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| Ready to leave Grenada |
Our departure from Granada went great.
I set my internal alarm clock for 6 am and woke to a
beautiful day with winds around 15 knots.
I gave Josh a nudge to get ready for getting underway - not the normal
hours for a 19 year old, but he took it well.
We prepped the salt water wash down hose for the
anchor. The day before we had
raised the chain about 30 feet to clean off what growth there was from a 3
month stay.
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| Leaving Mount Hartman |
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| sv Joana |
“Anchor’s off the bottom” Cath yelled “along with about 60
pounds of Grenadian mud!” Once the anchor was stowed and the main sail was set,
we were off to Carriacou, about 40 miles away. Once again it looked like a motor sail kind of day. Our friends Wade and Diane on s/v Joana
took the lead and covering the rear was Mike and Rebecca on s/v Zero to Cruising. As we got clear of the Grenada coast,
the wind became much cleaner and a few knots higher. Boy did it feel great to
be back underway! Josh was doing
well until we started plowing into the five foot seas and then the green gills
started to form. Cath thoughtfully
reminded him always get sick over the leeward side “for your sake and others!”
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| Near Kick' Em Jenny |
At this point we were clicking at around 5.5 knots and
another 5 minutes to Kick’ Em Jenny, which is an underwater volcano just off of
Diamond Rock. I was determined to
catch the Mahi Mahi that had
gotten away 3 months before as we were sailing over this same spot. I gave Cath
the wheel, jumped over the sick Pollywog hunched on the step, and made it to
the bumpkin to do some fine tuning on the fishing reels. Cath informed me that we were right
over Kick’ Em Jenny and there were lots of flying fish around -jumping not away
from us but toward us, always a good sign.
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| What a bute |
“ZZZZZZZZZ” the rod sounds - there she goes! I slipped into the belt as Cath
throttled back. Of course, just at
that moment, the wind picked up and the seas started to look confused. Always when we hook a fish it gets this
way - Neptune makes sure you earn
his gift! I looked down and saw a
brilliant flash of blue and green.
Below me was a good sized bull Dorado, better known as a Mahi Mahi. We estimated he was about 35 pounds and
definitely mad. We had quite the
show as he flew out of the water, trying for the life of him to toss the
hook. Cath was doing her best to
keep the ship stable. I yelled to
Josh to grab the gaff. He had
never seen a Dorado before outside a book or TV – at least it kept his mind off
his seasickness for about a minute!
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| Cover their eyes - no flopping |
I fought the fish for about 15 minutes and had him up to the
boat a few times just to have him see the ship and take off again. After two
tries with the gaff from Josh, I yelled to Cath to come and gaff it. At this point I was starting to breathe
a little harder as all that fighting for my foothold while reeling in was
getting to me. “Now or never!” I
yelled to Cath. Up along side he
came and Cath swiped at him and BLAM up on the deck he went. Her first ever gaffing job - not to
shabby, even if it was through the tail!
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| Carraicaou in the morning |
Back underway again, I realized it was easier trying to
catch the fish then filet it, especially with the confused seas and dull knife.
We pulled into Carricaou with the winds clocking around 30
knots from a nearby squall and a fridge full of fish, ready to enjoy a good
dinner and big fish tales with friends.
Oh, did I mention how great it feels to be under way again?
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