The last few weeks have had an interesting theme. That theme apparently is my old neighborhood friends. Last week my friend Matt came out to buy a place of his own in Rincón. We grew up just across the street from each and have been friends since I moved there in 3rd grade. We have a lot in common and now we also have Rincón in common!
Hanging out at Matt and Jamie’s in Atalya
Another good friend of mine, Logan who lived just up the street has also moved to Puerto Rico and lives in Fajardo! He moved to the island about a month before we did! He came over to the west side of the island over the weekend to visit us and Rincón! They stayed in the hooch tropical treehouses. It is a pretty cool place with trails cut thru the jungle and lots of bamboo growing. It was a cool backdrop or scene as if out of a movie to see an old friend.
Britton, Cassie, Logan and Karin
The bamboo hooches are pretty cool. We were all pretty impressed by their construction and the jungle area that surrounds them. The owners have put a lot of work into the area and it shows.
One of the Hooches
Bamboo Growing
It would seem that pretty soon the whole neighborhood will be here. How unusual is it that we all came to a place that we hadn’t ever heard of? Maybe it is a function of us living in CO and not having the tropical experience? Maybe there is some kind of cosmic connection? Not sure but seeing everyone here in the span of a week makes me wonder.
The other day a friend of mine had an open spot on a fishing boat charter and asked if I wanted to go. I figured that I should take him up on it as I hadn’t ever done it before. A new experience would be fun and I know virtually nothing about ocean fishing. The boat was a 35 foot 500hp Contender, which also piqued my interest. I told them I’d go and we met up at 6am a few days later.
Fishing Boat for the Day
I brought a few burritos and drank my coffee and we waited for the other guys to show up. They told me that we were going to be using live bait. Meant nothing to me when they said it.
We left the marina and the water was super clear. We ended up going off to catch the live bait. The live bait, or sardines are caught with a drop net off the boat. It is also possible to catch these off the shore and now I know what those guys with nets are doing on the shore. Getting sardines.
Filling the Bait Boxes with Sardines
Once the bait wells were filled with sardines we set out for a destination several miles off shore called the hump. The hump is the top of an underwater mountain that comes up to about 90 feet under the surface at its height. When we got out there the water was a super dark blue color unlike I’ve seen before.
View of Desecheo from The Hump
We sat in the water and cast hooks baited with live sardines. We weren’t getting much, if any action. The boat rocked and I think once we stopped I started to get a little queasy from the waves but kept waiting for a bite. The captain decided that we should move to another spot, so we reeled in and he started the motors. Once the boat started to move my queasiness vanished.
The boat moved pretty fast at ~30 knots across the surface and the view of Puerto Rico from the water was super cool.
Horned Dorset
Land and Sea
We stopped just north of Domes. The boat started to do its rocking thing as we cast our bait out into the water again. Now I have flown in small planes quite a bit and haven’t experienced any kind of motion sickness, but the rocking did eventually get to me and I upchucked over the side of the boat. I figure this was just more chum to attract the fish right? I kept my pole in the water and did get a fish on the line shortly after. I had a good fight but eventually the fish cut the line and I was left with nothing.
Our friend Tommy did manage to catch a good sized black fin. I haven’t ever seen a fish like this before. I was kind of shocked and now understand ocean fishing a lot more. When I first took off I didn’t honestly know what to expect, at all. The whole experience was new to me.
Big Tuna
We had a bonfire down at our house later that night and Tommy prepared sashimi that was…absolutely…..delicious. I haven’t ever had fish that fresh. I think I will definitely go fishing again only the next time I think I will have my sea legs as well as a better understanding of how it works and a better chance of reeling in something.
Huge Plate of Sashimi
Moonlight Fire
We sat around the fire and sang songs while eating some great food! It turned out to be an amazing day, one that I will remember for a long time.
Our good friends Matt and Jamie are on la isla for a big adventure of their own and so we have taken a break from our usual activities around the yard to show them a slice of life here.
Out with friends
It’s nice not having to work or ask for time off when friends or family come to town; we can simply stop whatever we normally do and hang out.
La Cambija, the restaurant
We decided to go out to La Cambija for dinner one evening. The first time we went to La Cambija I was curious what it was. I didn’t know what that word meant in Spanish and I even looked it up online and didn’t see anything. So, of course the next time we were there I asked them at the restaurant.
