The Pink Squid rules, OK!
Viridian
Sat 20 Apr 2024 19:56
COG: 278T
SOG: 6.2 kn
Wind speed: 17.9 kn
Wind direction:136T
Distance to go: 140 nm
I caught a fish - in fact, I caught two fish!!
We were passing the Taupo Sea Mount so I decided to give fishing another try and dropped the lure in. It was of course my new Pink Squid, who was trying desperately to live up to the successes of his predecessor, now sadly deceased. The first fish was a smallish (30cm?) Jack Trevally. They look a bit like tuna but I have caught one before which we cooked and they they are a very red meat and don’t taste at like tuna. Some people like them but not me, so we threw that one back and with the Pink Squid now brimming with confidence we had another try. About 3 hours later i heard the line fizz. The rod was bent so much that I knew it was something a bit more substantial and after a 5 minute struggle we managed to land a very nice hen mahi-mahi about 60 cm. Mahi-mahi is one of my favourite fish for eating so we kept this one, Jan filleted it, and now we have enough fish for several meals. I patted the Pink Squid on the head, gave him brief congratulations and with his job done i tucked him away for another passage. Very happy with that!
Regarding the sailing, we now have wind. It’s been between 17-22knots most of the time so we have made quite good progress although the boat has been very rolly so it has been very difficult to get any proper sleep. We are still getting regular squalls and didn’t manage to avoid the last one, which gave us lots of rain and a top wind speed of 36 knots. Fortunately we have less than 150 nm to go now so i estimate that we should arrive early on Monday morning. We will both be very pleased to arrive because this has been a hard passage and it will be very nice to get a decent sleep and not be bouncing around for a while.