Yes, finally. I´ve sailed 7000 miles in 8 years on various seas and one ocean and finally my lifelong dream came true today. A full-blown WHALE! Oh sure, I’ve seen many pilot whales but I consider them a big cousin of our beloved dolphins.

My dream to see a full size whale even took me so far as Polynesia for our honeymoon because in Augustus I would be able to see many humbug whales. Alas no such luck, I guess I’m more lucky in love. But today Neptune was smiling at me and gave me a big gift. Just next to the boat!

At first we were looking at some strange water next to us, like an oil slick completely flat. And then it happened. A Minke (I think) whale emerged and made a big BLOW and slowly submerged again. I slowed the boat immediately and called the kids. But after looking for the whale for some 10 minutes she blew way back.

And the day wasn’t over yet. More excitement to come! Yesterday we’ve decided to give fishing a try. And today we stroke twice. The first time I checked the rod and it felt very heavy. I started hauling her in. Is it a tuna or just some weed? I’m very good at catching weed. But no, a nice Yellow Striped Tuna of about 2 kilos. She must have been fighting the line for some time since it took little effort to bring her in. The kids loved watching me. I cleaned the fish and was looking forward to diner, fresh tuna Mhhh.

But at dusk I stroke another fish. This time there was no doubt. This was a big one. I called Yannick for help bringing the fish in. This one really was fighting! It didn’t took very long before we landed her too. I estimate the Blue Striped Tuna was 40 - 50 centimetre long and weighted about 5-7 kilos. I managed to get 4 huge beautiful red steaks out of this fish. Beautiful! We danced around the deck for minutes and slapped hands for at least an hour.

Isabelle managed to cook the tuna to perfection, nicely marinated a lemon dipped soy sauce. We opened a bottle of Cava to celebrate our luck and of course didn’t forget to give the first drink to Neptune for giving us a day remember. What a meal, two hours before the tuna was still fishing for himself. It doesn’t get better than this. We even found a undigested sardine in his stomach. I guess he should have stopped hunting while he was ahead.

All this time we were running the engine since there was no wind. By the time I’m writing this (01:00h am) we’re sailing again. Around midnight the wind picked up and I quickly hoisted the genoa. The main was already up.

I’m lying in the cockpit listening to the boat slicing through the water, like she is supposed to do. After running the engine a lot of the day it is a great feeling. A sweet closure of a very good day.