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Rafiki - Friday 30th November



Emily writes:)

Friday was our fourth day at sea and we have now got our sea legs. Today the waves were calmer than they have been previously. We have been doing a good speed of 7 to 10 kts and we are all really enjoying it. Sadly, we did not see any dolphins or other wildlife until we put out both of our fishing lines.

It was mid-morning when we caught a fish on our "Johnny no-stars" line, which has now become "Johnny One-star". At first we thought we had caught a small tuna, but as we reeled it in, it appeared to be bigger and bigger and bigger. James and I got really excited when we brought it on board, because it was absolutely enormous. But it wasn't a tuna - what could it have been? It was yellowy gold with a blue fan fin all the way down its back and it had dark blue spots on it. It had an ugly nose - almost like a dolphin's but without the beak. Dad recognised it as a Dorado.

It was pretty hard to kill. We tried using Mum's gin in its gills to knock it out. This didn't seem to work, so Dad had to get a sharp knife to it to cut its gills. I know it sounds cruel, but it was the only way to kill this monster fish as quickly as possible with minimum pain to the fish. It made a bit of a mess of the back of the boat, but we were able to wash it down with sea water.

As it was such a big fish, we had to tie it onto the boat and weigh it in a bucket. It came to 10lb which is amazing, and we were all really pleased - the biggest fish any of us have ever caught. Dad dissected it so that we could see each and every bit inside the fish. I really wanted to gut it, but it was really tough, so we left it to big, strong Dad.

The rest of the day we spent relaxing and enjoying the new taste to us of Dorado. Tomorrow Andy and Mum are going to make fish cakes with the rest of it.

I have enjoyed being in touch with my ARC friends on the radio, but we've heard devastating news that Storm Sval have had to turn back to The Canaries with electrical problems. This is the one boat who does not deserve this, having had to miss out cruising in Spain and Portugal and having got stuck in 50 kts of wind for a week, crossing to Las Palmas. So our thoughts are with them. However, knowing Mike, who has crossed The Atlantic single-handedly before, I am sure they will cross The Atlantic after they have sorted their electrical problems. I just hope and pray that if they do cross, we will be able to see them over Christmas in The Caribbean.

Today has been great - especially on the fishing front. I hope we catch more fish - in particular, tuna!


Friday's food menu:

Lunch - Dorado, oven baked in garlic butter, bread, avocados and tomatoes and sweet chilli sauce
Supper - coleslaw with cabbage, carrots, apples, sultanas and walnuts

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