The One that got Away!

Aloha from the Air Bender! I am writing this on June 16th – Day 12 of this amazing adventure. About as soon as I hit submit on the previous post, we heard one of the fishing lines go off and were excited to reel in a good sized Mahi Mahi. And then lose him at the swim step. Dang it.
BUT, not 30 minutes later we heard the line go off again. We both raced out to reel that one in and bring in the other line so as not to get them tangled. Surprise! There were fish on BOTH lines – woohoo! This time we got‘em on board – both Mahi – one about 15 pounds and the other 10 pounds. Cap’n cleaned them and we had an amazing Mahi dinner, and have a whole lot more fish in the freezer. I guess we won’t be fishing for a while, as the freezer is well stocked now. I think that’s the most excitement we’ve had over the last week or so.
Well, except for the navigation lights going out in the middle of the night, without which, we are invisible at night to anyone else who happens to be out here. Cap’n managed to work his magic on those at around 1am and again about 3am. Fun stuff… For those of you that have been following our track, it probably seems like we have no idea where we’re going. We know where we want to go – but the weather hasn’t been cooperating. We have been watching a major low-pressure system for a week or longer, trying to position ourselves to escape the worst of the winds and waves. It appears we have been successful.
We just turned back north and will hopefully have a direct route to Kodiak. When sailing on the ocean, weather is one of the biggest factors with which you must deal. There are certain wind and wave limits that the boat should stay within, not to mention limits for the comfort of the crew. So, we felt it completely worth it to zig- zag and take our time in order to avoid the gnarly ones.
That being said, we are definitely happy to be back on track and will be excited to make landfall – HOPEFULLY in 7 or 8 days, Mother Nature willing. The nights are getting cooler – around 55 or so. The water temperature is down to 56, so no swim call planned. The sun comes up around 4:40 am, which makes my 4-6am watch much more pleasant (and easier to stay awake). We’ve been eating well and enjoying our time at sea. Our days are occupied with cooking, cleaning, and maintaining the boat – and a little reading here and there. Only complaint is a little sleep deprivation, but hey – we can handle that for a few weeks. A very Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there. Until next time…live the adventure!