This is the start of the updates for our Panga to Panama Trip.  We will keep them coming on at least a weekly basis but we are shooting for twice a week.  We’ll see what happens; we spend a lot of our time in parts of the country that don’t have electricity, let alone internet.  I also want to say that neither of us (Scott or Chad) are writers, we are going to do our best, but please try to read these posts more for content not grammar.  We would love to have them all edited but time does not permit.  As with anything in life the more you do something the better you become, so please sit back read the posts and enjoy the photos and watch our site as our adventures grow with time.  We truly appreciated you coming and checking out our site.

Why a Panga to Panama?? 

This is a question we have asked ourselves more, now that we’ve left on our journey then we did while we were restoring the boat.  I guess the main reason for taking this type of boat through rough seas and long ocean passages is because to the best of our knowledge, it’s never been done before.  We found a story of 1 man who took a Panga around the Baja California coast, which would be an adventure in itself, but we’re pretty sure this will be the first Panga to Panama.  
Last year Scott took a 36 foot sailboat on a similar course we are taking and I attempted to take a 11 foot inflatable boat on the inside sea of Cortez, about 800 miles.  Scott’s trip ended in Costa Rica where he decided to go land cruising for a while and my trip ended in Bahia Los Angeles only 250 miles from my departure point. 
One of the things we both noticed last year on our different trips was the Panga.  The Panga are fishing boats used throughout Mexico and Central America.  They are actually subsidized by the government of Mexico to allow more fishermen to get this somewhat safer boat instead of their makeshift boats.  There are many deaths of Mexican Fisherman and the government is attempting to minimize these.  We have a saying in the US about our postal workers delivering mail in rain, snow, etc.  I have nothing but respect for Panga Fisherman when I see some of the ocean conditions they go out in; they put their lives at risk on a daily basis in order to put a little food on the table for their family.  Anyway, most Pangas are all open with no floor or decks only 3 or 4 benches across them which provide more support for the hull of the boat than anything else.  They don’t come with toilets, shade, rain protection, safety equipment, backup motor’s, radio’s, or anything else you would want or as I would say, need, if you where going to sea.
To bottom line it:  We are doing this because??????????