Molas, Crocodiles, Late-night Visitors, and Rain

It's been an eventful few days here on Astarte, not the least of which was a humdinger of a squall last night at the convenient hour of 0230! Yuck. The dinghy has subsequently been bailed twice and still has a bit of water. The good news is that the water tanks are full, with water to spare! And our drying clothes got a second dousing while on the line. The bad news is that the squall wasn't the end of it and we continue to see the rain fall…and that once crystal water around Green Island has turned to mud. Yuck times two.

Backing up a bit, we did have an encounter with Lisa, "master mola maker and infamous transvestite" (as per The Panama Cruising Guide) before leaving the Lemmons. Barbara has written a bit about the Kuna's propensity for approaching boats and selling their wares. Having read about Lisa just a few hours earlier, I couldn't help but be intrigued enough to see her molas and chat her up (her English is quite good). And she had some very intricate molas. I'm not really a connoisseur and know nothing about the fabric arts (hell, I can hardly sew a button), but luckily the guide books tell you what to look for. My hopes of finding a Mola mola mola (yes, there's a fish joke in there) weren't realized but we did pick up a few nice ones and a very kitchy mola beer coozie! We'll hang with Lisa again when we talk a river tour in a few days.

Still no joy in the fishing world. We've heard reports of a crocodile (a wee pup at 5' in length) in the vicinity-he seems to be a bit of a local legend. Combined with the murky water, the snorkeling potential is rapidly declining, as you may imagine! We were hoping the murky water might lead to some fishing luck (it is looking more like Chesapeake Bay or the Gulf than that gin-clear water we were lured by), but alas even the changing conditions can't dumb down the local stocks enough to take a bite.

Lastly, we heard the saddest tale of woe last evening when we were approached by two Kunas well after dark. They arrived in the midst of yet another squall. They had been out collecting coconuts (Kuna currency, forbidden to visitors) and as they were paddling for home, their ulu (canoe) was upended. While these boats are very cool, we witnessed their lack of stability when the Kuna man selling octopus toppled out of his earlier in the day while trying to close the deal with us-he came to the surface with the octos held high! At any rate, the guys lost all their cocos, one canoe paddle, and some pride. The younger of the two (15) was a bit scared by the whole episode and they decided we were a safe bet. So, they got cookies and coffee, a towel, some shelter, and time to regain their courage while they waited for a weather window to make the 3 hour paddle home (not sure if that was calculated with 1 paddle or two?). The older one (20) was fluent in Spanish so we chatted a bit, at which point we learned about the crocodiles, turtles, and white sharks (though we're thinking some kind of reef shark) in the area-this story was further compounded by a side note whereby their dog had recently been eaten by a crocodile. Hmmmm. Barbara and I (the cynics in this case) just couldn't help but wonder if we were being put on! At any rate, it makes for a good story!

We're hoping for some clearer air and water tomorrow, but are content to read and sip rum punches for the time being.

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