With a photo like that it's a bit difficult to keep the punch line until last!
But a little scene setting is probably appropriate. We've never had much luck fishing apart from landing Mackeral a few times in home waters when we've gone through shoals of the daft things and they've launched themselves at bare hooks.
The first problem is we're both a bit too squeamish to deal with the consequences of landing anything bigger than a mackeral. The second is that as a consequence we've never seriously tried.
However, whilst in Plymouth in July I decided we should equip ourselves with some modest gear so that we could at least try. I therefore bought a hand line with four hooks/feathers and a weight. It stayed firmly in a locker until a couple of days ago when our tinned meat diet of the last week finally became a little tedious.
The line therefore went out. For two days we got not so much as a nibble. The line went out again this morning but we were really just going through the motions and pretty quickly we forgot all about it. Then eatlier this afternoon, just as were about to tuck into lunch with more of Mick's lovely home made bread when....
.... Mick spotted what looked like wreckage floating in the sea a few hundred metres away. Were those people clinging on for dear life? Thankfully not. As we got nearer we could see the 'wreckage' consisted of polystyrene fishing floats with a few birds perched on them.
These were not the first we'd seen in the day but they were the biggest.
We turned away with a mixture of relief but also disappointment! Imagine being at the centre of a 'mid' ocean rescue!
As we left the scene Mick who was looking back at it, said - "did you see that fish jump?" A few seconds later I did. Hang on I said "I think we may have caught a fish"! I picked up the line holder and yes there was clearly something on it. It took a lot of hand over hand turning of the line holder but fairly soon it was clear that the jumping fish was on our line!
After another few minutes I had a beautiful (😔) Mahi-Mahi of about 1 metre alongside the boat...
"It looks like he's given up said Mick. "Hmm, I'm not so sure, I think all hell may let lose when I try and lift him out of the water" (we haven't got a landing net). Sure enough he went berserk as I lifted him into the cockpit. Just as I got him in, the line parted and he fell onto the cockpit sole. A second earlier and he would have been free albeit with a hook in his jaw!
We were both rather stunned as the beautiful blue and yellow creature thrashed about. Suddenly the plan to knock him out with a hammer seemed an unlikely one. Alcohol in the gills - I suddenly remembered being told by Alexi in Sal. I rushed to the drinks cabinet. Shame to waste the last of Howard's Jack Daniels! Ah, perfect a small bottle of White Rum. Charles's favourite but not mine. I quickly poured a generous measure into one of his gills which quietened him down considerably. Then I turned him over and did the other. There was still slight movement so I pierced the poor thing's head with a knife. Loads of blood. Dam got his gills not his brain. Another go. That did it.
By now, with the rear of the cockpit swimming in blood, Mick was looking decidely green! I put him in our largest bucket ..
... and we resumed lunch. Tuna Mayonnaise with Mick's lovely bread rolls!
I've never gutted a fish before. Mick appeared to understand the technique but clearly had no appetite for doing the deed, so with him directing operations from a safe distance I set to work. I fully expected to find it all to much to bare, but to my surprise I just got on with it and soon we had enough fish flesh for what turned out to be 11 generous fillets.
Enough to keep us in fish for days. As luck would have it, with the engine now producing enough Amps to meet all our needs we had recommisioned the small fridge/freezer to make ice in preparation for celebratory G&Ts on arrival. The fillets therefore joined the 'to be' ice cubes. With the massacre of the poor creature still fresh in our minds, neither of us thought we fancied fish for dinner tonight.
Tomorrow we can pretend we bought it from Sainsbury's!
In other news, at 1745 GMT we had 75 miles still to go and the engine was still running! We are hopeful of a breeze finding us later this evening, but for now we are motoring through a truly glassy sea. I don't think I have ever seen it so clear 'mid' ocean.
You'll note cloud in the distant horizon to the North West however. We know there is 'weather' in that direction (an area of low pressure) and that cloud is probably related to it. There is also a significant low undulating swell coming in from the same direction..
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