So, I was sittin’ in my hammock taking a rare “nothing” day and thinking; “I should take some chicken out of the freezer for dinner”. Ann was out kayaking (a Manta Ray swam right under her I’m told) and all of a sudden I thought; “what am I doing sitting here? I could be catching some fresh fish for our dinner!” The concept of self-sustaining is no-where more clear than down here in Baja where everyone who lives here does so very simply and with whatever they can find. So, with grand intentions (but great regret), I left the very comfortable hammock and got my fishing gear out and started fishing. All I had for fishing at anchor was a “shrimp fly” rig. Basically three small hooks with feathers tied to them designed to look like shrimp. Good luck. I had no clue what I might catch, just some idea that if I caught it we might be able to eat it. Fast forward an hour and a beer. Ann got back to the boat from her kayaking expedition and was excited to see that I was fishing (she loves fresh fish). Ann: “So, you’re fishing?” Bob; “Well, yes, but not catching”. Ann: “Why don’t you use some of our “organics?” (“Organics” is code for leftover food we dump overboard when we’re far enough away from land). Bob: “You don’t understand….oh well, why not?” (How could I tell her it wasn’t esthetically correct to catch a fish with “meat” when you haven’t caught a damn thing with the silly feather rig?) So…with almost as much regret as when I initially left my hammock, I put some of last night’s steak scraps on the artificial shrimp I was fishing with and you know what? The fish started biting. Damn! And guess what? They were Cabrilla, better known to us gringos as a Spotted Sand Bass. Or even better known as some of the best eatin’ fish you’ll ever have. Well, they were a bitin’. I caught three nice ones in about 15 minutes once I baited the hooks with little bits of leftover steak. I stopped at three which gave us about enough for dinner for two. Filleted them out, cooked ’em with rice and some broccoli and I mean to tell you, I/we haven’t had better fish anywhere, cooked by anyone. Amazing! We just put some lemon pepper on them and sautéed them in olive oil on a very hot cast iron pan. Yum! I can tell you, we’re doing some more fishing manana! I am liking this self-sustaining thing. The chicken can wait in the freezer, I’m going fishing tomorrow. Well, unless it’s a warm day and the sun’s shining and the hammock’s waiting….no, no, there will be time to fish AND hammock. Yes, that’s it! We’ll leave for Mazatlan the next day! It’s way too nice to not just stay here and fish….and hammock…and kayak. We have no schedule-Yay. From Ann – Bob neglected to tell you that my kayaking friends and I (Cathy and Rich from Bella Brisa) had a life threatening experience while kayaking today. We had just paddled out of some very cool rock caves/secret water ways by the shore when we heard something. “Something” ended up being a rogue wave coming our way. All of us are novice kayakers and did not manage to get headed into the wave before it hit. We all took on water but happily stayed upright! We decided there must have either been an earthquake or…Bob had fallen out of the hammock and over board! We were pleased to find Bob happy in his hammock and were informed there had been a huge motor boat (about 140 feet) that whizzed by outside our quiet anchorage sending in the rogue wave. Did I tell you we don’t like powerboats? Now you know why!

Kayaking the secret caves