The fish that got caught twice (nearly)

Mandalay
Robin & Jenny Martin
Sat 12 Mar 2011 14:00
St Kitts - Due to the need to fill the fresh water tanks we had to brave the marina and it was probably the most difficult to date. A strong wind sideways on made it difficult to get a rope around the pylon and the harbour attendant in the tender wasn't much help! Gerry from Bavarian Spirit was in and having had a tricky time getting in the day before ran around to help us with our lines. Needless to say we had a debrief with Gerry & Margaret that evening over a bottle of wine. Next day we met up with Ali & Richard and caught a bus to the Plantation House for lunch, a bit of a walk but worth it.
Statia - just an anchor stop overnight, not tempted to go ashore in the rain.
St Maarten - an early start and a comfortable reach. Arrived to witness a great match race between USA & Canada along the coast. Canada won by a whisker.
The next three days were the 31st Heineken regatta. We got ourselves a ring side seat to watch the good the bad and the ugly go in and out of the lagoon to race. As St Maarten is duty free we did some chandlery shopping and had some interesting conversations at Laloonies bar.
BVI- an overnight sail of 80 miles. Lovely conditions, steady 15-20 knots and clear skies. Arrived in Road Harbour to check into customs & immigration - the most surly in the Caribbean so far, I don't think customer services can be mentions in the work protocols! Odd really as generally Caribbean folk  very friendly.
Well this is where the work starts for us. Next week Maymio is being hauled out and we are going to clean her bottom and anti foul. Also we hope to fit the new bracket on the hydrovane which means taking it off and starting again. The job list is depressing long at the moment but hopefully by this time next week ( and a lot of cash spent) we will have ticked off some of them.
The fish that got caught twice - the green octopus lure did the trick again and approaching the BVI's Robbie got a bite. It was a reeling in session of two halves, the fish was tiring as Robbie reeled it in but the suddenly it fought back diving deep and putting up a real big fight. Eventually it gave up again and  when he reeled it in we were surprised to see it was only 6-7 lbs but the teeth marks in it's back half explained the struggle to land it. Whatever had a go at it must have been a whopper! 
Last night we met up with Sally & Ken Drane who had been on a Sunsail holiday. We shared a bottle of champagne whilst catching up on Topsham gossip and then had a lovely meal at the restaurant. Thanks Ken for bringing out the books from Dave & Hazel, using up half your baggage allowance. We've plenty of research material now for the east coast of USA
Photos
The Fish that was nearly bait.
Paw service in the chandlers
Topsham get together with Sally & Ken

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