Mahi Mahi: I caught a fish!

For me that is quite an achievement. 

The colour of Mahi Mahi is green and yellow when in the water but changes to the iridescent  blue when taken out. That wasn’t the only adventure yesterday. On my overnight shift from 2-4am I noticed lights on the horizon. The very first contact we have had of any sort after leaving Port Blair. Near midday this vessel started following us and was getting closer. It may sound weird but when this was happening there was no way for us to know what the intentions of this boat were. Could they be pirates? Possibly. Ally was getting visibly shaken. I mean we are in the middle of nowhere and they weren’t responding to our calls on the VHF radio. As they got closer our conversation became more of how do we respond if there is a boarding situation. This is a self talk that I have had during my late night watches. What to do and how to protect the boat. Anyway turns out it was a Sri Lankan fishing trawler that only wanted to trade some fish for smokes. They left but returned at sunrise this morning while Caroline was on watch and pulled up alongside to take selfies. 

During our crossing we have encountered more dolphins. Three times in one day the same pod came by for a visit. Quite a lot of them too. Caroline was able to get this on film:

After their visit I rigged up a way of using my Go Pro knock off, to film underwater from the deck of the boat. Since that moment we have not seen one dolphin. Nor did we see any for the remainder of our sail. I hope some show up because as of now we are only 36-40 hours away from Sri Lanka and the end of our sailing. 

It is truly amazing to experience the open water like this. The complete darkness in between sunset and moonrise. The dazzling stars and countless constellations. I have finally seen what David Crosby sang about and was inspired by. The Southern Cross. For now that’s it. I’m off to do more fishing. According to Shawn it’s a competition. Thanks again for being here.

There is more to sailing than ropes and winches, cleats and bulging sails. There are faraway places and the ever changing light, and the silence, and a great peace at the bottom of your soul

Ferenc Maté