We finally finished our mahi-mahi gravlax, the last of our seafood, so we got together with a few friends for a snorkeling trip. Since we can't do a long dinghy ride with our sick prop, we got the bright idea of dinking over to nearby Sanddollar beach, hiking over the ridge with all our gear, and then swimming off the windward side beach to the reefs just offshore. In prevailing wind conditions, Exuma Sound is much too rough to do this, but with a light southerly breeze there was only a little surf and swell. Still, it quickly became too much for a couple of our friends, and soon there were only three of us out diving, Britt, me, and Neal from Rhapsody.
The plan was to go for lobsters only, since we'd have a long swim in from the reef to the beach. Lobsters are less likely than fish to attract sharky attention when thrashing around, and they're easier to field-dress. We saw a few fish, some of tempting size, but remained resolutely focused on our crustacean objectives as we hovered and dove, searching the caves and crevices where lobsters like to hang out. It was tough snorkeling considering we weren't in the best of shape, 15-25 feet with a bit of surge, and we were all getting a little discouraged. Then I saw a pair of antennae, and was instantly cheered.
I surfaced to get my lungful of air, flashed Britt an "o.k." sign and a grin, then cocked my spear and dove. Whammo! Right between the eyes. I was sure I was out of air, but then the lobster tried to wriggle back into another hole, and I fought to hang on to the spear and wrest him out of there. Finally I had him clear of the cave, still wriggling on the end of the spear, and surfaced to take my long-awaited breath. I waved my trophy around so the boys could see that the girl got first blood, then started to swim toward shore.
It was probably 300 yards or so to the beach. I'm a pretty good swimmer, but it's a lot tougher to swim with two pounds of thrashing lobster on the far end of a 5-foot spear. I could barely hold it out of the water, but I didn't want it to attract any attention below the surface -- there was already one large barracuda following me. Then there was the problem of getting through the surf line to the beach. Fortunately, one of our friends waded out to help me, taking the lobster and holding me up while I pulled off my fins and staggered up to the beach. Britt wasn't too far behind me with a lobster of his own.
I sat there for a while, just recovering my strength. Finally I swam back out to join the boys, who had combed a few other reefs fruitlessly and were back to the one where Britt and I had found our bugs. We dove for a while, finding nothing. Then Britt spotted a lobster tucked way back under a coral head. He and Neal each had a go at it, but it had found a virtually inaccessible hideaway and neither of them could get a shot. We all agreed it was about time to go.
While the boys were trying to figure out how to coax the hidden lobster out, I idly dove around the edges of the reef. Much to my surprise, I found a cave with two big lobsters looking back out at me! When I came up to report, Neal had already started back, but Britt and I decided to set up for a simultaneous shot to try to bag both at once. Not too easy to do without being able to say, "One, two, three, GO!" underwater! I got the easy shot, the one more in front, while Britt tried for the one further back but only managed to shoot a leg off.
So I had to swim back through the surge, current, barracudas, and surf, with another lobster on the end of my spear. I was ready to collapse by the time I made it to the beach. Britt stayed a while trying to get another shot at the second one, but he finally came back empty-handed. Total count was three big lobsters, enough to feed the six of us. This marks the first time that Britt has ever been outfished on a snorkeling expedition -- and it was accomplished by his own wife!
We hiked back over to the harbor side, and dinghied back to the boat. After a shower and lunch, I grabbed a book and was horizontal for the rest of the afternoon. That night we had a big potluck with our friends: pasta with garlic and olive oil, two kinds of salad, and as the centerpiece: lobster rumaki.
So now we have a new reason to start working further south in earnest. You see, lobster season ends in the Bahamas on March 31, but in Puerto Rico it's year round. I'm feeling cocky now. Those lobsters better start scouting out their hiding places now, because I'm coming after them!