Along came a Spider!

With just a few weeks before we leave our ‘summer camp’ in the Rio Dulce we are attempting to clear the decks of all foreign creatures. In particular garrisons of spiders that think it’s clever to steal onboard at night and set up home in various locations, thankfully, for the most part on the outside. The Skipper has now resorted to night time chemical warfare tactics catching them when they are either busy web mending or just sitting plumb centre admiring their work. Also a priority is clearing the hulls of the fluffy sticky balls containing a new generation of budding arachnids. After emerging from their nests they make a beeline for lockers and cubby holes until they have learnt to avoid being eaten by their own kind or by our newly acquired Gecko called "Buddy". Particularly difficult to nail are the jumping variety which do just that when you are about to clobber them. However, these tiddlers are just nuisance value compared to the large brute that, until Phil’s visit, had been residing somewhere in the rafters of the covered workshop at the back of the marina.

Using the electric rotating wire brush machine to clean up some screwdrivers that had been badly abused as paint stirrers and make-shift chisels etc. his attention was more focussed on looking out for any snakes in the surrounding bog on which the workshop is perched and not wire brushing any of his digits. The ‘workshop’ is set back into the jungle canopy and is a no-go zone unless you go early in the day to avoid the swarms of mosquitoes and tabernos, a wasp-like flying insect that is truly vicious. Having no walls it is open to dead foliage drifting down from the surrounding trees and it was one of these leaves that he thought had drifted down onto his head and back.

Having finished with the screwdrivers he walked towards the boat stopping to talk to a fellow cruiser, who, after a few minutes started to stare intently before announcing “that’s a hell of a spider on your shoulder”. Glancing sideways the following nano second of time included first an agonised shriek, with simultaneously, a right hand deployed to the shoulder region to sweep the hairy body with equally hairy legs off the white t-shirt. The conversation then continued whilst both men eyed the spider, which, none the worse for its heavy-handed rejection, sat on the board walk for a few more minutes before darting into the surrounding foliage. From recent experiences a large Scarlet Macaw, despite it’s ability to quickly remove large chunks from a persons ear is infinitely better company to have perched on your shoulder than a hairy ‘pider. And that’s official!