“What would you like for Valentine’s day?”

“Heat, maybe some sun…..that would be nice.”

This might be a tall order but February 14^th dawned without a cloud in the sky, nor a hint of wind with the promise of seeing the sun.

First things first….a breakfast of hot out of the oven walnut sticky buns was the request on this special day.

I don’t have to head over to the end of the beach today to find the sun. I grab a chair, call the cat than head down to the heli pad. I still may have to wear an additional layer, now 4 in total to feel comfortable enough to sit out but ohhh that sun did feel nice. I was able to get a good half hour before a cold wind won out and I headed back inside.

Sammy has become much bolder these day. I don’t know what enticed him to start appearing on the back deck but it makes us laugh every time we see him. Maybe he was looking for a Valentine’s treat, which he got for looking so cute.

Please Mikey, may I have some more?

I couldn’t go out and buy chocolates for my sweetheart but I could make a favourite dinner and dessert. Spaghetti, french bread, a nice bottle of red wine, warm apple crisp with homemade vanilla ice cream…just in case you were wondering. A couple of sailing magazines bought on line and sent along with a special email made a good surprise. Being up here you have to think outside the box for gift giving.

My request for a gift of heat came in the guise of a wonderful fire. Having to be very frugal with the fuel these days, the furnace/boiler has been turned off. Kind of ironic since we waited so long for the part to arrive to fix it and now we can’t afford to use it.

A small stack of wood was all that was left from everything we cut earlier in the season and having sat inside all this time made for one rip roaring fire. In no time at all the temperature of the lodge went from a normal 60 degrees to 70. Absolute heaven!

Why don’t we have a fire all the time? Everything that we felt comfortable ( referring to feeling of safety ) chopping down, we did. Any previously fallen tree that we could get to and use the chainsaw on have all been cleaned up. Mike recently did cut down several smaller trees but the wood is so green that it smolders more than it burns. So for now we’ll continue just with our heaters and each day is a day closer to spring and warmer weather. Oh……can’t forget about the barge, maybe their 4^th attempt will be the charm.

While watching our nightly movie, tonight it was “Valentine’s Day” ( a movie I had downloaded this past summer just for tonight) a slight movement at the window caught my attention. It was just in the lower corner and I really couldn’t see what it was until he moved his head and 2 little beady eyes were staring in at us. There had been plenty of raccoons around in the fall making a nuisance of themselves, getting into everything that wasn’t protected in a plastic tote and eating all the cat’s food but it has been months since we’d seen one. Our late night visitor was big and healthy looking, seeming to be right at home he moseyed around the front deck for about 5 minutes, even getting up on the bench outside to get a better view.

Looks like we will have to get out the live trap once again and put this fellow into re-location program.

It was a very good day.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

I’m going to have to dig deep this week to find something entertaining to talk about.

It has been a time where the days come and go without much change, each just a repetition of the other.

The weather has gotten a bit warmer and the mornings while still chilly (inside) aren’t the frigid temperatures that required streaming mugs of coffee to warm my hands and a blanket across my legs. I’m down to my normal 3 layers of clothing and for several days this week you could almost feel that spring was in the the air.

On one of these days I did get the chance to do something I haven’t done since maybe October and that was to sit in the sun. Now I had to go to the far end of the beach over by our satellite dish to bask in it and it really didn’t have any heat and it only lasted for 20 minutes but that was enough time to take in some natural vitamin D.

With this almost balmy feeling in the air we took some much needed time outside.

Windows got washed, the boardwalk got swept, fallen branches from previous wind storms collected and dragged away, walks along the beach. This reprieve from the rains lasted for 4 days.

Life back inside the lodge returned to surfing the internet (still planning that perfect trip) working on my puzzle, watching a movie in the afternoon ( really should stay away from ones with a theme of a couple in a remote house where there are terrorized by brutal killers ) and reading. “Lost in Shangri-La” by Mitchell Zuckoff is what I am reading at the moment. A true life story of survival, adventure, a rescue mission and lots of history on the island of New Guinea in 1945. It’s kept me up till the wee hours of the morning.

One small part of our (my) life that is different is I am now having to wash our clothes by hand. Last week the washer decided to stop washing. It’s not all bad, the spin cycle still works and if you have ever had to wash sheets and towels by hand you know that twisting the water out is the hardest part. So the commercial size kitchen sinks now do double duty while the washer takes care of the hardest part. Ken is going to try to get a new one on the next barge trip…another reason to look forward to that elusive vessel.

With a full moon this week the tides have been higher than usual and brought in more driftwood. I’ve mentioned before how we’ve had more logs in the bay this year than last but they have never been a problem or caused damaged until the other day. How this log managed to jam itself under the float is a mystery. Mike’s addressed it with a sledge hammer but it just isn’t going to budge so it looks like we’ll have to cut the carpet and than with a couple of crow bars pry the planks up. With any luck we should than be able to push it away.

A brief bit of sun breaks through the thick layer of clouds highlighting a swath of forest.

I have no idea what Norman was thinking when he decided to come up on the back deck but once Princess came into the picture he ventured no further.

I wonder how close he would have come?

Cabin fever: noun

Definition: anxiety caused by living in isolation or indoors for long periods of time

Symptoms: climbing the walls, going squirrely, feeling antsy, restlessness, winter blues, temporary insanity, talking to animals.

