Last September, Allene and I drove over the mountains from where we live in Bocas del Toro, on the Caribbean side of Panama, to David, a large town on the Pacific slope in the province of Chiriqui. Every year since we moved here, we’ve made the annual trek at that time to get our annual […]
A few days ago I told our neighbor’s worker, Juan, that I would be going to town on the following Wednesday here in Bocas del Toro, Panama, where my wife Allene and I have resided for nearly 20 years. Juan is an indigenous member of the local Ngäbe tribe as is his wife Hilda. Hilda […]
The X-rays Dr. Barria wanted me to get in December had to be postponed until January 27 due to the resurgence of the Omicron variant. The Bocas hospital was full of COVID patients and half of the staff was out with the virus also. But with the patience I had already acquired in dealing with […]
The new swell started arriving two days ago here in Bocas del Toro, Panama, where we have lived for the last eighteen years. I took my boat that I keep in town, a 24 ft. fiberglass panga, out to Carenero Island the first two days to surf. On the northeast side of Carenero there are […]
I’ve always loved the song “New York Minute” by the Eagles. Even though it’s not one of their more popular or notable songs, in my opinion it’s one of their best. There’s a line in the third verse that goes, “If you find somebody to love in this world, you better hang on tooth and […]
Who woulda thunk it? After a successful career in the music business as a singer and songwriter, and touring with my band for close to 30 years, Allene and I decided to cash it all in and move to a remote island in Panama to become farmers. It might seem like I’m being facetious here […]
Part 1 The question I’m most frequently asked by my music fans, friends or family members, is “Clay, what in the world made you want to move to Panama?” My wife Allene and I have been living on Isla Colón, in the Bocas del Toro archipelago in Panama for more than 16 years, and people […]
One night in February 2003, three months before my wife Allene and I moved to Bocas del Toro, Panama, a severe cold front passed through New Braunfels, Texas, where we lived at the time. The next morning, I saw snow covering our yard, and it turned out the front had deposited a lot of snow […]
Recently, some good friends from Texas, Al and Rhonda Brown, came down to visit us here in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Like they always do, they showed up with some nice gifts for my wife Allene and me and one was a t-shirt for me that said on the back “I Surfed in the ‘60s […]
Holy Cow!!!! I can’t believe they actually did it! They pulled it off! After 55 years of futility, on a beautiful, balmy evening in Los Angeles, California, the Houston Astros won the World Series. I’d have to say the stars and the planets were perfectly aligned, because at that moment, everything seemed right with the […]
In May of 2003, my wife Allene and I moved to Isla Colon in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro in the Republic of Panama. We had come here in 1998 on a surfing trip and it was love at first sight, even before we hit the ground. Coming in on the plane, looking down […]
