Panama: Day Three

Panama: Day Three

First day on Contadora

We got up early to go check out the snorkeling scene.  In March they actually get a cold current (in December it is warm) so the water was pretty chilly.  But with a wet suit I was set.  

The water was horribly unclear.  Me and Kevin just got spoiled in Mexico and have high expectations for snorkeling now.  I maybe saw 3 or so fish, and two small and one large sting ray.  When its not clear like that,  I always get scared of sharks coming out of nowhere so once I realized there was  nothing to see, I was out.  Daniel and Shalane went snorkeling a few mornings later and said it was a bit more clear.  Me and Kevin never went again.  Spoiled brats I tell ya.  

19 weeks with baby here.

After snorkeling we went to breakfast which was so good every morning.  I am usually not a huge breakfast person, but since being pregnant, that has changed.  We would get two fried eggs, ham, muenster cheese, croissants, fresh fruit and juice.  We always ate it all.  The weather was so beautiful and the view so pretty we would always hang out at breakfast for an hour or two.

It was then time to get ready to spear fish.  Me and Shalane decided to go out with them to their little island to read and relax while they were out spearing for 5 hours.  Me and Shalane have a great relationship because we will sit and talk for a while and then both get sick of talking and realize we just need to relax, sleep and read and wont bother one another for a few hours.  We are a great relaxing team.

We went and picked up our lunch to-go at our favorite spot Clarita's before we headed to the special fishing island.

And here is our secluded beach/ island.  There were some islanders on the other side of the island but they didn't come over and bother us which we were so thankful.  The boys were out in front of us for the entire 5 hours, but you rarely see them.  You see an occasional head bobbing or a fin, but for the majority of the time, they are under.

Contadora Island just across the way.

Out of the ocean first came Daniel.  He showed us these big boys and we got so excited that they had caught something!  Little did we know the actual haul they had...

The haul for the day!  There were 15 fish I believe.  The boys were so giddy with excitement and we were too.  We could not believe the size of some of the fish.  As the trip went on, we slowly got used to the big ones and expected bigger ones each time :)

Eric wanted to take this picture. 

Umm now I realize why that fish was so heavy.  Shalane was just barely holding the tail...

Photobombed by Eric. 

The boys loved Eric.  He is a very good spear-fisherman.  The boys idolized  him the entire trip.  You can see it in Kevin's face in this picture.
It was a running joke when we weren't with Eric to say "I wonder what Eric is doing now?"  "Eric would love this."  "Eric is such a manly man."  This went on the whole trip.

Now came the celebrity status.  The locals and Turkish Survivor crews would come and gaw-gaw over all the fish the boys caught.   The boys loved it.  Every day we would sell all of our fish and keep the best one for dinner.  Me and Kev made about $100 from selling the fish this trip.

Thats our secret island out there!

We always looked forward to dinner at Villa Romantica.  Our fresh catch of the day would come with french fries and delicious vegetables.  We stuffed ourselves silly every night.  The conversation was always hilarious.  Me trying to speak english and the little french I remember (he didn't understand a word of my french), Shalane trying to speak french to him, Daniel speaking his dumbed down english with lots of hand gestures, and Kevin speaking Spanish to him.  But by the end of the trip, it didn't feel like we all spoke a different language.  We were still able to communicate pretty well and looking back, it seems like we just had normal dinner conversations.
He was a pretty funny frenchman.  He made fun of the french and fat americans.  He told dirty jokes even though he said he's "always a gentleman."

Drooling just remembering how good this was.

We would stay at dinner every night until it was late and dark.  We would walk back home in the dark, quite neighborhoods and walk the airstrip back to our B&B as a shortcut.