It must be in the makeup of our DNA, one’s ability to walk away from society and exist in the middle of a wilderness stretching for miles whichever way we turn for months on end. Even during our years of cruising we often sought the solitude of an empty anchorage. The dinghy ride to happy hour might be longer but was a small price to pay in our way of thinking.

This is our forth season as caretakers, the first two spent in River’s Inlet, and I can honestly say I have not experienced temporary insanity ( although Mike’s opinion on this may differ) suffered from restlessness or climbed any walls. As to talking to animals, well, yes I do but that has nothing to do with cabin fever. Even the long periods of grey skies and endless rain don’t bog me down with winter blues but I do yearn for hot sunny days and endless white sand beaches. I find myself surfing the internet, planning month long journeys to exotic destinations. I can’t wait till April when the sun will once again reach our back deck and I can enjoy my morning coffee sitting outside with the cats, soaking up some much needed Vitamin D. Out of everything we leave behind it’s the sun that I miss the most.

I often wonder how caretakers years ago dealt with the isolation. They didn’t have the luxury of Sirius radio, internet, 100′s of dvd movies, streaming TV or Skype. Books I imagine, lots and lots of books. More often than not it was ‘caretaker’ and not ‘caretakers’, can’t fathom 9 months with no one to talk with, now that might make me go squirrely, maybe they had a dog at the lodge with them…a dog would be nice….Mike and I would like a dog. I don’t know how much the local wildlife would appreciate it though.

You may have guessed since it was not the first thing I mentioned this week but the barge did not make it down to the Outpost. With the weather forecasts predicting storms and gale force winds continually, we knew the chances of seeing the vessel were slim at best. So now we wait for the next scheduled trip in February.

How’s are fuel supply doing? Well we’re not running on fumes…yet. The genny gets shut down each night before we go to bed as a norm for our entire 9 month stay but now we have to consider other measures. Weather permitting (not too cold) we’ll shut down the generator for 4 hours or so each afternoon. The absolute quiet is actually welcomed as we sit and read, write or work on my puzzle. There is enough light in the kitchen to cook or do dishes so really not much has changed. The furnace/boiler which we were without for 87 days turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Not having to fill this beast every 2 weeks saved us a tremendous amount of diesel and is in fact the reason why we’re able to wait till the next barge. The obvious thing to do now is turn it off, which we have done. The electric heaters we have follow us from table to couch depending on the time of day and we’re warm enough. Water (yes we have water again hooray!!!) is heated on the stove. Sound familiar?

Buckets showers…this is where I draw the line and twice a week Mike fires up the furnace so we have hot water and I can take my near scalding shower. Small pleasures. Propane is another concern but here again simple steps taken has extended the length of the tanks. These days if I’m going to turn the oven on it’s not just going to be for one dish and a small dish of rice is now double the size, while I might as well make a double batch of bread instead of just one.

I think for the first time ever I had only taken 15 pictures all week. Normally when it comes time to download them it’s well over 50 and sometimes as high as 100. This week there just wasn’t much going on and the weather except for one day has been overcast with everything from a drizzle to downpour adding to the gloominess.

If it’s one thing we can count on, it’s always getting a good picture of our 3 amigos.

I know it is not very nice to tell you how spectacular the weather is here – perfect, steady 23 degrees, sunny, blue skies, white sand beaches, palm trees swaying in the soft tropical breezes while you hear the hum of the blender making your piña colada…

So how’s the weather where you are? In the minus range yet? Ice? Snow? Still dark when you head to work? Sorry about that. Hee hee.

GET DOWN HERE AND GET FIIIIIIISHING!!

This is one of the prime months for fishing of the year, though I will say that we have had so many insane months here for fishing so far – January has some competition for the best month!! Waters around here have been busy lately with lots our regulars coming out from Panama City and beyond to join in the billfish frenzy.

Despite a slow-ish few days for live bait (bait balls are literally everywhere, but the little buggers just don’t want to bite) and some rough waters, fishing has been delivering some excitement for our anglers.

We have three groups fishing with us this week and a very full house with some of our best regulars in for dinner at the “Best Restaurant in Panama”. The Cloud, Pessoa, and Groth groups have all seen lots of action including marlin, sails, and lots of dorado and other inshore species in the last two days.

I don’t know how we are going to recover from the luxury of having the fantasmical Jessica Haydahl with us – her style is incredible and we are so spoiled to have her with us. This is Jess’ last trip – and she has been a real trooper riding the waves every day for the last month in her quest for what she calls “THE EPIC MARLIN SHOT”.

Here is a small sampling from yesterday – stay tuned for video footage and other EPIC SHOTS later today.

Jess took these photos today on the Abundancia with Captain LR and the Paulo Pessoa group.

Goodnight from Paradise,

Tobey.

I left off last week saying it was snowing but with warmer weather on the horizon predicted by the powers that forecast these things. Again he was right on both counts and we had snow most of the day on Friday. I don’t mind the snow, it looks pretty and stays white and clean till it melts… no cars or smog here to turn it grey and dirty looking.

Sam doesn’t seem to mind it to much either.

What a difference a day makes and I mean this literally. We woke up Saturday to the beautiful sound of drip drip drip, snow thawing from the roof and falling onto a misplaced bucket. Every where you looked were signs of a thaw. Not wanting to rush things and be disappointed Mike left the water pumped turned off for a few more hours.

