Location: 26 07.100N 25 29.950W
My day began bright and early with the 8-12 morning watch. As the sun rose higher into the sky, we tightened up on the preventers so that the sails wouldn’t crash gybe. Riley and I set the hand fishing lines off the stern as we were hopeful for another catch. Watch rolled by as we told stories and laughed until we couldn’t anymore. Soon enough, I got hungry. I headed down to grab my coco-crispies that I bought in Gran Canaria just before we set off toward the Caribbean. I poured a bowl into the galley and went back into my cabin to put away the cereal, excited to indulge in the chocolatey flavor. As I opened the watertight door to the saloon, my heart dropped. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the galley. My beloved coco-crispies, and the milk that was in the bowl with them, were everywhere. It was a pretty rocky morning on the boat, and I guess I hadn’t placed them in the best spot so they wouldn’t fall. I ate the three bites of coco-crispies that were left in the bowl, cleaned up my mess, and headed back up on deck.
Lunch was lentil tacos, and I ate them on the stern so I could watch the fishing lines. After lunch is finished and cleanup commences, I very quickly become the last one at the stern. Just as I am about to head down to get ready for my Nav exam, I notice something is off with one of the hand lines. I follow the line up the water, and sure enough, a fish jumps out of the water with the lure in its mouth. I yell, “Fish on!” As I grab the leather gloves and begin to reel in the fish. Another Mahi Mahi! The second one of the crossing thus far. Unfortunately, it wasn’t big enough to keep to eat, so I tossed it back after giving it a big ol’ kiss on the cheek. After cleaning my hands and the deck, I headed down to start the NavMaster exam. There is only so much space in the saloon and only so many charts, so the students need to take it staggered. Only seven took it today, and I was one of them.
As I’m charting a problem, I hear people start to yell up on deck. I guessed it was a fish, and sure enough, I was right. I didn’t get to see this one, but I was told it was another Mahi. Number three! No more than five minutes later, I hear another “Fish on!” This time I had to run up on deck. Jimmy kindly hands me the gloves and lets me reel this one in; it was another Mahi. Number four and the third of the day! Unfortunately, they were all too small to keep, so they were all tossed back, but we hope with this luck that we’ll catch a big one soon.
I went back down to finish the exam. Shortly after, it was dinnertime. We ate pesto noodles as we talked about the big day we had behind us. My squeeze question was, “What’s your shoe size?” A completely irrelevant, unimportant question, but a funny one at that. We learned who had the smallest and largest feet on the boat. Calum and Joel tied at size 13, and Skylar had the smallest at a size women’s five or a little boy’s three.
All in all, it was a great day and a fun one.
Friends and Family back home, miss you, and I’ll see you in around 27 days!