The triple back-flip, double twisting Pacific mahi-mahi has been caught!
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Tue 24 Jun 2008 01:28
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18:30.419S 178:51.939E
Wasn't it just yesterday that I said this
ocean passage would be perfect if only we would catch one of those triple
back-flip, double twisting Pacific mahi-mahi?
Once again the fish was caught while I was
sleeping, causing Don to yell for help (no hull knocking this time). I
rolled out of bed, ran up into the cockpit to see Don struggling with a triple
back-flip, double twisting Pacific mahi-mahi that was flopping around very
energetically on the back deck. 'Squirt some of that gin in its
gills!' Don yelled. I grabbed the gin-filled squirt bottle (the
British find the fact that we use good gin to subdue fish
rather appalling, but we find their habit of using good vodka to subdue
fish equally appalling) aimed in the general direction of the flopping fish
and started squirting. 'Put it in the gills!' yelled Don as he struggled
to keep control of the wiggling fish. By this time, bits of fish
blood and fish scales were flying around everywhere - not just on the deck, but
all over Don and unfortunately, through the hatch, that Don forgot to close,
and into our cabin. I ran down to survey the damage and found fish
blood and scales spattered all over the inside of the hatch curtain, one of my
shirts and our bed sheets. This brings new meaning to that favorite mafia
movie line, 'sleep with the fishes'. After
viewing the bedroom blood spatter, I ran back up on deck where Don was
successfully subduing the fish by squirting the gin into the fish's gills.
Aha! So that's how it works - a general gin dousing just doesn't
quite do it - the gin actually has to make contact with the
gills.
The poor fish finally died and Don made quick work
of stringing it up on the mizzen boom to drain the blood and once that was done,
filleting it. All in all, not a bad haul. There is probably enough
triple back-flip, double twisting, blood splattering Pacific mahi-mahi in the
freezer for a good five meals. Don dumped the fish carcass overboard and
the second fishing line we were trolling started acting like a fish
was on it. Yuck! The fish carcass got stuck on the second fishing
line! Don quickly pulled in the line and found, oh, not the fish carcass,
but another fish! This time a small tuna. It was this tuna's lucky
day and Don let it go. Hopefully it survived the head-first bounce down
the stern stairs on its way back into the water.
After the excitement was over, we cleaned up the
fish blood spatter and all was well. We won't be sleeping with the fishes
after all.
Last night at around 1am, we crossed the 'real'
international date line and just like that we moved from the western hemisphere
into the eastern hemisphere. There were no fireworks or giant claps of
thunder or space-time fissures in the atmosphere. Aside from the picture I
took of the GPS as it flipped from 179 degrees, 59.999 minutes west
longitude to 179 degrees, 59.999 minutes east longitude, nothing happened.
Cleone had told us on the radio the day before that we couldn't miss the line if
we traveled over it at night because although it is blue, it glows in the
dark. Liars. I was on watch and as hard as I looked, I saw no
glowing blue line. It seems you can't believe a word these
gin-drinking Brits say.
That's all the excitement for today. We are
still on schedule, still having a nice sail - only needing to turn on the engine
now and then to give our speed a little boost. We should arrive in
Latouka, Viti Levu Island, Fiji sometime early tomorrow afternoon.
Anne
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