Good time to head outside for a bit fresh air and maybe a walk along the beach. Haven’t done this in ages, been too cold. The crisp snow is now slushy and slippery on the boardwalk and I take the opportunity to do a bit of a run and slide. We all still have a bit of the kid inside us.

Throughout the day sheets of snow could be heard sliding down the length of the roof to fall with a thud. My timing was off or maybe my footfalls were the cause but I must have run out half a dozen times to snap a picture only to hear it drop as I neared.

There’s always something that you don’t think about and have to pay the consequences for it later. During our big freeze not once did I think of the 14 18L bottles of drinking water that are kept outside. Mistake. With a temperature of 3C everything was melting including our water in the 10 bottles that had split open. Garbage cans lined with plastic bags, big pots and trays, anything that would contain the containers to save our water, which I than transferred into other empty jugs. As I was sorting out the drinking water, Mike was taking care of the real important stuff…water for a shower and it looks like everything was a go. We’re back in business once again and the H20 is flowing.

The barge is on it’s way to Masset and the last update concerning us, is that the decision will be made Saturday whether the weather and seas are good enough for a trip down here.

Mike and I daily take a look at the marine report and weren’t all that surprised (well maybe a little) to see this forecast. Tuesday night we did experience gusts of wind like we have never had before but fortunately it didn’t last long nor was there any damage.

Sam keeps us amused on a daily bases showing up where we least expect to see him

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

Hello world,

Today turned out to be a great inshore fishing day.  It took the group around 45 min to stock up on some fresh bait, but once our Captain LR found us our special inshore fishing spot, we couldn’t keep the fish off the line. Today the group caught all different kinds of inshore fish. Everything from Snapper to a spectacular Roosterfish!

The Day was great and the sun was shining!

Cubera….

Amberjack

another Amberjack

Yet again another Cubera Snapper.

Guest Craig was working hard and managed to catch a nice size mullet snapper.

Guest Terry wearing nifty shades that actually have a small camera that films through the bridge of the glasses. Can’t wait to see the footage that he got!

Guest Paulo hooked onto a Roosterfish!

Its not really Rooster season, but Captain LR and Mate Alirio managed to track one down for Paulo’s team. This Roosterfish weighed around 70lbs and was also the first of the year for Captain L.R.!

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Photographing from Paradise,

Jess

www.jessicahaydahlphotography.com

Hello All,

Over the past couple of days we have had some amazing sunrises, sunsets and some fishing in between.

Check out some of the pics!

Beautiful sunrise just around the corner from the ship!

Our guest boat on the trip the “Hooker”

Caught a small bull shark today.

Nice size sailfish.

Tuna bait balls could be seen quite frequently through out the last couple of days.

Beautiful sunset as we headed home after a long day of fishing.

Photographing from Paradise,

Jess

www.jessicahaydahlphotography.com

GOOD MORNING, well the BOYS from Salt Lake are headed home today, we will miss them, although our numbers as far as catching were off a bit, we TRULY enjoyed fishing with them. Both boats fished yesterday and as slow as the fishing was WE BOTH had MARLIN opportunities. Capt Junior jumped one off, and we had a half hearted bite from a BLUE MARLIN, almost didn’t even qualify as a bite, he CRASHED a teaser and Alirio threw a live bonito at him and he kinda did some “victory laps” around the bait, and sorta kinda bit, and then went away. We did also pull off a sailfish late in the day and caught 3 dorados. Things started picking up in the afternoon, might head back to the same spot tomorrow. Hopefully the water will be a “skoash” bluer. Today we have new guests arriving, and will fish inshore, it’s ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS here today, light wind out of the north, I’m SURE it will be a HOT one out there this afternoon. Then tomorrow back at it chasing MARLIN CAN HARDLY WAIT, hopefully the wind will lay out a little more for us. have a SENSATIONAL SUNDAY, and hope YOUR TEAM WINS today…”

JESSICA HAYDAHL, PHOTGRA-PHESS EXTRAORDINARIA…

Hello all,

The last couple of days have meant big seas and some rough water fishing. The Bell crew did an excellent job on the reels, but the 4 or so Marlin that they managed to raise just won’t hold onto that hook.  They still had a great time and I managed to snap some pics in those rough seas.

Check out the shots!

Morning sunrise before fishing!

Marlin fighting. The marlin just wouldn’t jump!

This blue marlin decided to spit out the hook right at the last minute!

Captain LR heading back home to the Pacific Provider after fighting the good fight out on the ocean.

A nice Blue Marlin. He came up just a little bit, but just barely out of the water.

This marlin had a feeder fish attached to the top of it!

Nice big sailfish for Miles Bell!

In the end the Bell guys with good friend Don Vanhise had a great time despite the big seas!

Photographing in Paradise,

Jess

www.jessicahaydahlphotography.com

This week has been all about the weather, from ‘Alerts’ of snowfall to ‘Warnings’ of frigid air. The weatherman was right on both counts.

I’ve lost track of the number of days since the sun has graced our shores but the slight snowfall we experienced did add a different dimension to the normally somber horizon.

Sammy, who can usually be found looking in the kitchen window has now taken to standing out back. He must see us walking around and is hoping his presence here will be more noticeable.

There must suddenly be something good to eat on this side of our little bay as these ‘Surf Scoters’ never paddle their way over here, always preferring to remain on the other side and out of range of my camera.

