Swimming Pool

After we saw the nurse shark Sid notice a huge grouper, belly up and swimming in circles, floating towards us. Sid jumped into the dinghy with the gaff to see how much alive the fish was and when he gaffed him, oh my gosh Sid was yanked back and fourth and up and down. It took him a good fight to get the fish into the dinghy and still there this 13.5 pound adrenalin pumped fish was yanking Sid around. Later he told me that he pulled a muscle on his back, poor guy. All the cruisers swear by pouring alcohol into the gills kills the fish instantly, we never had much luck with that but thought to give it another shot, or two or oh well the whole 8 oz of alcohol went into his gills and it took a long time for him to die. We hauled him up on the bow where Sid then was filleting 2 inch think fillets of the bones. There was so much fish Sid brought a quarter of it to our new neighbors. The scrap we tossed into the water which brought 4 nurse sharks and huge trigger fish around. It was fun watching the nurse sharks circling like they were dancing with each other eating the scraps. About an hour later Gaby was ready to venture into the water (after not having seen a single nurse shark for a while). Barely in the water one swam right under her. We had fun following this 7 foot creature and watching it blow into the sand to find food.
After a wonderful grouper dinner we hung the light into the water and were entertained for many hours. First we had several spotted eagle rays swim under the boat, then a fairly good sized squid (big enough for my frying pan) floated by, a school of cobia amongst many smaller fish, but what topped it all off was 5 good sized Wahoo trying to catch needle fish which also scattered around the bright light. Next time we hang the light out we'll be prepared for the Wahoo, frying pan is already on the stove and garlic is chopped.
The nice thing here is sitting in the shallow clear water the light makes it look as if we in deed are in a swimming pool with the turquoise blue hallow around Paradise.

While Sid did some maintenance on the boat, finding the impeller had lost 5 out of the 6 teeth, and other things to repair, the girls ventured to BBQ island where we 10 years ago had fun potluck on this cute island. In the mean time, a cruiser who is still there since we were there was tried to claim the island and upset the Kunas. So now the island is inhabited by an elderly couple to protect what is theirs and the Kuna Congress created a law that now Kuna's living on islands are allowed to charge 2 dollars per person to walk on the island. We talked to the very friendly elderly couple; they are still upset at the cruiser, who by the way is still hanging around the Swimming pool now trying to claim another island. Not just that he puts 200 feet of chain out in 10 feet of water so that no other cruisers can anchor close to them; a real shame as cruisers like that give us all a bad name. Another thing they were upset about that some cruisers come onto their island and steal coconuts, which is their income(get 35cents per coconut). The friendly couple invited us to come ashore and enjoy their island at any time.

After we thanked them we headed to some other islands and walked around some on another Gaby walked into a thorny leaf of a coconut palm which punctured her just below her eye, she now has a good shiner. Later on we snorkeled out by the reef and since there was a strong about 1.5 knot current I suggested we drift back to the boat towing the dinghy which really was fun we barely had to move our fins to get back.

Gaby hasn't had sauerkraut in years and so I promised to cook some, but every time sauerkraut was on the menu some fishermen came by with some more fish, this time with crabs with the biggest claws, we all were drooling seeing those and sauerkraut was pushed off again. She finally had her sauerkraut 4 days later.

Unfortunately Gaby's vacation is coming to an end and it was time to sail back to Portobello." Audrey Page" we haven't seen in over 2 years showed up just on time for us to noodle behind their boat to meet their grandchildren, Gaby and to catch up.

The motor sail back was bumpy and poor Gaby was feeding the fish again. But that went fast away as we anchored and I had prepared one of her favorite dishes grandma always cooked for us, stewed rabbit, she was smiling from ear to ear.

