Fishing

We leave St Vincent and the Grenadines, doing a long sail from Union Island to Bequia, and then onwards in an overnight stint from Bequia to Martinique. On the way to Bequia we catch our first good fish, a great family size mahi mahi.

We’ve been trawling a lure on every trip, and caught a massive (easily over 1 metre) mahi mahi on a trip from Martinique to St Lucia. I was frantically trying to slow the boat, the boys were shouting, and David was reeling the beast in. And then I lost it when trying to gaffe it onboard.

I was so disappointed that I nearly cried – we’ve almost given up on meat, as the only available seems to be incredibly tough braising type steak or chicken that doesn’t look safe to eat. When we saw the fish on the line, we were all imagining dinner, transformed from a sweet potato curry into beautiful fresh fish steaks, drizzled in lemon juice, with cracked black pepper. But, off the hook he jumped, and probably for the best, since he was way too big for us to eat, it would have been a waste. Or so we told ourselves.

Next up we caught a barracuda, which we decided to let go because of ciguatera, a terrible toxin found in reef fish and their predators. Plus, I’ve never really thought of barracuda as an eating fish (but apparently you can)…

But this latest one got on board safely  – not being able to handle two failures in a row, I let David gaffe it, so it would be his fault if we lost it. The boys were besides themselves with excitement, and that night we feasted at sunset, whilst sailing back to Martinique.

It was full moon, and as the moon was rising and the sun was sinking, dolphins were playing in the wake at the back of the boat, jumping fully out of the water, spinning wildly, and then plopping back in with a massive splash. Magic.

The night was still, the water oily, and we were forced to motor most of the way. Dolphins joined us again at sunrise, and then let us carry on towards Martinique, and the boat work we have to do there.