Michelle brought Elsy back with her after visiting her mother in the interior, so I was stoked that we would have a boat driver to train for our next trip. Leaving the interior, they had to wake up at 3:30 AM and walked for four hours thru the hills in the rain and mud, with a horse carrying their bags and a cooler, to get to the first bus. They arrived in Panama City, wasted, after traveling more than 14 hours, but with a couple of days of recovery and preparation we were ready to go back to the Perlas. The fantasy of big dorado, and floating logs lured us back even though our only dive report had been of dirty water and no fish.

It always feels great to arrive without problems, at the bottom of the Perlas, sixty plus miles of open sea, anchor up in a protected cove and take a recovery snooze before breaking out the dive gear. We usually are in no hurry to shoot anything the first day or two, unless it is really special, because on a five day trip, we want the fish to be as fresh as possible and we are only carrying a couple of small coolers.  I like to jump in, without a gun first, to check out the conditions, the current, the vis, where the bait is, the swell, and it saves time when we are ready to jump in with gun and buoy. On my first check out at some favorite rocks, I had seven medium size—20 – 30 lb—Bohala surround me and I was excited to know at least there were some fish here. 

We shot nothing the first couple of days but had fun exploring for new places. We swam in for coconuts, trained Elsy how to pick us up, and tried to go outside to the current breaks to look for logs but the wind was too strong and the seas too rough.

The next day we found a great place to dive, with bait and numerous small pargo of 15-20 pounds but we never took a shot. The fish were in the open, taunting us, but never more than ten or fifteen feet from the most perfect cover they could ever have. The bottom was like a huge, flat, plate eight feet thick, with irregular cracks a couple of feet wide, going to the bottom and then under the plate. The fish would go down the cracks and under the plate. To shoot one of those pargo would be a guaranteed loss of expensive gear and tons of dive time trying to make a recovery.  I would not sucker for a shot here unless the fish was a monster and I had a good chance for a stone shot, which is almost impossible on a pargo. Where this area drops off we found bait, small sharks and small bohala, and it was time to put something in the ice box. Michelle has great natural hunter’s vision and often sees things long before I do.  I saw her tip up and start down with gun extended but I could not see her target.  When I saw her pause for a second, and then fire, followed by the buoy racing off, I knew she had scored. She kept the small bohala out of the rocks and was happy to put the first fish in the cooler.

We went back to the place where earlier, I had seen the seven bohala, thinking there might be a big one down deep.  I was cruising along looking down and when I looked up I had an awesome surprise!  Was that a wahoo just under the surface right in front of me? I have never seen nor heard of wahoo here, and this unexpected encounter delayed my action for a split second.  I finally woke up and had to swing my gun as the fish was passing, and even knowing I was not really lined up, had to squeeze off the shot BAM!  There is no fish that can make your buoy fly and skip along the surface like a wahoo. This fish left the area at high speed, trailing my buoy, and since I thought the shot was bad, I expected it to pull out at any time. Michelle and Elsy picked me up and we went two or three hundred yards to where the buoy had stopped .I jumped back in and went down and was stoked to see both the fish and spear tangled on the rocks about 15 or 20 feet deeper than the forty feet which is about my max.  Loosing the spear, tip and this fish I did not want to do, so I decided to tie Michelle’s weights and another weight to a recovery line, and let that take me down. I figured 25 lbs of weights with a three mil suit should drag me to the bottom. I was still hyped, and not relaxed, but I was afraid a shark would take the fish if I delayed the dive. We went up current of the buoy, Elsy drove, Michelle handed me the extra weights, tied to a long line and a buoy, and I tipped up and made a few kicks and tried to relax and enjoy the fall. At about 30 feet I could see the fish and had to kick to change the trajectory of my drop. I glided in perfectly, happy to see the fish still intact, lying on the big rocks. I freed the spear where it was wedged under a rock and started up with fish and spear. Bitchin!  I was going to make it, I felt good and not panicked, and I could see that it was a nice size wahoo.  Michelle was happy and impressed to see the wahoo, our first in this area, but we almost lost her weight belt when it briefly tangled in the rocks.  We learned that lesson.—if you loose someone’s weight belt the diving is over for them.  The dive was to 55 feet, for 56 seconds, deep for me, but I felt great that the recovery was successful and the system worked. The fish weighed a little over fifty pounds and we were happy with the unexpected good fortune of both shooting and recovering this delicious food.

