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Mistral of Portsmouth - Leg 3, Days 3 & 4



2 more days of no wind. The Pacific is like a mill pond. The engine continues to chug along and we are all doing dances to the wind gods. We are keeping our eyes open for wildlife - we’ve seen dolphins but they are fairly shy. A pod of whales was reported about 5 miles aay from us but no sightings as yet.

The big excitement came this morning as the fishing line went out at 7am. Within 15 minutes the reel flew out. Unfortunately, as I launched myself at the rod to try to reel whatever was on the line, it managed to jump off. I should explain that we no longer have a rod holder as it contains the StarLink antenna! We persisted with the fishing … this time with a lure called an ‘Offshore Dominator’ (a Chris purchase!) … how could we fail? Amazingly, just as I finished preparing the bacon butties, a shout went up … fish! This time it was Chris launching himself at the rod. He got there in time and between the 2 of us, we reeled in a huge Mahi Mahi. It took about 15 minutes to reel him in. I gaffed the fish and poured vodka down its throat to knock it unconscious. Then came the gargantuan task of gutting the fish and cutting off head and tail. Shirley came into her own with the guts and with significant team effort, we have 14 huge steaks wrapped and ready to cook. Glad we have a big freezer!

Outside of the fishing excitement, we continue with our 3 hour watch pattern, sleep when we need to, catch up on mail and reading. I’ve baked chocolate brownies for tea today and Shirley is on stainless steel cleaning duties. Cap P continues to focus on chasing wind, navigating and monitoring fuel. It looks as though we will be motoring all the way to San Cristobel - the first Galapagos island we will visit.



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