Of lubbers and lobsters
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 7 Jan 2011 16:24
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12:35.83N
61:24.85W
Our new crew has arrived and been chained up below
decks, where they can just reach an oar, but not much else. Celia and Andy
arrived as night fell over St George's in Grenada, and had a lightning tour of
the city as we hunted for a place for supper. Big, silly cocktails kept them
awake until almost midnight - a near record for us as well.
The crew was briefed for an early start and by
7.30am we were setting sail from St George's. During the night, four huge cruise
liners had appeared in the lagoon, and our route out was literally under the
overhang of a huge steel bow belonging to an Aida ship, which sported a huge
pair of garish lips painted just above the waterline and eyes with big lashes
peering out from under the bridge.
It turned out to be a good windy day, so we made
good time to the north east, close hauled into mild chop. It was something of a
batism of fire for Celia and Andy and fairly soon, Colvin was hunkered down in
the cockpit staring fixedly at the horizon with a greenish tinge to his face.
Celia meanwhile was periodically crying 'Weeeeeeeeiiiiiiihhhhhhhh!' with her
hair flying in the wind. We reefed down in about 20 knots and tacked up towards
Carriacou.
With promises of fish, I put the line out with our
top lure - Carla the pink cuttlefish. Sure enough, just as Celia murmured the
words 'come on fish', there was a terrific shriek from the fishing reel as line
was dragged off it by an unseen beast of the sea. We sheeted out a sail to spill
wind and i started reeling in against stiff resistance. After a minute or two, a
large looking fish surfaced briefly about 20 yards astern. That's when the
wheels fell off. With a titanic thrash of its head, the fish disappeared. There
was a ping from Carla, who like a spring, flew through the air as the fish shook
itself lose and eased the tension on the line. Despite numerous fish songs
from Andy and the rest of the crew throughout the day, we arrived in wide Tyrell
Bay empty handed.
Happily a local called Simon quickly filled the
void when he buzzed out in a dinghy to offer us live lobster. We agreed on a
four pound specimen, but he came back with an absolutely monstrous spiny lobster
that weighed in at considerably more. The leviathan was struggling with its many
sharp legs and waving its antennae with agitation. Seeing the daunted
expressions on our faces, Simon merrily chopped off both antennae, then drove a
knife into the carapace between the creature's eight legs, which sent the fight
out of him. He curled up shortly afterwards. The skipper spent about 20 minutes
with a large knife and a hammer carving the beast in two to fit him on the
barbecue. An hour later, as the rain drummed down on the deck, a contented
silence filled the boat. This was broken only by the occasional snore from Andy,
who is still struggling with jetlag.
Tyrell Bay
  Carriacou from on high
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