La Cambija!
It refers to the strange looking tower across the street from the restaurant. Apparently this road (Calle La Cambija) was at one point in history an old railway and La Cambija was a water tank for the steam engines that passed through with the sugar cane! Anyhow, we got our history lesson and also some very delicious fresh fish from this place.
The menu prices vary depending on the fish catches but everything we have had has been good there. Britton really likes the dorado burrito with tostones, and I like the ceviche or fish tacos. Drink prices are pretty reasonable, however, they have started a new policy where they will not serve you a glass of water! You must order bottled water, even though tap water in Puerto Rico is perfectly fine to drink (unlike Mexico). So bring your own bottle of water and ask for a cup of ice or something if you want to get around this strange phenomenon that is happening at many of the touristy places.
Later we went out for some drinks and entertainment at the Rincón Beer Company and saw the local up-and-coming band, The Disfunction.
Moms in a throne chair!
It also happened to be Mother’s Day and there was a big event going on in the plaza in front of the Catholic church to celebrate. They were bringing up different mothers and putting them into a throne-like chair and reading about what a great mother each one had been. I liked this event because I wish I could put my mom in this chair and tell her how much I love her too (love ya Mom)! It was pretty cool. Mother’s Day here is treated like a major holiday and most businesses like grocery stores were closed!
Rincón Marina
We also went snorkeling with our friends from the Balneario to the Marina and Marine Reserve area. Britton and I snorkeled side by side and followed a long school of blue and yellow fish. It was very beautiful. We need to get a water proof case for our camera so that I can take some pictures of the fish. Britton has been doing a little snorkeling on his own lately when I am at yoga and he said he had a huge sea turtle following him around as he floated!
Snorkeling = Goofy looking, but super fun!
It’s nice to take a break from landscaping and playing with turkeys and chickens to show friends what an awesome place this is. It takes us back to when we saw it for the first time on our honeymoon and were hooked ever since.
Today as I was walking from the cabana down to the coop with the daily catch of fallen mangoes for the compost pile I got a bit of a surprise. A bee up and stung me in the ear! I dropped all the mangoes and ran while the bruised and over-ripe fruit started rolling down the hill. At about the same time the water hose popped and sprung a leak!
Cassie said I looked like a cartoon with my flailing about, yelling and running. As we were going back towards the cabana there were more bees bumping us, giving us that tell tale warning that they are going to attack.
We got in the cabana and shut the door….. “Holy smokes! What the hell was that?” Had we stepped on one on the way down to the coop? We normally don’t get stung by the few bees that visit the yard, especially having cleared out all the previous hives living within the wood house and the trunk of the old mango tree. Bees are supposed to only sting when they feel threatened or if the hive is under attack.
After about 10 minutes and looking at my stung ear as it swelled we decided to go back out and see if we could figure out what was going on. We went up on top of the cabana because it offers a good view. We weren’t up there 5 minutes and we started getting bumped again by bees. We ran. We got back in the cabana and decided that there was something up and that we would give them some time to calm down. We went to town for some food, groceries and another mower blade.
When we went to let the chickens out Cassie spotted what was causing all the commotion.
Bee Swarm (click to enlarge)
There were quite a few bees on one of the Mexicola avocado tree leaves, so we must have a swarm on our hands. This is a very small swarm by swarm standards, actually tiny. This was a perfect opportunity for me to use my newbee bee keeping skills! I went and grabbed a jar, some scissors, gloves and the bee veil.
It didn’t take very long, and I didn’t get stung but there is a queen in with the swarm. Not sure where it came from or why it is so small, but it all went well and put an end to the bee sting mystery and I gained 5 experience points in my bee skills! I would rather do this with a small amount of bees to start with. If there were hundreds of bees it would have been more intimidating but I think even then I would be up to the task.
We don’t have an empty hive yet, but now we think we should have one around for the next swarm opportunity. For this group I am just glad they aren’t going to end up inside the walls of the house and I wanted to take care of a potential issue as well as some aggressive bees in the yard. Bees are not known for being aggressive when they swarm. I think it is possible they were fighting with another hive in the base of the big mango we took down a few weeks ago. There were some bees flying super fast all over today.
Hanging out at Matt and Jamie’s in Atalya
