This morning was internet (very slow), shopping, getting gas for the dinghy and boat prep. After lunch we were off on our way to the Tuamotus. The wind was fair and we’re making around 6 to 6.5 knots. It will be nice if we can cover the 500 odd miles in four days. Just under in fact as we need to hit slack tide to make it through the pass in whatever atoll we decide to arrive at. Our current target is Kauehi – the entrance being at S15 56.954 W145 10.837.
About 15nm west of Ua Pou our luck with fishing took a new turn. The nut alarm was triggered and I found we had a fish on the line that stayed on the line. I hauled it in slowly as it was putting up a bit of a fight. I knew it wasn’t a mahi mahi as it wasn’t leaping out of the water to through the hook. When the fish was near the boat I realized it was a decent sized Wahoo – a good eater and the first we’ve ever caught. I managed to get it aboard and put our large safety pin through it’s jaw which tethered it to the boat. We weighed it at 20lb before slitting it’s gills and chucking it in the water to bleed out. I pulled it in again and gave the cuts a second go. Not much blood this time but I put it in the water again. As I was lowering it down the steps the link between the pin through it’s jaw and the line to the boat failed and we lost the fish. Boy were we all disappointed. It’s one thing losing a live fish but having a dead fish escape really sucks. Particularly 20lb of delicious wahoo.
We’re back on our regular watches. Nothing much else to report for day 0. (I like counting from day 0 as it makes the arithmetic easier later on).
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