We are at Cayos Cuervo . We arrived here two days ago coming from Cayo Boca Grande.  We did not go to Cayo Caballones as mentioned in the previous blog as the wind was against us so we went into Cayo Boca instead. 

Three hours after we arrived the yacht Tahimi arrived. A New Zealand boat crewed by Peter and Eliska who we met at the marina in Cienfuegos. They immediately launched their dingy and came over for sundowners.  We got a visit by two guys from the German catamaran that was anchored nearby.  One of the crew had lost his hearing aid overboard and asked if we could search for it as they did not have any snorkeling gear. So Pete and I went over to search in five meters of murky water looking for a black hearing aid.  Peter in his early thirty’s and being ex navy was able to dive deep and stay submerged for a lot longer than me found it. Then they told us that there was a pair that was lost.  We continued for about another half hour till it was too dark.  They rewarded us with a slab of beer and a bottle of rum. The next morning we all went back for another search with no luck.  The ear pieces were valued at 1000 Euros’.   

We then went in our two dingies in search for lobsters while Jim tried his luck fishing.  No luck on both counts but we had a good time snorkeling and spending time on a deserted island.  We did however get four Conch. (pronounced KonK) Conch is a snail like mollusk.  They are slow moving bottom feeders. The only way to extract it from the shell is to bang a hole through the hard shell with a hammer and screwdriver then with a small knife dig in through that hole and cut at the tendon to enable the extraction of him from the shell. Then cutting away the face and the foot and guts then skin them and wash off the slime. The methods of cooking include to garlic them, make fritters or in a salad. They have to be tenderized first by hitting them with a hammer for about 5 minuets’ Tough to eat but we have not caught a fish yet.

The following day we went together again and caught five lobsters.  We have to admit that it was Peter who did the catching.  Oh! to be young and fit. Tonight we bbq’ed four of them in the same way as described in the previous blog.   Needed to wash them down with Argentinean Chardonnay.