Fish Tale

 

This is a fish story, but not a common one.  I'm not going to exaggerate the size of the fish, but it was a nice one - a wahoo.

We were traveling the south side of Margarita, an island off the coast of Venezuela, trolling a line.   Seems that sailing is about the right speed for trolling most of the time.  The line hooked into a wahoo, a heavy fish.  Since I was at the helm, I slowed the speed of the boat while my partner tried to reel him in.  By the time all the sails were down and the motor started, the fish was still fighting and my partner yelled to back down on the fish.   Oh, great, I'm thinking fishing line in the prop.  I backed down so that the fish was closer, but he was way too big to try to gaff and bring aboard.  We had lots of freeboard - meaning we were not very close to the water level. 

All cruisers have a dinghy, and we were no exception, so my partner got in the dinghy and I handed over the rod that I'd been trusted to hold on to. I also handed over the gaff, hoping for no damage.  Our dinghy was inflatable and I was hoping that it would survive this procedure without any punctures or other damage.  After what seemed like a lengthy time, with much mumbling and grunting, the fish was gaffed and dragged into the dinghy.  Luckily, the dinghy was still inflated, much to my relief.

We were close to our anchorage, so we just motored in while we towed the dinghy with the wahoo's tail sticking up in the air.  After we anchored, the next problem was to get the fish on deck so it could be cleaned.  As we anchored, the cat knew we were done traveling and it was safe to come out on deck.  She had to do her usual tour of the deck, up one side and down the other.  She stopped at the back and stared at the dinghy with the fish staring back at her.  We had caught other fish and she absolutely loved it, so she looked up at us and demanded to know why we were not yet slicing up some fish morsels for her. 

My partner finally heaved the fish onto the back deck, with more mumbling and grunting.  The cat decided we were moving too slowly and decided to take matters into her own paws.  She went over to the fish and tried to take a bite.  Unfortunately for her, and strange as it seems to me - her mouth just wasn't big enough to bite off a piece of flesh, she couldn't even break the skin.  She was so insistent that I had to lock her in the head when the filet knife came out. 

As my partner cut the fish up into steaks and small chunks for the cat, we knew we didn't have refrigeration capability to keep it all, so I got on the radio and put out calls to other cruisers we knew in the anchorage.  I told them what we had and if anyone wanted some fresh fish, to bring baggies over.  By the time they started arriving, I had let the poor starving kitty out of the head so she could overload on fish pieces.  As she was inhaling them, she noticed we were handing over packages of her fish to people in dinghies.  She came over to me yelling about it and slapping my hand as I handed over a full baggie to a cruiser.  Guess who was caged back in the head?

With this much fish, we all decided to have a cookout on the beach with other cruisers we knew.  Everyone brought their drinks and a dish to share and we had a great evening.  And people wondered what we did all day!

Lost in Georgetown, Bahamas

Georgetown, Bahamas is a gathering place for cruisers who come down from the northern states, stay for a few months and then go back to the northern states for the summer months.  Some cruisers do this year after years, but a small percentage of adventurous cruisers go further south to the island chain.

Because cruisers keep coming back year after year, it's a very social place.  Cruisers are a social bunch anyway, but while staying in one area for months at a time, it becomes more social than usual.  There are multiple beaches in the area, Volleyball Beach and Hamburger Beach are a couple popular beaches.  Yes, there is volleyball at Volleyball Beach and there is food at Hamburger Beach.  There are cookouts on the beach, get-togethers at the local eateries and happy hours happen on lots of boats in the different anchorages. 

There are multiple anchorages in the area and as many as 500 boats at any time during the season.  Unless you're paying strict attention, or have your GPS with you, this could be a problem getting home after dark with the forest of masts that don't look familiar, especially if you've had a few.

Cruisers usually have their VHF radios on when they're home and awake.  It's like a party-line, everyone can hear what you're saying.  One night, we were home having a quiet evening and it was probably about 10 PM.  A call came on the radio requesting the location of a certain boat.  After listening to numerous conversations with a few other boats, we learned that the owner of the boat mentioned had been circling the area in his dinghy and couldn't find his way home.  One of his neighbors took pity on the guy and went outside to signal him with a flashlight.  Turns out he wasn't even in the general area, but did find his way eventually.

Everyone we saw the next day was chuckling about it and teasing the poor lost soul.  We shared our secret of finding our way home - we had put reflective tape around the top of the mast.  That works well, we found it helpful a few times.  Of course, that's assuming you remember to have a flashlight with you.

Betty Karl

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