The very next day I got to do another rocket man to the bottom.  Michelle shot another Bohala that wrapped in the rocks beyond my normal dive depth. I tied together our marking weights, and was more comfortable since I had not been the one that shot or fought the fish.  This time I went to sixty feet for a minute and fifteen seconds, recovered the fish and all the gear, and to my surprise, felt pretty comfortable. In two days I saved two fish and two spears that I would have lost before. The clear water made a big difference as I could see the fish on the fall and home in on the problem. Next trip I will help Michelle try some drops as it seems like a good way to get comfortable at depth.

The final dive day we suited up in a rainstorm but fortunately it was not really cold or uncomfortable. Then we went outside again but it was still too rough to cover distance or to see floating logs.  We did see one sail on the surface but he did not stick around for us to get in the water. We went back to our new high spot and after we each scored on another bohala the cooler was full. In the confusion of landing the last fish, Elsy managed to cut the float line in half, and as her punishment and reminder, I had to administer the “Bohala Bite.” This is the modern, panga equivalent, of keel hauling for careless and inattentive crew.

We decided to go north a few miles to be closer for the return trip the next day. We found a beautiful new waterfall and decided to anchor and check it out and bring back some water in a container for full- on shampoos and showers on the swim step. Michelle cautioned us there might be snakes, because of an experience she had when walking through a similar wet, overgrown area when she was a child.  She heard someone calling beside the path and when she went to investigate she found a guy completely wrapped up by a big snake. He was still able to call out to her for help but she did not know what to do. When she went closer she saw the snake rear back and open his mouth really, really wide.  With the man watching, the snake then struck and engulfed the guy’s whole face in his mouth. She took off running for help and when she returned in fifteen minutes with help they found both the snake and the man dead, as the snake could not get his mouth over the shoulders of the man nor could he regurgitate his prey. It was a heavy experience for a ten year old to witness, and more difficult being too young to be of help.  I think I would choose shallow water blackout over that, any day. We saw no snakes but had a great time refreshing ourselves in the warm falls with the ocean a few feet away. Michelle filled our container and with a rope we towed it back to the boat. Elsy mentioned she finally felt good after four days of being sea sick in the panga. That is pretty hard core as she had never mentioned a word to us about being sick.

We decided to stay the night anchored in front of the waterfall because we had protection from anything from the west, but were exposed to other directions. About 3 AM the wind changed and came out of the East.  The current put us broadside to the waves and it was so rough and noisy that sleeping was hopeless.  Another lesson learned-- Get in a protected anchorage if you want to sleep because the wind and current direction will probably switch during the night. We waited till light to start the arduous trip back to the city because it is too dangerous to run in the dark and maybe hit a floating log.  It was a long 5 hours plus return trip.  As we approached Panama we hit a huge but refreshing torrential rain, probably one of the last of the season, and had to put on our masks to see our way in the canal. 

It is hard to describe the sense of relief and gratitude I feel when we get the boat out of the water and back to the shed where we can start cleaning and reorganizing.  The transition is astounding—five days living in a panga highlights and reminds us of the often forgotten, everyday blessings, and basic comforts we all enjoy, like food, shelter, freedom and safety—not a given on these trips. Also, because I know we are always on the edge, I feel deeply grateful for the motor that always works, the anchor line that has never broken, and my two fun, dive buddies that will try anything and never complain. Michelle and Elsy were also happy and thrilled to be back to safety and comfort, and now we can concentrate on the serious and important things in life that need to be done---like putting up a big rope swing in the yard so that we can train up for the next trip.---Life is Good

Dix, Michelle and Elsy
    30 Nov 2007
    dixroper@earthlink.net