LA PESCADORA
Rebecca has been reveling in her diving. Twice a week has been routine. Unfortunately the water has been very cold and she can only manage one dive of about an hour; that zaps her for the day. Even Alex, her dive master, has been cold. But she has become adept at another activity along the way - fishing. As she relates below, she has been quite the success. Between writing this story and its distribution she has been out a couple of more times and has routinely caught several edible-sized specimens including a couple of Spanish mackerels which were very challenging to reel in. With a slight detour to her least favorite activity, on to Mrs.T's story:
Well today I went to the dentist, again. I go and they torture me untiI I can't stand it and then they make appointment. Today was the third or fourth one and I am tired of the whole thing. Dan thinks I am a wimp but he has good teeth. I told the dentist to tell Dan I was very brave. The dentist told me I was very brave and strong men were much worse than I. But if he told Dan, I don't think Dan believed him. The dentist says he wants to save my tooth but after about an hour I told him to yank it out! (She has a mouth full of bad teeth. -dt) My philosophy is if my teeth don't bother me I won't bother them. I brush them twice a day and that is it. Rita says she won't go to a dentist who doesn't put her out or at least give her laughing gas. (Nitrous oxide; not used much these days. -dt) I'm not sure what laughing gas is but I'm willing to give it a giggle. (Rebecca has at least one more visit. -dt)
Recently I have been fishing. Alex and his family often fish either before or between our dives. We troll with the fishing lines hanging behind the boat as Alex drives along. If a fish is on a line either Alexandra or Manual, reels it in and then the other one grabs the line and pulls it in. Eva, Alex's wife, can reel in the fish but she doesn't unless no one else does. I think her attitude is, 'If I catch a fish I'll probably have to clean the darned thing'. As I recall Mama had a deal with Daddy: She would cook any fish or animal he caught or hunted but he must clean it.
So one day Manual had caught a fish and so had Alexandra when a third line dipped. Alex called, "Give it to Rebecca". Well, nothing loth (Look that up -dt), I stood at the back of the boat and began to reel. I reeled and I reeled. Then I reeled some more. How far away was this fish, I wondered. I reeled and I reeled; I was beginning to get tired. I turned to see if I could give the pole to Manual without disgrace. "A little mas", he said. I reeled a little mas and Manual reached over the side of the boat and pulled in my fish. The fish was about 8 inches long. A keeper but nothing great. Still, everyone was very pleased both with the fish and with me. It went into the fish box.
When another line dipped, Alex said that was mine too. Well I was on a roll. I took a deep breath and started reeling. I could surely do it again. I reeled and I reeled. I reeled some more. Then something unexpected happened. The fish jumped out of the water. When this occurs you are supposed to reel really, really fast - I am not sure why. Then I went back to regular reeling for a while until the next jump. It seemed to me that this fish was a lot heavier than the first one. Not only that but the nearer he got to the boat the heavier he became. Every so often he would jump and I would reel frantically. But finally, just when I thought I could not reel once more Manual pulled him over the side into the boat.
He was enormous, he was huge, he was -- well actually he was about the size of the fish the kids had caught -- about 2 feet long. (You can look at the picture and judge for yourself. -dt) Alexandra said she would take a picture. This was necessary because Dan was going to doubt every claim I made especially regarding the size of the fish. (Correct -dt) It is possible he is justified a wee bit because I might have a tendency to exaggerate just a tad. (Rebecca is often spatially challenged. -dt) But Dan should not discount all my claims out of hand. Manual took a hold of the head because the fish kept trying to bite me. It had very sharp teeth. If you look at the picture of me with the fish it looks as if I have three hands. All of these fish were barracudas also called wahoos and they were good to eat. My fish was a very respectable size especially as I had not fished for many years and considering my advanced age. But these guys are used to fishing in the bay or the open ocean for large fish and were only mildly impressed. (Mrs.T can now converse with the local fishermen from experience. -dt)
After this Alex and I went diving. There was a lot of surge. The waves would toss you one way and then another. There are two different things you can do in this situation. If you want to control the direction you go when the waves take you in the right direction you swim very hard with them and then dig in the tips of your fins or your fingers and hold on against the opposing waves. In certain conditions when the waves seem to move in random directions this is very difficult, The other option is to go completely limp and let the waves take you. Then you can give an occasional kick to control your direction a bit. I used both methods. The surge was very extreme and I was getting quite a bit of water in my mask and in my regulator. I used my purge to clear my regulator a couple of times, something I rarely do. It was nonetheless a very good dive with lots of interesting fish and invertebrates,
After the dive I was very tired. While we were down Manual had cleaned the fish and Eva had cooked them in the teeny tiny kitchen on the boat. We had barracuda tortas. They were quite good. We had mandarinas and cookies for dessert. (Mrs.T's usual contribution -dt) We were packed up with the anchor lifted and ready to go back. Suddenly an absolutely huge fish jumped right in front of the boat. It was a Spanish mackerel. (The editor is happy we are not catching anything for the taxidermist. -dt)
"Lines!", Alex commanded quietly. I figured the fish was at least 4 feet long. When I got home I looked in my fish book and Spanish mackerels can get up to 7-1/2 feet long. Alexandra and Manual put out four heavy lines, one in front and three in back. Manual went to the front line and Alexandra and I covered the back. Alex began to drive the boat in slow circles. "Get ready Rebecca," Alex said, "If we can hook him I am going to teach you how to fish!" I should explain Alex is a good fisherman and guys pay him lots of money to take them fishing in the ocean. I was a little scared and not sure I was up to it. I sat in the fishing chair breathing slowly and drinking Pepsi. "Well", I thought, "I will try." I took another deep breath and thought fishing thoughts, We drove in circles for quite a while but we got no bites. And then we went back to the dock. (Soon Rebecca will be bragging about 'the one that got away'. -dt)
Just a few pictures, including the fish: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmUTP3hM
Rita is down with us now - or will be in a few days. She came and promptly went on a planned birding adventure up the coast a short way at a sanctuary near San Blas. We thought that was a splendid idea for her. We will have one full week with her; she and Rebecca are very close. We look forward to her visits every year.
Soon we will be returning to Philo. Several doctor visits, real and video, await as well as COVID vaccinations. And we have our usual turnaround which we have down fairly well - few surprises.
We hope the weather there will be cooperative and be turning into nice spring days.
See many of you soon.
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com
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