Today we left Lee Stocking early to ride the tide out of the cut and headed out into open water. The wind, as usual, wasn't exactly where we wanted it to be so we decided we were going to just do one long tack and go out about 7 miles offshore and then come back and make it to the Georgetown cut around lunchtime.
Usually we like to sail instead of motor, but today the waves were big and they were on our stern throwing us and I was not thrilled about this decision to sail the whole way. This would add an extra hour onto our time out in open messy waters and that was the last thing I wanted. I was bummed about heading to Georgetown so early anyway and then to have these seas behind us was not my idea of a fun day. But, Brad was intent on sailing the whole way, so up went the sails and out to sea we headed.
I decided that since we were going to be in deep water for so long we were at least going to troll for some fish. After talking to a few other sailors along the way, I had learned that the Mahi were biting on pink squid lures. Lucky for me, I had a pink and white feather squid lure in my tacklebox!! So, I rigged one up and put a cedar plug on the other line and threw them off the stern. We had gone about 3 hours into the trip when we got a hit on the squid line! I was ecstatic!! I ran to the line and started to bring him in.
Now, this is easier said than done on a sailboat with 6 foot waves on the stern quarter rocking you from gunnel to gunnel and with no autopilot. So, we switched places and Brad got in place to reel in the fish while I reeled in the other line with one hand on the wheel. In between waves, I was throwing cushions up off the benches and grabbing the gaff and generally getting everything out of the way for when he could get the fish on board. When he finally got the fish, a small but decent sized Mahi we could now see, to the stern of the boat, he couldn't gaff it because the leader was so long. So, again with one hand on the wheel and one eye on the waves, I leaned back and swung the gaff in the general area that I knew the fish to be. SUCCESS!! I am one good gaffer!! We drug him on board and poured some vodka down his gills and then rejoiced in our catch! Brad filleted him up and I was so excited to have fresh fish that I threw the line back out again (although Brad wasn't thrilled about having to fillet another fish). Luckily for him, we did not get another hit for the remaining two hours of the trip.
We made it through the cut at lunchtime and had a thankfully uneventful trip in and headed straight over to anchor near town. We were in desperate need of provisions and water. After a few trips back and forth in the dinghy, we had gotten groceries, dropped off our laundry and filled our water tank. Just before dark, we weighed anchor and headed over to anchor on the Eastern side of the harbour where we would be protected from the winds and closer to the other boats and the beach! Tomorrow starts our true vacation and we can't wait to kick back and enjoy our time in Georgetown!
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