May 11, 2012 Tongue of the Ocean

Friday May 11, 2012

Decisions flew back and forth last night and even this morning but when all was said and done, we pulled anchor at 8:00 and left the harbor of Nassau, and headed West.  Fred was going to do what he wanted to do anyway, as he is the Captain of his own vessel and makes the calls no matter who is involved.  He was just waiting to see if Chris Parker had any drastic changes in his report since yesterday morning.  I let the hand line out, this kissing the lure in hope that I would get a Mahi Mahi.  I never kisses a lure before but what the heck, I have been trying 6 months of trying to snag one on the end of the hook with out a kiss so I had nothing to lose.  I knew this was actually my last big day to get one anyway so didn’t put much hope in getting one anyway, but, with a kiss and a prayer, I wanted Fred to have fish for dinner.  I took the first two hour shift while Fred took a nap.  We weren’t even sure how late we were going to sail today so just in case, we wanted to be plenty rested just the same.  About 11:00 it was his turn at the helm and I went below.  I am not sure what time it was, but Fred woke me up and said “Sweetie, you have a fish”.  Sleepily I said, “would you pull it in”?  “NO, it’s your fish” and he was right.  I got up, ate a few peanuts, took a sip of his ginger beer and put the sailing gloves on.  One tug at the line felt like it was imbedded in cement.  I looked at Fred and said, “Wow, this is something big”  Bracing myself, trying to figure out how I was going to get this in without loosing the hand reel, I mustered all the strength I could, Fred looking behind for something jumping.  Fred slowed down the boat to make it easier to reel in.  There was no fight, just darn strong, heavy and steady holding it’s stand in the water.  We never saw it until it was about 10 feet from the stern.  “You got a dolphin” he said.  I looked down and saw seaweed, thinking he was kidding then I saw it, huge, yellow, a beauty.  I couldn’t even get it into the boat.   Fred grabbed it by the gills and helped me finish the retrieve.  I was speechless!  This is the biggest fish I have caught in my entire life...ever!  As we were struggling to get it into the boat, Wind Dancer hailed us on the radio.  I knew they were concerned as we slowed down so much and were checking to make sure we were okay.  I grabbed the mike and said, we got a 3 foot Dolphin, call you in a few.  Out came the camera.  I was not about to miss this photo opt of my biggest fish ever!!!!  And of all things, a Mahi Mahi!  Whoo Hoo was I excited.  I immediately knew this fella wasn’t going to fit in the galley to clean so I suggested Fred go below and get what he needed and clean it in the cockpit.  He nearly filled the floor of the cockpit.  We had no fillet knife so Fred brought up a tape measure, a cutting board, a bread knife, a butcher knife and an Ulu, my favorite all time knife actually from Alaska, and a hammer.  This baby was 44” long!  By the time he was finished cleaning it with what he had, I was counting my blessings that mess was in the cockpit and not in the galley.  Now I know why I catch and release.  If Fred wanted it, he had to clean it and wasn’t about to throw it back.  About 6 buckets of sea water had the cockpit all clean and the fillets in the refer, waiting for dinner.  We set anchor about 7:00 just past Russels Beacon.  Not a speck of land around us but at least the anchor reached bottom in the Tongue of the Ocean.  It’s a little rolly here, compared to the glass motor sail with the jib and main hoisted.  Barely a puff of wind until the end of the sail, then we had the sails set wing and wing, my favorite point of sail.  Both Wind Dancer and Wind Quest reluctantly passed on the fillets for dinner and I don’t blame them.  The sea swells are getting high and the wind is starting to blow hard.  Fred grilled 2 fillets and ate them both.  I didn’t care for for them, but that’s not saying they were not good, I am just not a fish eating person.  I eat very little fish and what I do like I have become allergic to. More for Fred who is one happy camper.  We are going to watch a movie tonight and plan to be pulling anchor again by 7:30 am.  They are headed to Gun Cay and we are heading to Bimini to stage for the crossing.  At least that’s the plan tonight.  Tomorrow things may change.  So, today I am grateful for the fish, something I never expected.  God is so good!