Holandes Cays or Swimming Pool

Lots of thunderclouds going by to the north of us due to tropical waves which are now coming more frequently and the first storm of this season has built. The mainland creates daily thunderstorm as well so we are always ready to do the rain shuffle. July 3rd was the first morning with no clouds in the sky.
Banadup is such a beautiful place making us feel that Paradise is in Paradise. All but one of the island are inhabited by a Kuna Family, which we learned stays for about 3 months to take care of the coconuts then another related family takes over to take care of the coconuts. One of the islands here is a little resort with a big thatched roof with tables and chairs (made out of tree stumps) a bar with two freezers, beer or coke only and on lucky occasions they have rum. Attached to this is a hut with a kitchen and I think I also saw a hammock in it. The owner a cute little Kuna man lives with two helpers on the island while his wife manages another island with the same idea of a resort. Guests can either sleep in one of the many tents he has available or in a hammock. The island is oblong and Coco palms only grow on both ends in the middle is a nice stretch of beach with a volley ball net. We sat down and had a couple of ice cold beer while talking to the jolly little man and found out all kinds of things about their culture including that they only sleep in hammocks all in one room and yes baby's are created in the hammocks.

We had such a good time we decided to go back later on in the evening and play boccha ball. Several more boats arrived the same day and before we knew it we were 16 boats. Guess we found the right island for the 4th of July celebration. Bob and Jeannie on Island Dreamin' we met in Puerto La Cruz arrived as well and we had a happy reunion at the resort, although we never played boccha ball, there was only time for beers while we swapped stories.

The fishermen come buy every day with either lobster, conch, crab or fish and it's just so hard not to buy anything, today's catch was a 3.5 pound snapper. Some come along the boat and beg for some fishing line with hook as they just had lost theirs with a big fish on the hook. Many bring their cell phones to charge. Yep this is the cell phone age even in Kuna Yala.

Gaby and I did a few snorkeling trips and each time we had found some beautiful coral reefs and sand bars which Gaby thinks is incredible to be in the middle of the ocean and just in ankle deep water. We also had a noodeling get together with Island Dreamin' and Southern Bell right off one of the islands in crystal clear and shallow water. While sitting there and talking away, playing with our hands in the sand Sid dug up some clams, so we all started digging and decided to go clam hunting the following morning and indeed we managed to get enough clams for a wonderful appetizer.

We were going to leave for the Holandes Cays but it looked like the whole fleet was going to meet here in the Eastern Lemmons for 4th of July and so we decided to stay a bit longer. 4th of July was celebrated on one of the islands. Volleyball was one of the activities along with slammers (Tequila/Kalua/Coke yummy) and jello shots. Connie on Better Days made sure that all had a wonderful time; I tell you she's dangerous! The weather was perfect, couldn't have been better as we could clearly see the coast of Panama, just beautiful.

We were going to leave on the 5th but a huge cloud moved the islands and into the direction we were going to navigate. It was a big system and we thought to better wait which turned out to be a very wise decision as a good size waterspout started sweeping the water to where we could have been had we left. Another day in this island group didn't hurt and while Sid played volley ball, Gaby and I went hunting for some more of those juicy clams. While digging in the sand all of a sudden there was this blood curdling scream and all I saw was frothy water and on top of the froth I saw Gaby's spinning legs as she was running backwards on top of the water. A crab had gotten hold of her finger, pinched it and drew blood. That was definitely the end of clamming and we ended this episode with a pipa (coconut water in the nut with a splash of rum and gin). Ahhh life is good!

On the 6th a hefty water shower greeted the day and made sure all was soaking wet. After all had dried a little we pulled anchor and motored the 10 mile distant to Holandes Cays or also known as The Swimming Pool. The sea was flat calm but half way a huge thundercloud tried to threaten us, never made it but it did bring us heavy wind. Approaching the Swimming Pool a squall line from the opposite direction was now threatening us while the thunderstorm from shore still was sending heavy wind, we just knew that Sid would be on the bow again anchoring in a heavy downpour. Luckily the cloud decided to leave us alone and here we are anchored in 8 feet of crystal clear water and Gaby already saw her first nurse shark swimming underneath the boat. I think it will take a lot of convincing to get her into the water here LOL.