s/v Starship: Company and Crustaceans

After our week of rest Don and I headed to the mainland of the Kuna Yala to pick up our guests arriving from San Francisco, John and Karen. John has been aboard previously in the Virgin Islands and this time is returning with girlfriend Karen, a fellow surfer from the bay but a novice to boating.

Anchoring off the small island of Nargana where the daily flights from Panama City arrive was a nostalgic stop for us. When we were here ten years ago the water pipe from the mainland was damaged and getting water required daily trips up the river by ulu. Whether the pipe is still broken or broken again we have been unable to determine and the daily parade of paddle driven dugouts is never ending. Luckily gas and diesel are also still available as now that we are in the west the Starship has become primarily a motorboat. The islands are so close together that hoisting a sail often is not worth the effort. As we watched the local gas man happily filled our diesel jugs through a funnel made from a dirty t-shirt in an attempt to filter out the water. Don is hoping this is a successful method.

As soon as all were aboard we headed out to Green Island and some coconut hunting was our plan. Unfortunately we didn’t beat an oncoming 40 knot squall and John and Karen got their first taste of anchoring during a storm and the torrential downpours that keep our water tanks full, our dog clean, and the laundry at least rinsed.

After things settled down and dried out Don and John were successful at locating some coconuts ashore and Don pulled out the coconut power tools for a welcome aboard pipa, a young coconut filled with rum.....yum!

The next morning we headed out to the Central Holandes island chain to find clearer water for swimming and hopefully a few lobster for sale. The Kuna Indians are tireless fishermen and hunter gatherers, everyday raking the reefs and sea grass beds for anything and everything edible. What can't be sold makes its way into the family cook-pot. Large lobster, tiny lobster,coral crabs, fish of every size and species, conch too small to even see the muscle inside, and, unfortunately, the occasional turtle.

Picking out some larger specimens, Karen, a New Englander by birth, proceeded to demonstrate the proper way to suck lobster meat from lobster legs and we showed her the Starship method for cracking a lobster without a shellfish cracker.....a hammer! Gently!