Our snow flurries lasted only a day leaving behind just enough snow to make everything look wintery.

These clear blue skies came with a cost…a drastic drop of the mercury.

Monday morning we woke up to -14C/6F ( according to the Masset weather site) and NO WATER!. If you recall we went through a period last year where we had no water and I had to melt snow, a lot of snow so it was no surprise when this happened again. Containers of water had been set aside for such a situation but were quickly depleted. You would be shocked at how much it takes to get through a day just doing your daily routine. The snowfall was nothing like we had last year so that option was out but there was another source and that was going directly to the source. There are two water tanks that are filled by way of a stream that runs through the forest, the pump and the beginning of the line all are located underneath the crew shack but it’s also here that the streams pours out and down to the beach. Suited up in rain gear complete with rubber gloves Mike and I head out in the very chilly weather to collect water. It’s fairly easy to get to and before you know it we have half a doz 18L bottles filled, this is about all we can can pull in the cart through the snow at a time.

The ‘source’

Ice as art

The frigid cold front has found it’s way into the bones of the lodge. We have become accustomed to the odd snap and sounds as if someone is walking about upstairs but the last few days the lodge has come alive. Crack! Like a gunshot ringing out in the middle of the night it jolts us awake.

Beep! Beep! Beep! What the heck is going on? Once again in the middle of the night, (why do things always happen in the middle of the night?) we are jarred awake. This time it’s the smoke detector sending out it’s high pitched siren and the lights which we had immediately turned on were fading in and out. Something’s wrong with the generator! – during this cold spell we have left it running- Dressing as fast as one can while still half asleep and scrambling to find a flashlight, we rush to get to the shed. Grabbing at the doorknob at the back door I am suddenly confused for a second as I find the doorknob in my hand but not attached to the door. We head for the patio doors to find an exist as the genny suddenly quits. Mike in the lead we head out into the biting cold. The crunch of snow beneath our rubber boots is a sound I haven’t heard in decades and one I can definitely live without. Once at the genny shed Mike has to wrestle with the door there, it seems to be frozen shut. Access gained with doorknob intact he turns off all power to the 35kw. His first thought is a possible frozen fuel line but it’s only -16C/2F. He turns his attention to starting the 20kw but again finds the panels (doors) frozen shut. With only a latch, no handle to pull on he quickly finds a screwdriver to pry it open. A flip of a switch and it fires up but you can tell it’s cold and will need a good amount of time to warm up before we can turn the power switch on. A long twenty minutes later we’re back in business and from where we stand can see the lodge lit up. First things first I put the coffee on, there was no point returning to bed now.

Settling in our ‘circle of heat’ …..your what? Our 2 laptops reside on a round table which we placed in front of the windows so we can watch the world go by as we read what is going on in the rest of the world. Three electric heaters which arrived on the christmas plane ( we thank Ken daily for these) are placed around us (i.e circle of heat) keeping us warm in the lodge which these days only reaches a high of 54F/ 12C even with the furnace running. Later in the day back in the generator shed Mike checks over the 35kw, seeing nothing obviously wrong, figures he’ll give it a try….turns the key and it starts, better than that it keeps running.

Barge update: Well we’re still waiting to see the vessel and weather permitting it will try to make it down here around the 25^th . We’ve been doing what we can to conserve fuel (this cold weather hasn’t helped) and propane. What will happen if it can’t make it?Another trip, another try, is planned for February and we’ll be fine till than.

Darkness has fallen and so is the snow. Weatherman predicts warmer temperatures on the way and in fact today was only -7C, by Saturday we should be back to normal with a high of 5C and rain. Strangely enough I am looking forward to seeing some rain again.

So that has been our week….. the pot of water is boiling, time for a nice bucket shower!

Deja vu.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

Here is a video from the Casey Daniel Group that left a couple of days ago.

[Warning: viewers may experience racing heartrates!]

CASEY DANIEL GROUP INSANE MARLIN ACTION VIDEO!

Over the past 3 days I have been fishing with Captain LR and anglers Dave 1 (Señor Rojo) and Dave 2 (Diablo Blanco). We had lots of luck out there with 3 marlin to the boat and around 6 in total that either came up to take a look or tried to bite the bait.

I had a great time shooting for these guys and we got some incredible video footage and stills!  All around great group effort by all!

CHECK OUT THE DAVIDS VIDEO HERE

300 lb Black Marlin giving us a show!

David (Señor Rojo) Fighting the 300lbs black marlin.

Mate Alirio grabs the leader, but the black marlin still wanted to give us more of a show

Dave 2′s (Diablo Blanco’s) 150lb marlin. This guy was “small”.

Sequence of the black marlins 720 Spin! I caught it on video and it is truly amazing to see in slow motion!

This is Dave’s (Señor Rojo’s) Marlin. This black marlin weighs in around 300lbs. He gave us quiet a show dancing all over the place.

The 2 Daves with Captain LR and Mate Alirio!

I had a great time with this group and we have had some amazing fishing over the last little bit.

Photographing in Paradise,

Jess

www.jessicahaydahlphotography.com

Beaming smiles all around today as all our anglers had a phenomenal day fishing in Paradise. I couldn’t help giggling a bit at how completely WRECKED the Daniel group was climbing out of their boat today – some rough water, 2 big marlin, and 2 big tuna can have that effect!! A shot of cava and a dose of hot-tubbing had them back to normal in no time.

