February 25th 2001 (daily pics index)
	022501: Midnight: packing boards & bags on transfer bus... final transfer to 25 passenger bus for trip to Chiriqui... departed P.City @ 1:45am... long slow dirve ovrland to Chiriqui... little sleep possible... landscape dark, except for the few little towns we pass thru where many people out partying... all quiet trying to sleep... ... at dawn all are awake and curiously viewing the landscape.. complicated terrain, low to ~1000' rolling hills, fractious landforms.. mostly fault-blocked volcanics... lots of weathered basalt... forest is mostly gone near the roadside, cattle (brahma) and pigs, chickens, scraggly horses and rail thin dogs dominate the small farms/homesteads... rather poor looking... musch like mexico-rural and elsewhere in Central America (Guatemala, etc.) @sunrise+ one hour we arrive at the put-in boats/skiffs await the 40 min ride to the island caamp... unpacking takes 40 minutes, lots of looping lines untied... boards pulled off rooftop.. All aboard skiffs, the winding channels lined w/ mangrove (tide at mid & falling). Tidal range is ~14' and impressive... channel bottoms pebble/cobble and light muds... out of tidal channels and round the point, we head SSE toward Morro Negrito Camp... Arrived @ camp (beach) @ 8:30am... briefing by camp hosts...
	The Panamanian countryside as seen in twilight (sort of) from a speeding bus.... Lots of little farms scattered along the roadside. Very simple housing, fields are largely slash/burn grazing land for cattle (almost exclusively Brahma), with scraggly thin ponies, mongrel dogs and chickens.... not a feline to be seen anywhere in the country.... Landscape is dominated by a complex of hills and valleys that appear to be fault-block oriented. soils are rusted, weathered basalt and alluvium derived. Vegetation is varied with quite a few imported species...
	Inside cover-page of travel journal... lists camp-mates... Panama: February 24 - Mar 4, 2001 Morro Negrito Surf Camp @ Chiriqui, Panama Peter Davis organized the US contingent: P.Davis L. Miraglia I. Popoff J. Arthur J. Nickel M. Moore J. Davis S. Graves Camp Personnel: Emilio Surf Director Marilyn Surf Camp Owner Daniel Surf Support/Guide Ronnie Surf Support/Guide Thanks to the Cooks and Skiff Pilots Too!
The "put-in" on the morning of arrival... All ready for the short trek down the drained (low-tide) channels to where the skiffs await...	carrying boards & gear to the skiffs...
	@ camp (continued)... Unpacked gear and began to get ready for the first of many sessions... camp @ N 8o 02.706' W 81o 42.745' Boats/skiffs loaded by 11am (low tide in half-hour) we head for the south to "Sandbars" point. Nice rights... head high, almond barrel, thin lips moderate sloping faces, lines run up to 50 meters, waves wrap bars... entire break is ~300m offshore of a sandy beach & down current (SSE) of a rocky point. .. appears to be longshore current created depositional zone in lee of point... very nice waves set up. "Sandbars" @ N 8o 03.995' W 81o 43.741' P.Davis catches an early one... All in water and paddling... 2 hr+ session in which entire camp (8 US + 10 other=Brazil, Argentina,Spain) surfed 2 peaks... some very nice waves for all... myself however, suffering from a lack of physical preparation and having to work on a smaller board... I caught nothing though I tried a few (tripping over my booties) arf!!! After 2 hrs I retire to the skiff and take pictures of others w/ mavica. (later we would all come to view this spot as deceptively difficult... very strong currents pull outward and along shore from the outside, inside the current sucks in to a "toilet bowl" of swash... also the waves push a surprisingly stiff amount of water for their size)... Return to camp for late lunch and a long nap... till 4:30pm...
View of Morro Negrito camp from the "palapa" where the US contingent is staying.... (panorama under the palapa) Entire campsite is set on a pebble/cobble storm berm backed by low cliffs... the large boulders in the foreground are columnar basalt blocks... They mark the site of a great little peeling shore break called "Emily's" ...here the tide is too low for surf, and you can see how shallow and rocky the inside is when it does break at higher tide...	View of the mangrove-lined channels on the way seaward.... Tidal range is rather dramatic here (~14') A very small-rural community lives on the island. Nearby the camp is the local school house. Children not in session now. Some of us brought school supplies with us from the states, certain the teacher and children will appreciate. To the NE the shore wraps into an embayment where the skiffs are tied up. Skiffs unloaded at protected beach.

Journal index... of a long lost surfer...
	Day ZERO: 022301
	Day One: 022401	Day Two: 022501
	Day Three: 022601	Day Four: 022701
	Day Five: 022801	Day Six: 030101
	Day Seven: 030201	Day Eight: 030301
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