Wednesday, June 2, 2010 – At Sea

Up by 6 am, we prepared for our long passage to Isla Jicarita and left the dock just before 7:30 am. During the first two or three hours, we were bothered by so much trash in the water, we had to steer around it at times. There were large logs, oil drums, plastic containers and other smaller miscellaneous debris to be avoided. We even had to pull in the fishing lines for awhile to avoid snagging the hooks on things other than fish.



When the water around us cleared up, Gale put the trolling lines back in the water. Soon, the cry went up, “Fish On!!” Reeling it in, we had a large mahi mahi. After filleting that fish, Gale came back inside to shower and change clothes. Afterwards, as he walked back out into the cockpit he saw and heard the line being stripped off one of the reels. “Fish On!! Fish On!!” He watched a 6 to 7-foot fish jump completely out of the water! As he went to reel it in, the line on the lure gave way and we lost what we thought was a sailfish! Oh well, it wasn’t long before we boated another very large mahi and a big tuna. Towards evening, the weather seemed to be deteriorating around us; the skies darkened, the wind picked up, the rain began and the seas became rougher. We decided to pull in the fishing lines, but before we could get the last line in, we had another large mahi mahi. Gale did a fabulous job of filleting out the three dolphin fish and the tuna. We may grow gills before the trip is over, but that’s okay with us! We have a lot of wonderful fresh fish to enjoy for many days to come.




During the daylight hours, the seas were almost calm and we had a very pleasant ride. The swells built toward evening and we experienced a very rocky night. Since Captain Jim was gone, we decided on 5-hour shifts at the helm. Gale and Maureen took the 7 pm to midnight shift while Mark and Diane had midnight to 5 am. Gale got a little seasick during his shift, so he was happy to have Maureen up in the wheel house which allowed him to get some rest while she watched the radar.