The 500lb black was the first billfish ever for angler Casey Daniel. They hooked it up only a short time after the first marlin – a 300 lb blue reeled in by Cesar took the bait before they had even finished getting all the lines in the water! Photograph-ess Jessica came back BLACK AND BLUE from all the lunging around the boat she did to snag these shots. Here’s her report on the day:

Today was an amazing day out there in the deep ocean. My group hooked into 2 Marlin and 2 Tuna. They caught a Black Marlin around 500 lb and a Blue Marlin around 300 lb.

The first Marlin we caught literally took 3 min into dropping our lines. My camera gear was all over the place and nothing was ready. With 4 anglers, me, and Mate Donar on deck we were getting thrown all over the place because of the huge swells. I started snapping pics while Martin helped put my camera in the underwater housing. The whole thing happend so fast, but it was thrilling and exciting. Water flying everywhere, the boat speeding forward to keep up with the marlin and in the end, Donar tagged it and we watched it swim away. I think we were all a little be stunned about what had just happened and how fast the Marlin took the bait! We knew it was a start to an incredible day!

In the next hour – 2 big yellowfin tunas (a 72 and a 110). After the 2 tuna, we went to get some more live bait since the fish seemed to be going crazy for it. Captain Junior found a bait ball – we caught one bonito and decided to take our chances.  With one only one live bait trailing behind the boat something suddenly the line hit and Donar started yelling MARLIN MARLIN! A 500lb black bit the line and it was incredible to watch and incredibly difficult to photograph! Reeled in by Casey Daniel and safely tagged and released!

Casey’s 500lb black marlin. Huge! It was truly incredible to see!

Tagging the marlin for the Billfish Foundation…

Cesar’s 300lb blue marlin.

Martin’s big yellowfin – hit the scales at 72 lbs.

Noral’s 110lber yellowfin!

The Daniel Group with their 2 Marlin release flags and their 2 massive Tuna.

Casey and Cesar with the two Marlin Release Flags!

Excerpt from Captain LR Hastings Diary Entry from yesterday:

Jan 13, 2012

Us aboard the ABUNDANCIA were inshore fishing today, with “ROJO” Dave and Dave Saenz, both from Virginia, and we caught some VERY NICE CUBERA SNAPPERS, the 1st one we caught was about 35 lbs, and we decided we would have him for dinner, then soon after we caught another one about 45 lbs according to MATE Alirio, that we let go, then shortly after that we caught another one that was bigger than the 1st 2, i’m guessing around55-60, so we had a very productive afternoon.

Then out of the kindness of their hearts, I asked the Rojo Dave and Dave S, if they would mind if we went “exploring”, and they were KIND enough to say sure LR, let’s go for it. SO I wanted to fish for Wahoo, so we went ot some places we have yet to check out, and we ended up gettting a bite from one but after a long run he pulled off. Can’t say enough about those guys “taking one for the team”, there is SOOOOO much are around here that we want to explore and see what’s going on in these areas. We discovered some new bottom fishing spots and we caught a CUBERA so we will eat GOOD, like we ALWAYS do here, for another few days, Chef Michael made GROUPER sandwiches for us all today, and don’t tell him I told you this, but they were THE BOMB!!! Well it was a GREAT DAY for the boys from Denver and Dallas, Caesar, Casey, Noral and Martin, just hope they left a few for us on the ABUNDANCIA, NICE GOING ON YOUR DAY CAPT JUNIOR AND CREW!!!

In the theme of GUEST BLOGGING, I have asked our incredible Julie Colosso to contribute some “Panama City Perspective” so guests can get excited about upcoming events there. Julie runs the show in Panama City – and I would not survive without her!! Guests all adore her and the entire staff at Flamenco Marina (where we moor our boats when we go to the city) are all desperately in love with her. Her brilliantly resourceful and charming partner Hans is also working with the company in the city – we are so lucky to have them with us on this crazy ride!

Here’s Julie:

Greetings from Panama city!  I’m pleased to begin sharing a bit of what is going on in our beautiful metropolis.

First time visitors are often surprised to see our stunning skyline and bustling activity. From modern skyscrapers to the charming colonial neighborhood of Casco Viejo, there is something for everyone.  The city has been growing steadily for more than a decade, and our economy is expected to remain strong.  Guests who bookend their fishing trip with time in the city find there is much to do and see here.



The 9th annual Jazz Festival kicks off next week on January 16th.  Events and music are scheduled throughout the city for 6  consecutive days.  Musical guests include the talented Tito Puente Jr., Cuban singer Omara Portuondo and Panamanian tenor player Carlos Garnett, to whom the festival is dedicated.

Goodnight from Paradise,

Tobey.

“I think I just saw a light.”

It’s late Sunday night, 11:48pm to be exact when Mike made this statement. We both jump up to peer out the window into the darkness. Nothing but a wall of black and I mean black. It must be a pretty heavy cloud cover for we can see no stars nor a moon. Staring into nothingness for another 30 seconds I mentioned that it was about this time last year that we started seeing a fishing trawler in our area.

“Must have just been a reflexion that caught my eye”, Mike says has he heads off into the kitchen to grab us a bottle of water. No sooner had he turned his back when suddenly there was a light! The green starboard light was quite visible along with their powerful spotlight guiding the way into the bay beside us. Within minutes they had passed out of sight. It was amazing that Mike had even spied that first hint of light from his chair while we sat watching a movie.

