Dive trip to Portobelo~ 2 hours N of Panama City

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OMG!!! To those who I love and those who love me, I'M NOT COMING HOME!!!

We left for Portobelo on Thursday at the butt crack of dawn . This is where we got certified to dive. It took about 4 hours to get there because of some crappy traffic. They were doing some road work on an already narrow street. So let me paint this pic for you, there are 2 lanes of traffic right? Well the cement truck that was pouring the cement was in our lane!! So, instead of traffic control like in the states, the cars just did whatever the wanted. There is no construction workers that are stopping traffic from either side. The further along we are going we see cars that have tried to pass and then realized that the road was closed. It was just pure chaos! Typical Panamanian ways.

We finally made it to the town about 0830. We were ready to DIVE!! Well we get there and nobody is expecting us!! Big surprise! We are supposed to be meeting the owner of the shop so we can get our certification done. The last time we heard there are supposed to be other people coming down on the bus from the shop in the city. So, we wait...and wait some more. The owners nephew is there and trying to entertain us and keep us happy! They decided that they are going to dive but we have to wait until Clay gets there, the owner. Dale (nephew) tells us that we can go snorkeling and I'm ok with that. We saw some beautiful fish and coral. The reef is just steps from the front of the dive shop. They get back from the dive and still no Clay...starting to get irritated. Since we aren't diving any time soon I decided it's time for a beer...or two!

The day goes on and it is a wonderful lazy day! The dive shop is also an Inn with an open air bar, the Octupus Bar. They have hammocks hanging from the ceiling and my friends just swinging the day away. What a great life!! You have jungle on one side with coconut and banana trees and the Caribbean ocean on the other, what could be better? Remember we are still waiting for Clay. They are getting ready for another dive and we get to go on this one!!! Dale was going to practices some skills with us and then we could just swim around. The first skill we practiced was clearing our masks. We had to take them off and them put them on again. Well, I freaked out really bad! I couldn't calm myself down enough to remember that I could still breath even though I couldn't see. I was able to signal to him that something was wrong and I needed to go up. He was able to calm me down and we went down again. I was fine after that. I still had some issues with the bouyancy thing but it all worked out.

So the dive is done and I'm more excited than I have ever been in my whole life!!! It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!! I was finally able to see all my favorite reef fish in real life. Now it's time for beer!! And Clay is still not back yet and it is 4p.

Dale and Ben, a friend that went diving with us, went in search of lobster for dinner. They did a night dive but still came back with nothing. Clay finally shows up at about 9p with burgers to grill. Then we drank some more and hung out.

The next day we get pancakes and eggs for breakfast and we are ready for some more diving. The first dive we only went down about 20ft so we could do some more skills. It was fun! We are now done with are skills and are ready for the big dive after lunch. We went to 60ft!! It was the coolest thing!!

The sad part was we had to leave I did not want to go. We got are paper work done and our log books signed. He then took our pic and printed our temp card. We are set to dive in Costa Rica!!

We are headed to Costa Rica tonight on the bus which leaves at midnight!! I will give more information on Portobelo next time.

Until the next time, Vaya con dios!!

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