Little Island - 144 hours

It’s Bananageddon. Despite attending the provisioning seminars before the ARC departure and despite following the advice of splitting our bananas up so they ripen at different times in different places; despite our best efforts, all of our bananas are ripe. Very ripe. We are now going to be forced to eat 12 bananas each today. We have no choice. When I was at school there was always a rumour going around that eating too many bananas at once can kill a man. If this turns out to be true, by the time you are reading this, it may be too late. Remember us.

On the serious matter of the fishing report, we only went and bloody caught one! A very good looking Mahi Mahi will be on the menu this evening. It was caught last night but after awkwardly filleting it on the roof of the aft cabin with our custom-made Ikea filleting table and floating filleting knife (a gift from Anna and Sam), it was late and we didn’t feel like cooking. I’m looking forward to getting my teeth in it tonight though. We also caught another fish. I was on my watch with autohelm running and with the Little Island laptop cinema screening The A Team (2010 remake starring Bradley Cooper and Liam Neeson **cue the tuts from the dads. I haven’t seen the original but quite enjoyed this version - 6.5/10). During what was probably another topless Bradley Cooper scene I felt a thud in my chest (and it wasn’t for Bradley), jumped out of my skin and frantically looked up to see what had fallen down from the rig. Then there was a slapping noise at my feet and I looked down to find a pesky flying fish shitting all over my nice cockpit floor. In fairness to him, I’d almost done the same moments earlier with the fright of the pitch-black collision. Luckily for the fish, I had enough blood on my hands for one day so I returned him back to the sea where he can live to fight another day.

As for the sailing, we’re steaming along fairly nicely now on a course of roughly 250. Still heading a little south but looking to square off to the west in the next 24 hours or so. Then it’s a straight line of 1800 miles or so to the finish. Cat has had a bit of a tougher last 24 hours. Lack of sleep, the wretched menstrual cycle and sundried fish guts on the boat may have something to do with it. She’s currently getting some well-earned shut eye.

I’ll do another post tomorrow as we begin the countdown to the birthday of the Messiah.

Martin