Thanks to all for your positive comments regarding Part 1. Glad you enjoyed
it. Here, a bit late, is part 2 of our trip. But first, a couple of
corrections: the two Latirus species found are most likely L. mediamericus
and Leucozonia cerata, while the Cymatium is C. vestitum.
On the morning of our third day, we took the ScubaPanama panga out to
Melones Island to do a dive, since low tide wasn't until 11:03 AM. Once in
the water, we found Vasum caestus almost everywhere. Unfortunately, almost
every one was heavily encrusted with marine growth and had eroded spires.
Paul found another near-perfect Hexaplex radix (how does he do that?) as we
worked our way around to the east side of the island. We were almost ready
to call it quits after about 40 minutes in the water. I motioned to Paul
that we should keep going for a few minutes and was rewarded almost
immediately when I found what was to be our only specimen of Phyllonotus
regius. We continued to look under rocks, but after about 10 minutes
decided we had better return to the boiat and head back in to the island
just off Vera Cruz beach.
We had the panga drop us off as close as possible to the island, on the
side where we had found the Cypraea cervinetta and robertsi the last time.
As usual, Paul spotted another excellent H. radix. He also found more of
the attractive Cardita species, adding to what turned out to be a wonderful
collection of about 30 specimens. I found a few more Cypraea, but was
getting frustrated in my attempt to locate any radix. I noticed there was
another person walking around in the area and as I watched him, I saw him
pick up several radix. I walked over and though he did not speak any
English, he showed me how he was finding radix in the mud right at the very
edge of the water. He also showed me his backpack which was full of radix.
I suppose it never occurred to me that the radix would be found almost
buried in the mud. Fearing that I would never find a specimen of my own, I
bought what he was carrying, though many turned out to be so heavily
encrusted that they were not worth the Herculean effort of cleaning up. But
he was happy with the money and I was happy that I would go home with at
least a few good specimens. Subsequently, I was able to spot several
specimens on my way back up to where Paul was searching among the rocks a
bit farther south.
As we continued looking, I stumbled upon a gorgeous Spondylus calcifer
right at the edge of the water. What surprised me was the bright yellow
gold color of the shell, as well as the size, which had to be about 6 or 7
inches across. The problem was that this specimen was attached to a rock
that was probably a few hundred pounds, so I had to put this one into the
"impossible to collect" category. I did find a dark reddish orange
Nodipecten (or whatever they are calling it these days) subnodosus in the
mud that was about three inches long and perfectly smooth on both sides.
Paul wondered if this might possibly be N. arthritica, which typically are
lacking the knobs of subnodosus. Though we continued our search, we were
unable to find anything new, and by that time the sun was beating down
unmercifully on us. So we hailed the panga and rewarded ourselves with cold
water and a soda as we headed back out to Isla Taboga.
We arrived ready to find another Strombus peruvianus or two, but that was
not to be. Once in our dive gear, we hit the water, only to find that
conditions were worse than the previous day and that meant poor visibility.
I found a clump of what must have been 3 or 4 Spondylus calcifer, but
again, frustratingly attached to a huge stone. In one spot, Paul found a
large Vasum caestus, but it was being dragged under a rock by a large
octopus that was not about to relinquish his grip on lunch. I would say
that we were in the water almost 45 minutes with little to show for our
efforts. There was a hard current running there (probably because of the
swing between low and high tide) and since we hadn't found much, we headed
back to the panga for lunch, and then to try a third dive between two
neighboring islands. The water was very rough at this spot, but there was
almost no current. Here we were again surprised by the lack of shells
(except the poor-looking Vasum caestus). In one spot, I got my hopes up
because we found ourselves in the middle of a good-size army of large blue
and orange starfish. This had to mean shells were here, right?
Unfortunately, though we explored for another 15 or 20 minutes, nothing was
found and we decided to head back to the boat.
By the time we got ourselves out of our gear and headed back to Panama
City, the seas had come up and we were beaten up pretty bad as we crashed
into wave after wave. We hit one wave so hard that I literally flew a few
feet into the air, landing on my back and bruising a kidney -- ouch! That
ride back seemed to take forever!
After a quick meal at the hotel where the food was not very good, but the
portions large, we got picked up by Rene from ScubaPanama who was kind
enough to take us out for some night shelling on Kobbe Beach, which is near
Vera Cruz Beach. Once again, though conditions here seemed ideal, we saw no
tracks in the sand. Once we reached the rocky areas, we did find a number
of rather large Cypraea cervinetta (in fact, the two largest specimens I
brought back were from this spot), some interesting Thais species, several
Neorapana muricatum and even another Latirus mediamericus. I found a huge
Vasum caestus in a tide pool, and though it wasn't a great specimen, its
size was so large that I felt I had to take this one. Looking back, I wish
now that I had taken another ten minutes to look for a few more of the
large cervinetta. Oh well. As we walked back, Paul pointed out the Southern
Cross. Being so close to the equator, this was the first time I had ever
seen this constellation. Yeah, it wasn't a shell, but seeing that
near-perfect formation of stars was truly a high point of the trip.
After breakfast the next day, we thought we would hit the seafood market in
hopes that some shells might come in. As was the case through most of this
trip, we didn't have much luck. So we decided to try and find a few more
Melongena patula back out at Vera Cruz Beach. We had our favorite taxi
driver drop us off while he went to see if he could find any fishermen in
the area that might have any shells for us. Meanwhile we walked up the
creek that empties out onto Vera Cuz beach but saw no Melongena (or any
other shell). We spent about an hour looking all over the tidal flats, but
again, all we saw were the small Natica species and lots of sand dollars.
Eventually our driver returned with several large (but empty) Melongena
shells and a few others. Word was that the "big shells" were to be found at
a place called Playa Leona, so off we went . . .
Can you guess the rest? We never did find any shells at Playa Leona, though
we asked everyone we saw. The tidal flats there were impressive, but so
muddy that neither of us dared set foot out there on the chance that we
might sink up to our waists in the mud and have to wait for the tide to
come back in to get free. This little "detour" cost us most of the day and
I had to get back to clean and package my shells for the return flight
which departed the next morning at 7:50. One other indignity lay ahead:
When I finally touched down in Atlanta, someone decided they didn't like my
looks. I was the only one out of the 60 or so passengers that got
thoroughly inspected by US Customs. Now let me say up front that I don't
have any problem with that. If I look like a drug runner (which I don't
think I do), I don't mind being searched. I did object to the surly (to put
it mildly) attitude that the inspector took with me. I was on the verge of
asking to see his supervisor when, without another word, he simply stalked
off, no doubt seeking another "criminal" to kick around. After five days in
a foreign country where, to tell the truth, I was treated with such
kindness and courtesy, it was a real shock to get treated so shabbily by my
own country. When my final flight touched down in Tallahassee, I was happy
to at last be home. Despite the adventures we had in Panama, I think I will
surely appreciate the shelling I am able to do here even more.
Well, that wraps up my tale. I am glad I had the opportunity to have this
experience, but I must say that it never came close to living up to my
expectations. Fortunately, I had a great shelling partner in Paul Kanner.
We both agreed that if we were to do this again with the knowledge we came
home with, we would certainly do things differently. Anyone who is
contemplating a trip to this area should contact me for further details.
Jim Miller
Tallahassee, Florida
[log in to unmask]
|