Two days later around 5 o’clock there was the boat again and this time I was able to take a few pictures.

We speculated last year about what kind of fish that trawler was after. January and February are such terrible months for being out on the west coast it must have been something well worth their efforts. Funny how things happen but while we were home, on our sailboat in Port Hardy this past summer, we met the guys who worked on a boat that came into the bay beside us in Port Louis…. small world.

So what do they fish for? Sable fish, also known as Black cod.

The warm weather that I bragged about last week has changed…just a little. The only tell-tale sign that I spied was a small patch of snow on the distance hills.

I spied our resident eagle before before he spied me, which is rare.

This young eagle didn’t care if I was spying on him, there was no way he was leaving his beach find (like road kill but usually a bird that has washed up) until he had had his fill.

This is taken from the kitchen window where I think I am the one being spied upon.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

Fishing fever going strong here with a crazy start to the year!!

And as promised, here are the incredible marlin photographs taken by Russ Johnson during his trip fishing with us last weekend.

350 lb blue…

Russ and Jim invited guest Mike Iverson to join them on the Abundancia one day – here he is fighting the good fight with his blue marlin…

Some “local” Canadians were with us for a short trip and reeled in a beautiful 200 lb marlin along with some nice coastal specimens to take back to their home in Coronado outside of Panama City to enjoy with the rest of the family.

Nicolas reeling in the big fish…

Here it is…

Michel and a nice snapper…

and a big amberjack headed for the table!

I have included a diary entry from January 11th from our ship’s captain, the handsome and wonderful LR Hastings to give you a taste of “a day in the life” here…(drum roll please)…Captain LR Hastings!!

Jan 12, 2012:

In the first 7 days of offshore fishing, since Jan 1. for 2 WCFC boats we are 6 for 13 on marlin bites, not to mention the sailfish bites and the day CAPE KNOX had catching 11 sails one day!

My “office” is the OCEAN and today at the “office” was a GREAT DAY Aboard the ABUNDANCIA Nicolas Roberge caught his 1st Blue Marlin, 200 lbs. put on a great show, was more in the air more than the water the 1st couple of minutes. And Nicolas did a FANTASTIC job of getting him to the boat in 11 minutes. The fish initially came up on a bridge teaser and I hollered down to Alirio, marlin on the left bridge, Alirio threw a pitch bait in the water and about the time the bait got in position that “rascal” piled on a long rigger and TOOK OFF down sea, jumpin’ and carryin’ on, and Nicolas did EXACTLY what he was suppose to do, maintained his composure, which was kinda hard for the captain, apparently he gets excited when they start TEARING UP the ocean anyway, Nicolas got him to the boat in 11 minutes, Alirio tagged him and we sent him on his way. ABUNDUNCIA had a couple more dorado bites and then we were called in, due to one of the anglers succumbing to a nasty bout of seasickness. So we dropped them off at the PACIFIC PROVIDER (HOME) and went and caught a couple mullet snappers and a couple rock snappers and and a 48# AJ, aka amberjack. CAPE KNOX fished today as well, and Capt Junior caught a couple of BIG bull sharks, but unfortunately no marlin bites. Had a FANTASTIC time with the KYNOCH boys, can’t wait for them to come back. ABUNDANCIA is off tomorrow, Capt Junior is half day inshore fishing, i’ll keep you posted

AND NOW FOR PHOTOGRAPH-ESS EXTRAORDINAIRE, JESSICA HAAAAAYDAAAAAHL!

Hello Everyone,

Today I headed out with a new arrivals Casey, Cesar, Noral, and Martin for some coastal fishing. There are so many different types of strange, colourful and VERY LARGE fish that you can catch close into shore.We had a a great afternoon fishing with live bait and the anglers managed to catch quite a few different fish species.

Check out the pics!

A massive Grouper chomping down on a Bonito bait.

Angler Casey fighting the large grouper.

Casey and his grouper.

Mullet Snapper.

Pacific Dog Snapper and what’s left of the Bonito bait.

Mullet Snapper.

Noral and his Pacific Dog Snapper.

Mullet Snapper with Martin. The Mullet Snappers are very large and put up a good fight!

Pacific Dog Snapper. [photo turned sideways for effect!]

All in all we safely released around 12 different snappers throughout the afternoon. The weather was beautiful and the bite was on.

I am excited for tomorrow Deep Sea Fishing! You never know what you might catch out there.

Photographing from Paradise,

Jess

www.jessicahaydahlphotography.com

Hello Everyone!

Over the past two days I have been fortunate to be out fishing with the Kynoch family. These guys have been on fire with the Sailfish. In total over a two day period they have caught (and safely released) 13 sailfish!!! [a new West Coast Fishing Club record!] Yesterday was the big day, 11 Sailfish safely released and they capped it off with another two today.

Yesterday we had double headers and triple headers and it was hard to know what exactly to photograph while all the commotion was going on.  All in all it was a fantastic day out there with  the three Kynochs (Brian, Brooke, and Brent) who did an amazing job on the reels!

Here is a Sailfish Video of the all the action!

Here are some of the pics over the last two days!

I took this shot by leaning over the side of the boat with my underwater housing. I had no idea that there where two sailfish in the water next to each other.

Donar is holding the bill of the sailfish in order to get the hook out properly and gently.

and two of the Kynoch tribe have a double header on the line!

