Hi all,
Hope you are enjoying your summer so far. Heard it’s been a hot one. Thanks to everyone who has been in touch wondering if fell off the face of the earth. I’ve been a slacker with the update/blog.
Designated Drunk:
One morning at 9:00 Wayne drove by a cantina on his way to check on the boat. He noticed a guy sitting in the bar enjoying his breakfast of a bottle of Herrando (a sugar vodka) and a bottle of ice cold Panama. In Panama, it doesn’t have to be 5:00 somewhere. At around noon, Wayne drove by again and the same guy was now enjoying his lunch, which was a repeat of his earlier breakfast. At 2:00 it was our turn to stop in and quench our thirst. This time the guy was deep into his siesta. AKA: Totally annihilated and passed out. The bar tender, to our surprise, actually called a cab to come get the guy. WOW, this makes sense and how incredibly responsible!!!! The cab arrives. The driver gets out, walks over to the guy, starts shaking him and doesn’t give up until he’s got the guy upright and awake. Then he sits down and orders them both a beer. Not until after several more rounds does the driver load his pickled amigo into the car and takes him ‘safely’ home. Everyday, many times a day, we look at each other and say….can you imagine that happening in the states!!!!
Wayne’s fishing trip, by Wayne: In my adventures down here in Panama I have got to be friends with a guy who has a 29' Phoenix in the only marina on the Azuero peninsula,Which is private and there are only 2 boats at the Marina,It's at the ex-presidents house who is a woman and a avid fisherman that owns a 48' CABO!!!
We headed out around 6:00 A.M. to get some small baitfish (Green Jacks) that resembled a snapper blue that were plentiful and hit sabiki rigs like crazy..
Headed out about 10 miles to the Tuna grounds and put our artificials in and ran 5 rods. We had consistent action for a few hours and caught about 8 decent sized Mahi with my first Bull about 25 lbs!!
When the action slowed we headed over to Frailles rocks with live bait and tied on a wire leader and circle hook, The water had a nervous look to it and the local baitfish were near the top, Within 30 seconds of letting my bait out I had an incredible runoff on the Avet 30 reel so hard that it seemed like it was in freespool for a while,I got the fish close to the boat and saw it was a nice Wahoo but when he saw the boat took off for another nice run..After landing it I threw out another bait and had another great runoff that came unbuttoned and then came a good rain so we packed it in.
Tally 8 Mahi of different sizes up to 25 lbs. and a 45lb. Wahoo..
It was a great day on the water with Dolphins swimming along with the boat,Giant Leatherback turtles,and Humpback whales freejumping completely out of the water and exploding the surface when they landed!
Back at the dock on our return the Secret service guarding the property came down to check out what we caught toting a full auto machine gun but were very friendly (good thing!).
We are still looking for land or even a small house or fixer upper. We keep telling ourselves to go slow. Going slow won’t be a problem as we are having a tough time making contacts, getting people to call us back and getting to know what is and isn’t for sale. FRUSTRATING!!! We are getting dangerously close to biting the bullet and dealing with a so called real estate agency. This is our last resort though.
We leave our current rental at the end of the month. We decided against renting the beach house. WAY too much responsibility. The lease agreement stated that any damage due to rain or wind would be our responsibility. HELLO!!! I don’t think so. We found another rental...and get this, $200 a month plus electric. It's a typical style house. We can paint and do whatever we want to it. Of course at our expense but it doesn't need a whole lot other than cleaning and paint. We'll have to buy furniture but we'll take that with us when we get something of our own. It's actually in a part of town where they do don't a whole lot of bombings...that's always a good thing.
Took out Gato Solo Tuesday and yesterday with our friend Kevin. Tuesday Wayne caught a 5 foot black tip shark. Friggin wild!!!! He caught it on a FLUKE LURE. Go figure. Thankfully Kevin’s expert gaffing kept it from ever getting into the boat. It did break the gaff though and is swimming around with what probably looks like a huge silver cigar hanging out of his mouth. Then the only other thing caught was by Kevin, a trigger fish. Everyone is saying this week the tide is no good for fishing. We set up a trip for yesterday with a local fisherman to captain our boat. AWESOME trip. I caught an Amberjack and Cubera Snapper. Wayne caught a Red Snapper. Poor Kevin and Wayne had some BIG ONES that got away…so they say. It was probably bottom. What ever! :))
It’s just amazing everything we see from the boat but also just walking the beach, whales, dolphin, sea turtles, sea snakes (not good), all kinds of stuff.
I posted some pictures on the blog/snapfish. Enjoy. They will be last you see as I busted TWO, YES TWO cameras this week. WHAT THE *#&@. We've got a 3rd camera but your guess is as good as ours as to where it is.
Well big fiesta going on down the road. Bongo's were seen being brought into the canteen....WOW, LIVE MUSIC. This will be a first since we've gotten here. God please don't let there be any accordian playing or whistles.
Happy summer everyone. Be in touch. We love hearing from everyone back at home.
