Snorkel Fun
31 May 2015 | Escuda de Veraguas
Mark
Yesterday was 'play day' at Escuda.It was a bright sunny day, the morning net confirmed that we now ave a strong SSB signal, all was right with the world. I had heard that on the North side of several of the little tiny cays that dot the East end of Escuda there were shallow ledges with lot of lobster hiding under them. Bryan had brought some 'tickle sticks' - loops on a 4' rod to catch lobster - so we decided to try them out. We launched dink and she fired up first pull. But then she wouldn't idle. Ran fine at half to full throttle, but died at idle then needed to be choked to start again. Sounds like plugged idle jet to me. Oh well, it has sat for a while with old gas. I'll fix it later. Off we went in search of lobster. We tied dink on a small stretch of beach and swam the final few yards to the little cays. Indeed there were lots of coral shelves and lots of hide-y holes, but no lobster. We had a great snorkel anyway. Jana said it was the most and biggest fish she has seen in Panama. (Wait until she gets to the San Blas!) Back at the boat, we grilled hot dogs for lunch (we had had BLTs for 'brunch' and I figured we wouldn't have lunch, but we had all burned up enough calories we were ready for a real lunch.) Even though we didn't find lobsters, it was pretty enough and there was enough left to explore that we went back to the same area again. This time we worked dink in and around the coral to get to a tiny beach on one of the outer islands. And guess what? She idled just fine. I guess the jet cleaned itself with use. This time we did find (but not catch) lobsters. First, Deb spotted a good sized one. I had left the tickle sticks in the dink, so Bryan tried to grab it, but ended up with just an antenna (they shed and regrow them like geckoes do tails.) I brought the tickle sticks and prods, but we couldn't get him to come anywhere near a spot he could be snagged. Soon I found a smaller one. I couldn't quite get the loop on him, so I 'tickled' him out of his hole, but he scooted away and found another hole before I could grab him. Too many things in my hand. I should have just dropped everything and grabbed him when he came out. Bryan had a similar experience with another lobster. And then he actually grabbed one on the carapace, but managed to get his injured finger (he smashed it a month ago and lost the tip which is SLOWLY regrowing) so he dropped it in reaction. Even with gloves those spines are sharp. The only hunter who succeeded was Deb. She got a nice conch each trip. Well, Jana got a couple beautiful helmet conch, but those don't count as they aren't food. I retrieved the animals from their shells and Deb cleaned them, but since we already had planned guacamole and fajitas for dinner, we decided to save the conch for today. Dinner was good and we were all ready for an early bed. Today the plan was to leave about midday for the Chagres river - the source of Lake Gatun and the Panama Canal. The river is a wonderful, magical place, not to be missed. As I type this, however, it is overcast and blustery. This is the weather they had predicted for yesterday - maybe a day late? I'll check weather when I post this. We have a variety of options. We can stay put and wait for a nicer day, we can head for Chagres if it looks like it will clear (we need good weather and light to enter), or we cna head to Portobelo - and easy entrance in any weather - and stop at Chagres on the way home. You can find out with our next post which will probably be in two days if we are sailing as I usually don't write one while underway.