Just a quick shot because that fish did not want to come in the boat!

Above is my favourite shot of the day!

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Kayaking Day in the bay around Isla Del Rey.

There was no Deep Sea Fishing today, so I headed off for a Kayak and a swim around the bay. The water was warm and it was a nice way to relax after a couple of days of deep sea fishing.

Here are some of the shots I took while relaxing!

One of our boats at anchor.

The sturdy Pacific Provider

Swimming time!

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Like usual it’s been a great last couple of days, always warm and sunny! Can’t wait to photograph some more tomorrow!

Photographing from Paradise

Jess

www.jessicahaydahlphotography.com

Our amazing locals have often waxed poetic over the sheer incredible insanity of fishing in the month of January – and we are thrilled to see how right they have been! Every day here is action packed with marlin, sails, HUGE tuna, and inshore frenzy as well.

Jess had a great photo of Mike Iverson after he got off the sport boat with his 2 huge tuna – but here are a few more. This is a photo of Mike Iverson still smiling. He was so worn out after reeling in first a 240 lb and then a 300 lb yellowfin he said if he hooked another one the next day he planned to cut the line!!

Look at these two monsters!

We feed a lot of people with these two fish – we only keep what we use here, and after feeding our guests, our staff, and setting some aside in the freezer for our crew to take home to their families, we give the rest to the local villagers and the construction crew and police working on the island. They are always so excited to enjoy fish like this!!

I always tell people the view out the window of the staterooms here on the ship is better than any painting. Here is a shot of the sunset, the jungle, and 2 of our boats from the Iversons’ stateroom.

Susan Iverson does some beach exploring.

Russ Johnson and Jim Adams joined us for their second trip with us in Paradise – and devoted a few days to fly-fishing the incredible inshore fishery here. This pink Cam Sigler fly was very popular with the “locals”, and after performing many times, died a noble death.

Russ and Jim went offshore one day with Mike Iverson and released 3 marlin, some sails, and some big dorado. The next days offshore they pulled in 5 sails, a 350 lb blue marlin, and loads of dorado. UNFORTUNATELY, some technical difficulties downloading from Russ’ camera mean the photos will arrive by email after he is back in the US. Russ is a phenomenal photographer as well – so stay tuned for the shots!

Russ Johnson got this beautiful photo of a boobie bird swooping over the boat.

Russ with a nice bull dorado caught on the pink fly!

Here are the men solving the problems of the world over fresh yellowin tuna sushi and ceviche.

Yesterday Chef Michael and I went for a short boat ride only a few miles from the ship and found ourselves in the midst of a huge school of feeding yellowfin tuna! The cooling water temperatures are bringing fish closer and closer to our doorstep. So exciting to see the ocean teeming with life.

Here are some photos of what Chef Michael has been up to in the kitchen.

These are some rib eyes that Michael has been dry-aging for 45 days.

Asparagus with dijon vinaigrette and crispy bread.

Grilled octopus.

Tuna tartare with fresh hearts of palm and plantain chips.

Lemon meringue tarts.

Stay tuned tomorrow for photos of the 11 sails caught and released yesterday on the Cape Knox with Captian Junior and the Kynoch men!! Jess got some INSANE underwater footage – she was off at first light with the Kynoch’s again this morning for some more offshore frenzy. I can’t wait for you to see the photos from yesterday!

Good night from Paradise,

Tobey.

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was a great day out on the water. I headed out with guests [and longtime West Coast friend and supporter!] Bruce Langereis, his daughter Amy, son Rees and guest Jessie to do a little deep-sea fishing.  Bruce, who is an avid fly-fisherman, managed to catch a 45 lb Dorado on a fly rod.

While Bruce and Mate Donar were trying to get the fish to bite, I grabbed my underwater housing for my camera and dunked it under the water to get some pictures of the fish. Meanwhile, Amy grabbed the GoPro video camera that was attached to a pole and managed to get some AMAZING video footage of the Dorado.

Here is a small video of what unfolded!

These are some stills of the fish, chasing the bait.

You can see the bait in the top left corner of the image.

Bruce and his Dorado!

After the fight, Bruce examined his fly and hook, it was pretty bent from the dorado!

Captain Junior, Amy, Bruce, Rees, and Mate Donar

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Earlier that same day, we had an encounter with 2 bull sharks. The first shot is of Reese’s shark grabbing the live bait. He surprised us all when he hit the bait and thrusted his body up in the air. I only managed to get one shot of the shark before it took off swimming. The shark ended up breaking the line, so we never got to see it up close.

Still the same day, Rees had a big bite on his reel and yet again we managed to hook another bull shark. This time Reese managed to reel him right up to the stern of the boat, where Bruce bravely volunteered to stick my underwater camera in the water and blindly try and snap some shots.  When we got back to the ship I managed to clean up the image so we could actually see that Bruce managed to snap a picture of the shark! [editor's note: don't worry folks - it is super unusual to hook a shark!!]

Overall it was a fun day filled with dorados, sharks and a great board game of Taboo on the boat ride back to the Pacific Provider!

Photographing in Paradise!

Jess

www.jessicahaydahlphotography.com

The new year arrived quietly under the cover of a grey sky and wispy low clouds. The forecast for an unusually cold winter has yet to materialize, which is a good thing. Just the other day we had a temperature of 10C and if I didn’t know better I would think that spring was just around the corner.

