CHAPTER VIII 

 Santa Lucia to Dimas 



Sunday, May iyth. With the return of the 

 Azucar party, we resumed our westward journey 

 toward Cape San Antonio. The morning opened 

 with cloudless sky and gentle east wind. At 7 

 o'clock the air temperature was 78 and the water 

 82 . Our morning plunge precipitated the usual 

 discussion anent the dangers of sea bathing, but on 

 this particular occasion the debate was exception- 

 ally violent, for Lesmes happened to recall an es- 

 pecially gruesome shark episode. We narrowly 

 escaped a general massacre. 



Bartsch, Torre, Clapp, and Rodriguez proceeded 

 in the launch to take photographs of the Lucia bird 

 colonies, while the schooner was put under way, 

 and made out through a pass in the reef to blue 

 water beyond — the inside passage between the reef 

 and Cayo Hutia being too shallow for the Barrera. 

 The open sea without was calm ; the most sensitive 

 being spared any doubts. 



