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Exody - Days 11/ 12 - First Fish and San Blas Swimming Pool



Folks look askance when you say you have caught a dolphin - but we did catch a dolphin fish (aka dorado, mahi mahi) late on Wednesday on the first outing of the new reel provided in Trinidad last month by Marian's brother David. My brother Martin thought we had hooked a monster marlin or tuna such was the weight on the line, but it turned out to be a more modest one metre long male dorado, estimated at 6kg - still enough to feed us three at least three times. It was landed without the gaff and after about twenty minutes with two of us on the line having furled the genny almost completely to slow the boat to under 3 knots. Quite a challenge to dispatch and dismember without fouling the teak and the leather wheel- (quote Dagmar of Garlix - "no blood on my boat" - not possible if you want fish!).

Later we were treated to a spinner dolphin display just before nightfall and the new moon. The winds and sea had eased considerably giving us a much more comfortable second night for the home straight to San Blas. Sufficiently quiet to open the hatch in the main saloon - just wide enough for Martin to be awoken in the early hours by a flying fish landing on his chest whilst off watch on the port berth.

Timing for San Blas arrival was perfect on Thursday morning - crossing the line at 10.15 local time and the cloud then clearing to give us good overhead sun to see our way through the reefs into the magical 'Swimming Pool' anchorage at Hollandes Cays about an hour later. Tobago Cays on a grandiose scale - spectacular, picture postcard perfect and apparently little tainted by tourism development. Five or six boats ahead of us had arrived overnight and found safe but deep anchorage further west to wait for daylight. We are anchored in four metres of crystal clear water close up to Barbecue Island - Hugur, Juno and APlus 2 in the deeper water downwind. Others of the fleet expected soon. A longer term cruising visitor has advised of a resident dog-eating crocodile on an adjacent island - a reminder that we are in new territory regarding wildlife!




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