A big fish on a small boat

Morning all,

Cai, was on galley yesterday and made rice for the first time. Not quite understanding quantities, he started to boil a full 1kg of rice. Yes, we will be eating rice dishes for the next few days. However that's not the news...

The fish gods finally smiled on us, and last night just after sun set we landed a Blue fin Tuna, That was a story. This fish was going to fight all the way onto the deck. When fishing on a yacht we don't uses rods and reels, we use hand lines. The simple reason for this is that we cant cast lines with rods and hooks because they might catch in the sails or rigging. This of course means it's human power to pull in the fish. Now, a 30kg Blue fine is a fight at the best of times, do it on hand line and you know all about it. 

Chief and I fought and fought. In and out, let him swim, draw him in. Then he got close to the boat and went wild.... We fought on until I got him close enough for chief to gaff him. Finally on board. Fingers sawed and bleeding but happy. Now the process of gutting and filleting. The result, a nice big fillet. This is where Cai pipes up, 'see we are going to need all the rice...

Now, how can we argue with that logic?? Either way, the fish came at the most opportune time as the very last of the fresh food is running out and we would be on canned food. Fantastic fresh tuna instead of tinned meatballs. Not a difficult decision.

So this morning after letting the remainder of the fish bleed overnight, Stef had his first lesson in how to fillet a tuna. Now there are four fillets in the fridge. I'm guessing each fillet will feed us for a day maybe two. That is even with these hungry mouths.

We're looking forward to arrival in Cape Town on the 17th or 18th, depending on the weather....plenty of fish and rice to feed us until then!

Wavy and the fishing crew