We just had the most
interesting experience! There was a fishing boat anchored near us this morning.
Gene had changed the oil yesterday and had the used oil so he decided to see if
the fisherman wanted the used oil. They were glad to have it and invited him on
board. They visited and then they invited him to go fishing with them looking
for hog fish. He went to pick them up in our dinghy but they had planned on
taking him with them but since our dinghy was faster they went with him. Three
of them went in the water and they came back with three fish. One of the guys
caught a turtle. They asked Gene if he had eaten turtle. He said no and they
invited us over for dinner.
I made some biscuits and
we went over there with some rum. There are seven of them on board. The boat is
really clean. There is one very nice seat at the wheel and I was placed there.
Gene was seated with the rest of the guys. We were invited into the galley to
look at and smell the dinner. They had rice and beans, sliced tomatoes, lobster
and the turtle. It looked wonderful. We sat for a while and they finished up
their chores. They have canvas that rolls down on the sides of the boat for the
cool times. It was pretty windy and cool so they "closed up" and all
came to visit.
They asked if we were
ready to eat and we said no hurry. I've never seen seven people try so hard to
communicate in my life. If one didn't get his point across another would take
over and reword it and try again. There was lots of bantering going on and
teasing one guy who has four children but his wife wants another. They brought
out two plates and escorted us into the galley to help our plates. It was
really great so we sat down to eat. No one else ate but they went and got the
turtle and brought it out and set it down beside us telling us we were not
eating enough.
We finished our plates and
they talked on about everything. They began to snack on the plate of turtle and
passed around the rum that we took over. They had one cup and would pour a
little in and pass it around for everyone to have a sip. We'd taken our
insulated cups along and finally took a little from the bottle. It was so
important for them to visit with us and to make us welcome.
We decided they weren't
going to eat until we left. We stayed about two hours and when we got up to
leave I asked for my pan to take with us. The cook brought out the pan with the
bread still in it. We told him no, just the pan. Then he returned with just the
pan and wanted to know how I made the bread. We thanked them all and did handshakes
and cheek kisses for me all around. They helped me in the dinghy and saw us on
our way. It's just amazing that they can be so gracious with all that they have
when they have so little compared to what we have. They never ask us for
anything but thoroughly appreciate anything we give them. They sure do make us
feel welcome. It was a wonderful experience.
We got up Monday morning
and saw the fishermen going out to check their nets. We grabbed a jacket and a
go cup of coffee and went to catch up with them. We asked could we watch and
they said "Si" with big grins. So we followed
along with camera in hand. They had a line set out but didn't get much off of
it. Then they went on to a set of two nets. There were a couple of rays which
they turned loose, some lobster, a few jack fish, a
couple of snapper, two Pompano, and a shark. They actually are fishing for
shark but take other stuff. One of the Pompano was small and they were very
careful with it and put it back to watch it swim away. We asked them about it
and they told us it was too small.
They are fishing from a
skiff about 10 feet long. They tow it with a larger boat that has a motor. Two
of them were in the skiff, one pulling the net and the other rowing. The shark
was about 6 feet long and still alive. They made an effort to kill him and had
him pretty docile but not dead. They called the bigger boat over and started to
put him into the bigger boat. He must have weighed nearly 200 lbs and almost
slid over the side. Then they tied a rope around him and the guy in the bigger
boat pulled him over into the boat with him. We got a lot of pictures of the
big shark.
They seemed pleased that
we got to see them catch him but said he really wasn't very big. We went along
back to their boat to see what they were going to do with him. They invited us
aboard and hung the shark up for us to get a group picture with the shark.
Meanwhile, the cook went in and cooked us some pieces of lobster and brought it
out. As on the night before, none of them ate any until we'd finished and then
one guy went around and put a piece in each guys mouth so they didn't have to
stop working and clean up. Pretty neat! They'd caught a ray and were cleaning
it when we got to the boat. Some of them started cleaning the fish and some
dragged the shark to the back deck. I followed along with the camera.
They skinned him first
then gutted him. Then one of the guys came over and while one opened his mouth
another reached in and felt around. He raised up and
wiped something off. He then handed me a perfectly clean sharks tooth and
showed me that it would make a nice necklace. Then they started cleaning the
head. I told Gene he was about to get a sharks jaw. A few minutes later, he
agreed. It must have taken them almost an hour to clean it and then they
presented it to him with a full set of teeth. When we got to looking, there are
layers of teeth behind the ones that we could see. Sometimes there's only one
and sometimes as many as 5. I think I remember hearing that they shed their
teeth but I don't know for sure. They sure do have lots of them.
Then another guy brought
us a handful of meat and explained that it was muy rico (very rich but when used with food it means very
good). It was from the rays. We got instructions for cooking it and headed back
to our boat. They'd asked to see our boat so we told them to come on over. They
said one hour.
Sure enough they all
showed up all cleaned up. We offered them beer and they accepted. By this time
it was
Meanwhile, we drank some
rum and visited. Then we told them we played music and of course they wanted to
hear. By this time the ceviche was done and was
fantastic! There was a soup pot full and we ate all but about a cup full. We
got out the instruments and played for awhile. They sang Cuban songs and
laughed and had a great time. They sang Guantanamera
and made up verses about us and our friendship.
They invited us to go out
in the gulf with them in the morning to catch the big shark. We said sure. By
this time even my Spanish was getting better but we still miss a lot. They're
all trying to learn some English. Several of them know some English and will
try to speak what they can. If one tells us something and we don't understand
then another one takes over and tries to explain, sometimes in the same words,
spoken more plainly and then sometimes he'll use different wording. We used the
dictionary several times. They left about
I'd really like to print
up some pictures for them when we see them again. I got a lot of really good
ones. We left and moved back to the east about 20 miles to get better protection
from the east winds. We hadn't been anchored more than a half hour when 2 guys
came by and wanted to know if we wanted to trade some lobster for rum. We told
them no, thank you. I think we'll have a restful night. Life is good. Gene
& Brenda