Mild as it may be it still looks like January.

Maybe because it is a new year and wanting to start fresh I get in the act of cleaning, resorting, reorganizing and basically taking stock of what’s left for our remaining time. After several days of taking down all the decorations, packing them up, vacuuming up all the needles that no matter how careful you are seem to scatter themselves into distant nooks and crannies and putting everything back where it belonged the lodge looks somewhat naked.

A break in the weather earlier this week lets me enjoy some time outside. Cleaning the front wall of windows which have taken a beating over the last month are crystal clear, the boardwalk is swept clean, the gutters emptied of those blasted pine needles, everything looks great….. until the next storm.

Now that the new year is here and there are no more holidays to plan for or decorations to think upon I turn my attention to other interests. Last year we brought in our Wii and it was only the last couple of days that I got around to setting it up. Afternoons you can now find me at the bowling alley, on the golf course or even in the boxing ring. A bit of friendly competition keeps things exciting as we try to best one another’s score.

So far Mike is the tennis champ but he can’t touch me when it comes to shooting the ducks!

And what would January be without the start of a new 1000 piece puzzle.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

I have asked our beautiful and talented photographer, Jessica Haydahl, to be our “Guest Blogger” while she is with us. As Jess will be spending every day out on the water for the month of January with our anglers capturing every hair-raising moment, I thought she would be able to provide a fun perspective to accompany her incredible photographs.

Here she is!

Hi I’m Jess – your on ship photographer for the next month. I will be posting some of my pictures and experiences over the next little while for everyone to see and read. Hope you enjoy the shots!

Here is a video that I have made of  this weeks TUNA FRENZY!

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The last two days here on the Pacific Provider have been amazing. I decided to take a small break from Deep Sea Fishing and do a little exploring!

We had some fly fishing happening on the water yesterday.  I managed to grab my underwater housing for my camera and snap a couple of pics of our two of our guests …. and ….. fly-fishing out of one of our sport boats!

Captain LR looks for bait while anglers Russ and Jim cast off of the side of the boat.

Some more big tuna made there way to the boat. [both of these caught by Mike Iverson in one short afternoon. Weighing in at 240 and 300 lbs, these are both record breakers for us here!! woooohoooooo!]

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After touring some of the islands by water, I decided to check out the West Coast Fishing Club’s building site.  We where dropped off on the island by a panga and set out on foot through a carved out path in the jungle only to have the jungle part and the views of one of the most amazing beaches could be seen!



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Today I headed back out onto the water for some deep dea fishing where I saw a sailfish for the first time.  Angler Jessie (not to be confused with me), reeled this wonderful fish to the boat.  The pictures can not do this fish justice for what it actually looked like. The colours were so vibrant, the purples and blues!

I snapped a couple of shots of the majestic creature right before our mate on board, Donar, got the hook out of the sailfish to let it go. Then our Captain Junior called down to us to let us know that there was something swimming in the water right beside the boat. Another sailfish was looking on making sure we made a proper release!

Overall the last couple of days have been filled with excitement and I have only been photographing for 5 days so far down here on the Pacific Provider!

Can’t wait to see what images tomorrow will bring!

Photographing in Paradise,

Jess

www.jessicahaydahlphotography.com

I’m not going to show you any pictures of the golden roasted turkey, creamy whipped potatoes with rivers of rich dark gravy flowing onto pan fried brussel sprouts with crispy bits of bacon and turnip with just a touch of brown sugar. You also won’t see pictures of the homemade cranberry sauce or the fluffy rolls brushed with butter to give them a nice shine. You’ll just have to imagine the plate of shortbread, gingerbread and slices of orange and rum cake.

What I will show you is a few more festive shots of the Outpost.

Well maybe one picture of food…..fruitcake. I unwrapped it Christmas afternoon to enjoy with a cup of tea, another of our traditions, and if I sent this one out I would have to include a warning, ‘must be 19 or older to eat’. It is very well preserved but oh so delicious.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

Welcome to 2012!! Our first New Year’s here in Paradise was celebrated with a banner week of marlin, huge yellowfins, sailfish, and – as always – beautiful food, stories, and new friendships. We are off to a bang with a full house and all boats fishing.

Thanks again to everyone who helped, supported, and encouraged us in 2011 – we love you all!!

Chef Michael has been honing his fly-tying techniques by trying some new ones out on the “locals”…

Ian Smith’s 350 lber…

Here here is triumphantly celebrating with Captain Junior and Mate Donar…

New Year’s Eve Dinner…

We are thrilled and blessed to have the ridiculously talented photographer Jessica Haydahl with us for the month of January. Jessica is here to collect a photographic record of fishing action this month. She will be offering personalized photo books for sale for those anglers lucky enough to be fishing with us in January!!

She put together a video of her impressions of Panama City…

WATCH JESSICA’S WELCOME TO PANAMA VIDEO HERE

Here’s a quick taste of Jessica’s photography from the last few days – she captures the vibrant colours and the emotion of the place so EXACTLY!



Amy Langereis with a tuna on…hers weighed in at a whopping (and delicious) 100 lbs.

Yesterday’s 230 lb yellowfin – 1.5 hours of fight for Jim Reidy!! Nicely done.

Stay tuned for more photos of marlin, sailfish, and tuna action!

Goodnight from Paradise!

Tobey.