February 5, 2014
We are still in Barra and will leave either Friday or Saturday for Tenacatita.
For the most our stay in Barra de Navidad has been benign. I have played bridge, shopped, ate out, and generally have been spending a relaxing time here. Bob has not had to make any major overhauls so he too has relaxed.
BUT, we did have a unique experience on Monday. There we were at the Sands Hotel about to disembark from the dinghy...how easy that sounds!! Usually I crawl off the dinghy onto this very rough piece of concrete, swearing silently or not so silently. Any other person would just kind of step up and jump, but for some reason I can't. But on Monday, Bob turns off the engine and then says in a very quiet voice "Deanna get off the boat as quickly as you can." He then throws the dog from the dinghy onto the concrete step. Already I am freaked out. "What is going on?" Bob repeats his directive and I begin to crawl onto the jetty (for lack of a better word) but the dinghy moves away from the jetty and somehow I fall backward into the dinghy...into our bags of garbage! Oh yeah. Now Bob is hoisting me up as I am immobile...think of turtle on its back. Once more my hero comes to my rescue. When I am on the jetty he tells me that there is a snake in the dinghy. Remember the Fat Broad character in BC and her aversion to snakes...that is me! Apparently the snake had wound itself around the key to the engine and when Bob tried to remove the key (kill switch) it would not come out...so he looks and sees the snake. Bob of course knows that I have a snake phobia so he just tried to get me out of the boat. When I am on land, Bob knocks the snake off the engine with an oar. Then the snake tries to climb into our friends' dinghy but falls off and then tries to climb a wall but falls off. About a half hour later I see a guy with a machete moving along the wall around the pool, hacking away...later he is cleaning up leaves ...I presume someone saw said snake and they sent the gardener to go on a 'snake-seeking expedition".
Oh yes and I had an audience when I did my backward flip into the dinghy...they were wondering about my modus operendi?? of getting out of the dinghy.
So how did we manage our own dinghy snake...we think that it crawled into our dinghy when we were having lunch on Sunday. The dinghy was on shore next to a fence that had lots of tropical vegetation and I suppose the snake thought our dinghy would make a good home. That means that Bob took the snake on 2 outings on Monday but the snake remained in the bilge of the boat. Perhaps the longer trip to shore annoyed it and it surface so to speak.
Now Bob has another job to add to his chores: cleaner up of barf, etc and snake removal from dinghy.
Today we went shopping in Melaque to stock up for our 2 week or so stint in Tenacatita.
Tomorrow the water taxi will deliver the important provisions..beer and water.
This year we have had an annoying experience with the ATM in Barra...they will not recognize our Canadian and yet in Melaque there is no problem accessing our accounts.
Sorry no photos of our snake .....nor of me thank goodness.
Next blog will be from Tenacatita.
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