Fish On!

---

Shaun arranged for his friend, Maricuny (Cuny for short), to take us out fishing on his 40' charter boat for our first day on the island. Michael and I had a light breakfast (we have a kitchen in our rooms) and then Shaun joined us for the short hop to the marina. We were forewarned that the weather had been a bit dicey and there would be a significant chop....indeed. But the sky was clear and the fish, while not too cooperative, were there. We picked up several tuna and bonita, which we used for bait and managed to spend most of the day feeding barracuda. High light of the trip was the on board sushi bar. Cuny and Shaun would take the tuna and cut thin slices of it, add a little hot sauce (which often turned out to be a lot of hot sauce due to the pitching of the boat) and now you know what raw fish is supposed to taste like.

After fishing Michael took a siesta while I took a chair and a cold beer to the beach with a good book. Being Sunday the place was full of families. Best part was watching the kids swim like dolphins. They have an old sail boat moored in the bay in front of our posada and have titled a mast to which is attached a rope swing. Watching the boys out there impressing their girl friends with flips and dives is pretty impressive.

Dinner tonight was at a local's place, Anthony's chicken. Where for $5 the plate of fresh grilled fish, rice and beans, salad, and plantains was almost, but not quite, too much too eat.

We spent an hour of so at a local bar owned by a Canadian who could not get over our election ("biggest con job in history") and harassed his more conservative customers. Interesting side note. Seems the dive shops (this is a big diving area) and beach bars hire a lot of gringos, much to the chagrin of the locals. These kids come in on 90 day tourist visas, take some of the better paying jobs, slip out to Belize or somewhere for a few days, then come back in on another 90 day tourist visa. It doesn't take a lot of skill here to tend bar, all drink receipes seem to consist of ice, lots of booze, and fruit punch, and there are plenty of local dive masters. What an ironic situation.

---

Photos

Michael
Fighting a barracuda