Catch of the day
Tranquilizer
Sail Ionian
Thu 25 Nov 2010 19:35
Neil, our resident fishmonger with tried and tested expertise at catching fish on the ARC, was up bright and early to put out the fishing lines again for the day - four in total. Ninky refused to kiss the lure for luck, but instead blew it a kiss, and sure enough a few hours later there was a rather high-pitched Yorkshire yell of excitement when a splash was spotted and the line snapped taught as, in Neil's own words, 'the sea exploded' with fish! I should point out that this particular line was put out by First Mate Robin, who is claiming a rather precise 30% of the credit for the catch. (later upped to 40%).
Either way, we've caught a huge dorado and Phoebe B haven't! For a while the cockpit was a sea of blood as the final battle took place, but soon enough it was filleted, bagged, and put in the fridge. On motherwatch today are Rob and Ninky, and dorado with creamy mushroom sauce with roast vegetables is on the menu - we've just 'grated' the cheese for the sauce with a vegetable peeler, in the absence of a cheese-grater. Rob has rather cheekily just requested 80% of the credit for cooking the dinner, but I'll resume helping once I've typed this! (We also made omelettes for lunch, which turned out to be a little difficult when cooking at a 45 degree angle).
In other non-fish news (sorry, it really has been pretty exciting for us!) the sky has been overcast today as we scuttle southwards towards the Verde Islands to escape a fairly severe storm system that is sweeping this way from the north-west. Force 7/8 winds predicted, so south we go as fast as we can - sails up and engine on. No worries here though, as Skipper Rich has assured First Girl Ninky that she will have her sunshine again soon!
Relatively eventful night with glowing jellyfish lighting up our wake, a possilbe pilot whale spotted (or just a massive dolphin??) and a dozen actual dolphins playing alongside. Alas, Robin and Neil discovered the sweetie cupboard, which had previously been rationed, and a maniacal sugar session ensued, with Rob enjoying a sugar-high throughout his nightwatch. Other crew members looked on in disgust, although an empty packet of Maryland cookies this morning indicated that there were other guilty parties...
Today's update on crew members:
Neil: Elated with the catching of the fish
Rich: Busy radioing Phoebe B about the fish
Rob: Cooking the fish
Scott: Looking forward to eating the fish
Lee: Trying not to think about the fish
Ninky: Enjoying making up fish-puns, most efishently.
Over and out,
Ninky
