Thursday, January 9, 2014

Delfines, Ballenas y Pescado


Local dolphins, photograph from Punta Mita Adventures
The sea has been bringing joy and excitement to me and my sharp-eyed spouse. Yesterday, K awoke before sunrise and was treated to the sight of three bottle-nosed dolphins cavorting, nose-to-tail, in that way that they do, right in the middle of our cove. For 10, 15 minutes. A hundred yards in front of our balcony.

“It’s so thrilling,” she thought, as she imagined stripping nekkid to join them in a surf-and-turf mammalian lovefest.

Humpback photo by Roxanne Perrson
Later, after I had arisen, we were watching Ronco and a gringo fishing out near the mouth of the cove when we sighted a fluke coming down right next to their panga--imagine how that felt!--and a few seconds later, another. Humpbacks! Jorobados! Thrilling times two!

I saw Ronco again when the sky was just lightening this morning. I thought of asking him how it had felt with las ballenas, but I’d only been up for about 15 minutes and my head wasn’t yet straight, plus the language barrier. Also, he’s a pretty reticent guy.

We were meeting at that early hour to go fishing. Ana Rosa had asked me the day before if I’d like to accompany him. I was eager; he was pleasantly acquiescent. The deal was struck, although I wasn’t quite sure exactly what the deal was. Would I be paying, like for a charter? I assumed, but how much? It’s hard getting either of them to accept money.

As it turned out there were three of us in the panga when we shoved off the muelle. Nelson (pronounced with a long ‘o’, Ronco and Ana Rosa’s youngest son) had already done the grunt work of paddleboarding out to retrieve the boat. Ronco had carried the two stubby rods and handed me the bucket of spools and lures. 

He took the engine (Yamaha 75, four stroke). Nelson gave me one rod, and kept the other. I mimed casting but he shook his head and showed me how to lever the drag so a 6-inch jig spinner would reel out a hundred feet behind us. 

Five minutes later I hooked my first fish. Nelson corrected my technique, but it was easy to get
Happy fisherman by Snappy Spouse
the hang of bringing it in. The first sight was a flash of silver rising through jade water.  “A mackerel,” Nelson told me approvingly, as he carefully avoided its tiny sharp teeth and extracted the hook. It was eighteen inches long, a couple of pounds, sleek and gleaming with brown spots along both lateral lines. 

I think I got the next one as well, and then we each had a couple at about the same time--all in pretty quick succession. There was a slack period as we moved up to the mouth of the cove, but another brisk spell before we came in. We trolled for a couple of hours, part of the time right in the midst of several blowing ballenas, and caught 13 bonito, 2 mackerel.

My score was 8 or 9--beginner’s luck. Everyone seemed happy with the haul. I got a fat, five pound bonito, and an invitation to come along tomorrow morning. For the nonce at least, I’m part of the crew. 

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