Watch: A Backdoor Tube Clinic On The Steep Shores Of Panama

“It was all of our first times to Panama,” writes Maryland resident and chronic tube occupant Simon Hetrick. 

He also starred in and edited the film above, along with penning the below. A triple threat! 

Simon both conceived and reared this adorable child in his two weeks on the island. Is there nothing the teen can’t do?

Simon:

Sam Neiger, Matt McQueen, and I were pleasantly surprised to find all of our friends that we usually see on Hatteras Island road trips down in Bocas del Toro. Lucas Rodgers had been camped out there for weeks ruling with his filmer Snacks, and Brad Flora flew back to meet us.

Sam hurt his ankle on the first day after getting the bomb you see at the end of the second section, but after a few days of handycamming, he was surfing like nothing ever happened.

A tube and coconut addict’s Valhalla.

Mcquangus ate a bug, grew wings, and then scales after 5 days of third-degree sunburn.

Carnival rolled around and we ran through the streets with the Panamanian devils with whips, who cracked us all. You can see Matt get smoked at 1:37.

Our friend Bolivar who lives on a sailboat showed us around Bocas. In the water, we encountered sea sickness and barrels, and out of the water we encountered plenty of friendly faces. One of the most memorable was that of a local woman who hand-fed Brad Flora her world famous rice pudding, and vice versa.

Every day, all to themselves.

After realizing staying at bluff is where it’s at, we moved to Playa Bluff lodge with Lark and the Florida boys. Around the same time Dane, Droid, Andrew, Mini & Sharpy rolled into town with Scott from Red Frog and we shared a few sick solo sessions and good times.

Getting pushed by my favorites gets me fired up, and sharing a pumping empty beachie with the boys was dreamy. Thanks for the good times Panama, we’ll be back soon.