The Longest Day
Posted by Pete Robbins on Apr 12th 2021
Have you ever waited your whole life for something, except you didn’t know that it was on your list, and then – after discovering your special purpose but just before you were about to burst – someone tacked on another day?
That’s what just happened on our trip to pop for tuna in Panama. By the time I was tempted to take the trip, and then waited and waded through a COVID-addled year to get there, I’d seen every YouTube video ever made on the topic. I’d researched tackle, and tactics and locations. Packed and repacked my clothing three times. But it’s no easy feat to get to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge in the Gulf of Chiriqui where we’d be staying. First we flew to Panama City, stayed overnight, and hopped a smaller plane to the city of David the next morning. It’s possible to do it all in one day, but ill-advised – if your plane from the states gets in late, you’re screwed. There’s also an afternoon flight to David, but by taking the morning flight we once again the possibility of mechanical issues or weather disrupting our trip.
So we took a 7:50am flight to David, arrived before 9, in the van to the marina for a 10 minute ride, and then an hour boat ride out of the estuary to the lodge on Isla Parida. That put us there late morning on Wednesday. We’d chartered the boats for Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday, which left a long day in a place that looked like a combination of Gilligan’s Island, Jurassic Park and the set of Survivor (albeit with wifi and a fully-stocked bar).
After an early lunch, we had 5 hours to kill until Happy Hour, but – as Tom Petty told us – the waiting is the hardest part. Then, after fresh tuna sashimi and cocktails, it was a few more hours until dinner. We could see the WorldCat boats from the table, but we wouldn’t get back in them until 7am on Thursday. Have you ever been so close to something great that you could just about touch it, but weren’t quite able to grasp it? It’s a special type of torture.
Fortunately, it proved to be worth the wait. Popping for tuna exceeded all expectations, and of course after the lazy slog of our travel day the actual fishing days flew by. How soon until we can go back?
