Monday 1st October

At Sea

21 43.094 S
168 45.788 E (at Midnight)

The wind began to drop during the early hours of the morning and along with it speed dropped. As soon as daylight appeared we shook out the 2nd reef that we had put in the main and put the preventer on to stop it from flopping across when a wave hit us side on. The jib began to collapse with the larger amount of sail now in play and we soon got fed up with the constant slapping of the block on the side of the cabin sole; away went the jib, we still managed to do 7 knots with just the main flying so that was OK. We put the fishing line in the water – perhaps today would be the day! The sky was cloudy with the occasional blue patch and once in a while we spotted what we think was the sun trying to shine through. As the afternoon wore on the wind began to drop and was now 10 -15 knots, funnily enough this was the prediction – they had got it right for once; unfortunately our speed also began to drop but at 5-6 knots we were still happy with it. I went below at 14.30hrs to type up the blog and I’d been typing for about 15 minutes when the fish alarm went off –surely not! I closed down the computer and went on deck to find Gerry reeling in a rather large Mahi Mahi, I took photos and then grabbed the gaff ready for when it was close
enough to reach; this fish certainly fought hard, it was leaping and thrashing all over the place and just as Gerry got it to within arm’s length it managed to slip the hook and darted away- damn that was probably the only fish we would hook this passage. I went and finished typing and then went for a nap, I’d been laying down for 25 minutes when I heard the fish alarm go off again – surely not. I shot out of bed and took over reeling in the fish – another Mahi Mahi. This time we actually managed to land it – hooray fish for dinner! It was a good size, we got 10 fillets off of it (well I did, Gerry just watched) It was messy to say the least, this fish just didn’t want to die but boy did it taste good for dinner that night. The night watches were uneventful but the wind speed dropped right off during the next 5 hours, it got down to 5 -10 knots and our speed was now struggling at 3-4 knots – what a difference a day makes!