<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"\"&lt;h2&gt;The Island Of Plenty&lt;\\/h2&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Discovering euphoria off Panama\\u2019s Caribbean coast&lt;\\/em&gt;&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nWords: Dave Malcolm&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nPhotos: Seth Stafford\\/SPL&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cOh, man, I\\u2019d love to, but I don\\u2019t think I\\u2019ll have new boards ready before then\\u2014I\\u2019ll let you know.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;It\\u2019s the third time I\\u2019ve heard that same excuse in the last 24 hours\\u2014time I\\u2019ve spent rifling through the &lt;em&gt;TransWorld SURF&lt;\\/em&gt; rolodex trying to wrangle up a small crew of three for a last-minute strike mission to Panama. Is it me? Does my breath stink? I should floss more. Anyway, I\\u2019m somewhere around belly button deep in production for our new surf flick &lt;a href=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.tropically-yours.com\\/\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Tropically Yours&lt;\\/em&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;, and cherry-picking the proper crew for these trips is key. There\\u2019s a fine line one must dance when enticing pro surfers to pack their bags and book a flight. It sounds funny, but these surfers can be pretty damn reluctant to go on surf trips. Strange, right? You\\u2019d think in the middle of winter it\\u2019d be a no-brainer to throw some trunks in a board bag and head south to warmer pastures. But in reality, convincing these guys to squeeze more \\u201cwork\\u201d into their schedule involves finesse and technique. You\\u2019ve got to hype it up but not too much. It\\u2019s quite an art form, really.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Having been to the Caribbean side of Panama the year before, I know the potential, and the forecast looks good once again. But with only three days of advance notice, I need to push our tentative crew over the ledge, so I commit to a tactic I told myself I\\u2019d never use: I over-hype it. \\u201cYou guys have to believe me: It has the most fun waves ever, it\\u2019s the sickest place, there\\u2019s rad parties, the forecast looks mental, and Latin American supermodels litter the beach with not one dude in sight. I know, I know, it sounds too good to be true, but it\\u2019s real. I\\u2019ve seen it.\\u201d I speak as though I\\u2019ve discovered El Dorado, and somehow Matt Meola, Dillon Perillo, and Michael Dunphy believe me.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;I always house some level of anxiety on the way to a new destination, laying out the variables in my head over and over. Will the swell really show? The charts were downgraded. Should we even go? The longer the journey, the higher the expectations, and though I\\u2019m normally not a pessimist, this trip really has me spinning my wheels in a negative direction\\u2014toward delusions of complete disaster. No waves. No chicks. This crew will never do another trip with me. That clich\\u00e9 evil movie laugh echoes through my weary skull well into our Panama City layover. And then, hope arrives.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cExcuse me, where are you going?\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;I stir out of my subconscious in one of those ergonomic airport seats, and squinting through bleeding eyeballs, I see Dillon in a similar state, quizzed by what sounds like a girl. More squints. Yep, that\\u2019s definitely a girl\\u2014and an attractive one at that. Dillon mumbles something about Panama, but I pay no attention to him. His new friend continues in broken English. \\u201cOkay. So are we. We are staying at Calypso. We will see you there?\\u201d Turns out \\u201cwe\\u201d is her plus seven more gorgeous friends on summer vacation from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The outgoing one returns to her curious pack and relays the information. Giggles and smiles exchange. Did that just happen?&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.grindtv.com/surf/the-island-of-plenty/?pid=72683>