One of the perks of this gig is that I have been truly honored to meet people that I would have never met if it weren\’t for kayak fishing. One of those people is Marty Gittens of BerleyPro and Tasline. I met him personally on my second visit to Los Buzos in Panama when my brother Tommy joined in on the fun.

Let\’s skip past the part where Marty separates his shoulder fishing in a zone that we were all told to avoid… just a flipped kayak and a visit to the Panamanian emergency room… no biggie.

We\’ll fast forward to the part where Marty convinces me to use my cell to call my Mom. It went something like this… \”Hi, is this Patty Ponce? This is the Australian police department and we have your son\’s in custody.\” What was exactly said is a little fuzzy. We were um… intoxicated by the flavors of Panama.

My Mom was more confused than anything… she wasn\’t convinced that we were in Australia, but she was on edge knowing that both of her son\’s were out of the country. After a few questions casting doubt on Marty\’s story, she heard one of our laughs (we are not quiet kids) and the story fell apart. Needless to say, she was not amused.

Only a few days into knowing Marty and I knew this much… I like this guy!