Sushi!!!

After listening to the weather for five days and hearing Chris Parker say that this was a terrible time to go South, we finally agreed and decided to turn tail for the homeland. We are going to enjoy the Exumas on the way home, but then will head up the East Coast. We were thrilled we got out to see Conception again this year, as it is always a favorite stop. And we had the added bonus of meeting a few new boating friends who will also be heading our way.

We headed out early Friday morning; squalls in this area seem to pick up around noon and we wanted to be in the lee of Long Island by that time. The winds were heavier than we had expected and therefore the waves were also more than we had anticipated, but the wind was on the beam and we were making a solid 7 knots (great for our boat!) so we pressed on.

We had thrown out two fishing lines off the stern and I was hopeful we would catch a mahi as this was a great cruising speed for trolling. We had Koa laying peacefully on the side seat and Moo squeezed in beside me in the companionway seat, when suddenly we heard....zzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZeeeeee!!! It was the sound of BOTH rods hitting at the exact same time! We all jerked up and everyone was still for half a second as if we couldn't believe that had just happened, and then - utter mayhem.

I jumped for one rod and Brad jumped for the other, while still keeping one hand on the helm. Koa jumped up and was barking furiously and jumping all around the cockpit and Moo was screaming because he didn't know what was going on! We managed to get control over both of the rods and then took a second to figure out the logistics of this fiasco. It was decided that I would hold one rod and take the helm while Brad reeled in one of the fish. I was sure at this point that there was no way we were going to be able to land both of these fish.

Brad began reeling his fish in and I kept the boat pointed downwind and also would occasionally try to reel in a bit of my line. We got the first fish to the back of the boat and saw it was a tuna! Yay!! Sushi!! At this point we realized we needed to get our barking maniacal dog downstairs so we didn't accidentally gaff him! So Brad took both poles and the helm while I scooted the pets downstairs and got all the things on the cockpit sole out of the way so we could throw the fish there. Then, I returned to the helm and took the poles (now holding two poles and the helm) while Brad grabbed the gaff and brought the fish on board.

Then, he reeled in the second fish while I manned the helm. This fish put up more of a fight and took a bit longer to get in. When we finally got him to the back of the boat, he was flopping around so much it took Brad quite awhile to get the gaff in him. But, we did it!! We brought both fish into the cockpit, dumped (cheap) vodka down their gills and then rejoiced in our good luck!!

Of course the cockpit and us were covered in fish blood and scales, but we had sushi for days!! We were close to being in the calmer water of the lee of Long Island, so let the fish and blood sit until we could move about the boat without fear of falling over.

We finally reached Salt Pond at 4 pm, after a long day of sailing and motor bashing and couldn't have been happier to get the hook down and cook up our fresh fish! Let the feast begin!!


We aren't the cleanest fishermen, that's for sure...

Sushi!!!!