my 16 ft alum bass boat would hold a pole like that. That sounds like a great trip.

Just cause the BRC guys were vets and all cool and schit.
And they say it is all their higher ups BS.

Why would you be the face of a douchebag company like that, let alone work for them if you had a moral compass that was working correctly....

Dont see their product line around LGS,s here very much anymore or not at all.
And what is seen is old stock not sold yet.
And that is saying something here in clarksvegas/ FTCKY.
Geuss most of the owners of LGS,s around here who are military vets and retirees are just plain ole fuuucked up moral compass wise cause they dont sell BRC anymore....




Otherwise than that, sounds like ya had a rocking trip.👍👍👍

And that all above about BRC was in no way a attack on you.


It was meant to show a point.
These are the same types of soldiers who once given a mission will not take ownership of it and say the only reason we gottta go do this is so and so said we have too, so dont blame me.
And you can cross ref that to just about any other job also.

Thanks for posting. Nice to hear some people are traveling again....

I still hope Black Rifle goes out of business though.

Great looking trip!

Kent

Fantastic condensed trip report..
what spectrum...
love the pay it forward aspect too..
best regards

Thanks everyone, I wasn't sure what to expect of my friend friends on the boat, the guys I played poker with were great but it turned out they are a bunch of great people as far as I could tell everyone I talked to were rather conservative leaning, no liberals on board. Actually they said they wish more of my friends were more like me most of their friends don't like the redneck stuff. I was invited to the gun range with them the following week. But I had to take a ranchers on that

Really cool.

My wife is Panamanian. We have a house down there as well as a farm. She just got back from visiting family 2 weeks ago and brought back about 20 lbs of coffee that they grow on the farm. It has been 2 years since I have been down there which is 2 years too long. I love it down there, even the crazy driving.

I’m a redneck. What stuff?

Great story/great pics 😎

I woulda been looking at birds the whole time 🙂

Dude, you had me right up until the picture of that scorpion on the side of the tree!
Looks like a great trip.

That is awesome. Thanks

Looks and sounds like a great trip!

Cool read Irving, glad you had a great time! ....nice stripper pole.

Black headed double breasted bed thrasher.

$400 for med school books, huh. Did your wife buy that BS?

Great story..

My wife and I spent a couple of weeks touring Panama a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful country. No plans to buy but we’re looking at spending significant time there when we retire.

Excellent.

Nice roosterfish too!

Sure glad you got to enjoy some travel.

I haven't been to Panama yet but have been to Ecuador twice to visit my dad and step mom who retired and moved there in 2011. They love it. I may end up there when I retire.

As you day there are areas with plenty of poverty but it is a beautiful and diverse country and the birding is awesome.

Central and South America - many extremes, both good and bad.

Bruce

I never got married and no kids of my own. My ex has a 15 yr old who is the closest thing to a son I will have. It was money well spent and the lasagna was pretty tasty to for South America.

The first thing I noticed when I got back was how bad our coffee tasted

some folks talk, and some folks go out and do it. What a great trip!

The stuff of dreams!

Great trip!!!

Thanks for sharing.

Nice!!!

Thanks for sharing!

Great post, Irving. Thanks for sharing.

That was a great write up. If you could, please pm what happened to you. I've gone through a similar life changing event. Thanks again! Time to get living life!

Best post in a long time!

Thanks for letting us in on a part of it.

Good on you for staying positive and living your life. Nice rooster fish!!

Sounds like a helluva time.

Good pics.

Great post, Irving! Looks like a lot of fun!

So? You get laid?

Good post!

I had a follow up appointment with my hand surgeon yesterday to talk about future surgeries to get the maximum mobility out of my pinky. He asked how I have been and I said this has literally been the best year of my life. My experience has caused to to take advantage of the opportunities has they come which has opened up more doors to more friends and opportunities. He was blown away by my recovery and the fact that I'm in no pain. My cold tolerance is the same has my uninjured hand. I can even tie knots while ice fishing. It's not a easy decision he recommends not doing the surgery at all. He said he can go back in open up my hand and give me almost full range of motion while I'm on the table. There is no guarantee what I will have when it heals and there is a strong possibility I will me in more pain and possibly bad arthritis because of all the damage to the cartilage. I hate the idea of leaving options on the table but deep down I think he's right. I can still fish, hold a beer, throw horseshoes, I shot a deer this past year using my pinky as a trigger finger and field dressed it myself. Life is good. And now I walk around with a permanent 🤙which is kind of cool.

ROCK ON!

^^^This^^^

FREAK'N AWESOME!.. thanks for sharing....looks like a bitch'n time.

Great trip for sure!

You are one tough Mother 9ucker. Kudos!!

. That means a lot thank you.