Spending a day with the Cayuco Paunch paddling team
Yesterday, I decided to spend a day away from the computer to enjoy the company of my friends in the real world. Some of my favorite people here in Bocas del Toro happen to be famous in Panama: The Cayuco Paunch paddle team (https://www.instagram.com/cayucopaunch/), a local all women canoe paddling team called Paunch. They were national champions in 2017 and are currently in the midst of the 2018 racing season. Their biggest race will take place in March, and is called the Ocean to Ocean race, which crosses the Panama Canal.
For those that don’t know the sport, cayuco racing is very popular in Panama, and the Bocas del Toro team represented by @angiebocas, @lavikinga, Romaine and Sasi is famous on our island. Everyone lays out the red carpet for these girls!
I don’t paddle myself, but we are all members of the Bocas Fight Gym where we also training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Strength and Conditioning together.
Yesterday was Sasi’s birthday, and we decided to paddle out to the new Floating Bar that just opened. We hadn’t tried it yet, so it was the occasion to get to know a new place.
Since I had never paddled before yesterday, @angiebocas left me her spot in the cayuco, and followed us in the V1.
I’m second from the left, and I’m easy to spot because I’m surely the least coordinated one here.
Paddling is no easy task, and it looks much easier than it actually is. First of all, it’s extremely hard to keep the cayuco balanced, and any slight movement or wave can make it tip over. You have to paddle exactly in the same rhythm, and I had to follow Sasi on the right when Esther and Romaine were in sync on the other side.
Esther, myself, Romaine and Sasi from left to right
Needless to say that it was a bit rocky at first, but on the way back I kinda got the hang of it. It’s pretty demanding physically and a great workout for the arms and the core. I can’t even imagine what it must be like on a long 4 hours race through the Panama Canal…
As soon as we arrived, people were cheering for the team. It was funny to be part of the VIP treatment for a little, as people thought I was part of the team. It’s an easy confusion since we are together a lot anyways.
Guests at the bar were buying us drinks and food, and we had a great time swimming and just laughing with each other.
.jpeg)
The whole team is vegan and vegetarian, so we ordered chips and salsa and some veggie tacos. The food was tasty, and just what we needed on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The view didn’t disappoint us either (it never does in Bocas)
At the end of the day we paddled back to the dock, at the Bocas Dive Center. If you’re into scuba diving this is the place we recommend. They have the best equipment and are PADI certified. The hotel is also very nice and offers vegan food!
All in all paddling was a great experience, and I’d be happy to do it again!
That looks like so much fun @evecab and the mention of scuba diving also piqued my interest ;-) Lovely pic's btw's
ahhh yes Bocas is fun for diving =) You should visit some day!
this is really amazing and really very much batter than staying all the day with the computure, you all look gorgeous, hope you spent a great time. have fun
thank you @Yassinof =)
beautiful scenery
Ha I remember being invited one time to do Dragonboat paddling and looked simple enough.
First hour was teaching about the basics and the strokes. So I said yeah I can do this.
Then we were put in the water and the timing and synchronization was hard!!! I'm just glad I did not hit anyone with my paddle hahahha but it was fun and a great work out.
ah how cool! yes it's very hard! I totally underestimated it ahhaah and they switch paddles so fast and with such precision...I couldn't stop laughing because I couldn't keep up
You got a 2.13% upvote from @buildawhale courtesy of @evecab!
If you believe this post is spam or abuse, please report it to our Discord #abuse channel.
If you want to support our Curation Digest or our Spam & Abuse prevention efforts, please vote @themarkymark as witness.
@evecab, envy of the good, what a good plan and in a super magical place Bocas del Toro !!!
YEs that was a nice day!! We should do fun paddles like that more often with a vegan taco stop somewhere!!