At midnight the wind came up! We flung out all the canvas and sailed for joy! All morning and afternoon we flew across the gathering waves with wings spread. I spent all my awake, on-watch time sewing feathers on an old Spanish dancing dress that I hope to wear to carnival. Sweet Dream began to look like a bird herself, with bits of soft indigo and flamingo coloured fluff catching the back eddies of the wind and swirling around until they found the most incongruous places to stick. It was a very pleasant day capped off by finally catching a fish! All day we’d been dragging two lures, when we got a strike on the small rod, I reeled in the big one only to find the hook gone completely! The squid, half chewed , was still there, but the hook chomped away! Captain played the fish on the small rod, and we finally landed it; a great big fat skip jack tuna. I took one look and wailed that we were going to be eating tunny for a month! Fortunately, we have the freezer fired up and after four weeks since provisioning in Capetown, there is plenty of room for fish fillets against the cold plate. After all the delicate lovely Mahi mahi we’ve been enjoying lately, the tuna was actually tough...like eating poor quality beef! To be sure, it WAS the largest tuna we’d ever caught, and, while the rest of it will make a couple of fine fish stews, I’m hoping for Mahi Mahi or rainbow runner next catch.
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