accidents happen
Excursion: Rio Mananti Exploration
Area: Rio Mananti, Bocas del Toro, Panama
Weather: Clear skies sunny and warm
This is David Moseley’s fourth trip to Tranquilo Bay; hence we have learned that he has an insatiable appetite for two things, exploration and fishing. When you put the two together, he seems to be in another world, but then again, maybe this time he was.
The archipelago of Bocas del Toro is one strange place. After 8 years of exploration one would expect a sense of normalcy to set in, well, it never has. Not for me, and not for David, who has visited a unique and different area on each of his explorations in Bocas del Toro. He always asks, “Where does it all end? Well David, perhaps it never does, I am still looking for the answer.
Today we (me, David, Jay & our friend John) went up a river that was not on the map. The discovery was a complete accident, but this is precisely how we have made some of our most unique discoveries.
We had set out to explore the Rio Mananti which is on the map, however, within a kilometer of that river were three small river mouths converging in one bay. This was characteristic of the area we were looking for and therefore temporarily fooled us.
What a great surprise, the scenery was stunning. There were huge stands of White, Black, and Red Mangroves whose roots entered the river from its banks to soak up the brackish water. Just after the mouth, the little river was completely enclosed by canopy. Multiple species of hardwood trees, palms, bamboos, bromeliads, orchids, and vines engulfed all space.
The wildlife was incredible, we immediately spotted three species of Kingfishers, multiple species of Herons and Cranes, and later a Collared Aracari. We saw a huge Green Basilisk lizard fall into the river from a tree branch and proceeded to “walk on water” all the way to the riverbank. His transition from water to land was seamless.
After just a few kilometers we came upon a Ngobe Bugle Indian woman fishing from her cayuco, a type of hand made dugout canoe crafted from a single tree. She had ten or so fish, representing several different species of beautiful Cichlids. She also informed us that we were up the Rio Koy, not the Rio Mananti.
Anyhow, not a bad accident if you ask me. One thing is for certain, we will be going back to the Rio Koy.
It is difficult to find the Rio Mananti because its mouth is a maze of multiple entrances, all well guarded by large sand and soft bottom flats. One had better know the local tides, and we were there on a rise allowing us to safely backtrack for several hours. After navigating some awfully skinny water for several kilometers, we just couldn’t find a way in. After disturbing multiple pods of bait, we decided that was enough searching, and that it was time to fish.
David Moseley a.k.a. “Mo”, owns a website called Wadefishing.com, and I want to let you know that he travels prepared to do just that anywhere he goes. After outfitting our crew with the latest in wade fishing technology, we hit the flats.
For about an hour we waded the sand bars and soft bottom flats in front of the various river mouths. There were huge schools of bait in the water, and right off the bat Jay thinks he sees a Tarpon. He couldn’t really pursue, because he had the boat tied off to his waist and was towing it along while he fished. The fish was fining and made its way over to John, but he was just out of range, and never got the fish to turn. We were casting these sweet Shimano bait casting set ups that Mo brought with all different kinds of baits. We threw plastics, crank baits, and top water plugs. We spooked several fish while wading, but never made a positive identification. We landed a couple of nice Jack Crevalle.
While fishing, we spotted a cayuco going in through a little obscure cut we had not yet tried, we quickly hopped in the boat to follow, knowing that sometimes a little local knowledge is the only way. Finally, and without getting stuck, we made our way into one of the branches of the Rio Mananti. With the help of a family, who was farming a small piece of land on the riverbank, we drove around exploring a few of the river forks and found the main branch.
With the sun low in the sky, we decided to save that adventure for Mo’s next trip to Panama, and asked ourselves again, where does it all end?
Area: Rio Mananti, Bocas del Toro, Panama
Weather: Clear skies sunny and warm
This is David Moseley’s fourth trip to Tranquilo Bay; hence we have learned that he has an insatiable appetite for two things, exploration and fishing. When you put the two together, he seems to be in another world, but then again, maybe this time he was.
The archipelago of Bocas del Toro is one strange place. After 8 years of exploration one would expect a sense of normalcy to set in, well, it never has. Not for me, and not for David, who has visited a unique and different area on each of his explorations in Bocas del Toro. He always asks, “Where does it all end? Well David, perhaps it never does, I am still looking for the answer.
Today we (me, David, Jay & our friend John) went up a river that was not on the map. The discovery was a complete accident, but this is precisely how we have made some of our most unique discoveries.
We had set out to explore the Rio Mananti which is on the map, however, within a kilometer of that river were three small river mouths converging in one bay. This was characteristic of the area we were looking for and therefore temporarily fooled us.
What a great surprise, the scenery was stunning. There were huge stands of White, Black, and Red Mangroves whose roots entered the river from its banks to soak up the brackish water. Just after the mouth, the little river was completely enclosed by canopy. Multiple species of hardwood trees, palms, bamboos, bromeliads, orchids, and vines engulfed all space.
The wildlife was incredible, we immediately spotted three species of Kingfishers, multiple species of Herons and Cranes, and later a Collared Aracari. We saw a huge Green Basilisk lizard fall into the river from a tree branch and proceeded to “walk on water” all the way to the riverbank. His transition from water to land was seamless.
After just a few kilometers we came upon a Ngobe Bugle Indian woman fishing from her cayuco, a type of hand made dugout canoe crafted from a single tree. She had ten or so fish, representing several different species of beautiful Cichlids. She also informed us that we were up the Rio Koy, not the Rio Mananti.
Anyhow, not a bad accident if you ask me. One thing is for certain, we will be going back to the Rio Koy.
It is difficult to find the Rio Mananti because its mouth is a maze of multiple entrances, all well guarded by large sand and soft bottom flats. One had better know the local tides, and we were there on a rise allowing us to safely backtrack for several hours. After navigating some awfully skinny water for several kilometers, we just couldn’t find a way in. After disturbing multiple pods of bait, we decided that was enough searching, and that it was time to fish.
David Moseley a.k.a. “Mo”, owns a website called Wadefishing.com, and I want to let you know that he travels prepared to do just that anywhere he goes. After outfitting our crew with the latest in wade fishing technology, we hit the flats.
For about an hour we waded the sand bars and soft bottom flats in front of the various river mouths. There were huge schools of bait in the water, and right off the bat Jay thinks he sees a Tarpon. He couldn’t really pursue, because he had the boat tied off to his waist and was towing it along while he fished. The fish was fining and made its way over to John, but he was just out of range, and never got the fish to turn. We were casting these sweet Shimano bait casting set ups that Mo brought with all different kinds of baits. We threw plastics, crank baits, and top water plugs. We spooked several fish while wading, but never made a positive identification. We landed a couple of nice Jack Crevalle.
While fishing, we spotted a cayuco going in through a little obscure cut we had not yet tried, we quickly hopped in the boat to follow, knowing that sometimes a little local knowledge is the only way. Finally, and without getting stuck, we made our way into one of the branches of the Rio Mananti. With the help of a family, who was farming a small piece of land on the riverbank, we drove around exploring a few of the river forks and found the main branch.
With the sun low in the sky, we decided to save that adventure for Mo’s next trip to Panama, and asked ourselves again, where does it all end?
Labels: Animals, Birding, Fishing, JLK, Nature, Trip Reports
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