Galapagos to Marquesas, Day 5

22nd July 2017

Current position: 03 28S / 103 09W at 0200UTC, 2000hr boat time. SOG 10.5kts. COG 257. Wind SSE12-15kts. Sea state rough and confused short steep waves 2-3m. DTR 2174nm. 24hr run 187 nm

With the wind steady increasing GWTW's speed has also been climbing. During the early hours before the sun came up 9 kts was what we were seeing as the speed over ground. By 6am it had increased to a steady 11 knots and by 8am the magic number was 14kts. We were starting to chew up the miles at this pace.

This guy had all the moves

As much as we love going fast, the speed combined with the sea state doesn't make for ideal living conditions particularly when it comes to getting a few decent hours of precious sleep. The boat creaks and groans and is a real carcoughpany of sounds. As the waves crash into the hulls we get the bonus 3D experience of noise and bone jarring shuddering. So next time you crawl into your ever so comfy bed be thankful it doesn't move like a bucking bronco.


Right, moving on to today's major activity...the fishing report.

On GWTW we don't fish with rods as many boats do. The fish master prefers hand lines, big kick ass ones with heavy duty nylon lines. He has the lines attached to the boat by bungy cords fitted around our rear winches to allow for stretch once a fish latches on.


We troll 3 lines off the back of the boat all set at different lengths with different types of lures. We like to offer a choice of lures to suit any fish preferences and believe me they can be fussy buggers at times. We also use a high tec alarm to alert us when there is a potential dinner on the hook. From the aforementioned bungy cord a piece of string with a clothes peg is attached to our life lines. Once a fish takes the bait the peg "snaps" off the line indicating we have a strike. It's amazing how in tune the human ears on board are to the sound of that "snap".

What a beauty

Well late this morning the "alarm" was going off like rapid fire. But alas whoever was out there didn't like our lure menu and they backed away after the first bite. But minutes later another snap and this one was a keeper. After an exhibition of fish Olympics the captain pulled in a nice size Mahi Mahi. The chap who came for dinner was subdued with a tottie of high end Egyptian gin to the gills and he went into a very deep sleep from that moment on.

The line was returned to the water to straighten out with the intention of pulling it in and calling it quits for the day. But as misfortune would have it another bigger Mahi came looking for his kin folk. El Capitano got that look in his eye and strated relling in the next caditate. However after a few short words from the food and beverage manager on the merits of tag and release, sustainable fishing, availability of freezer space AND the unnecessary killing of one of God's creatures the second fish was released back to the wild. And so ends today's fish report.

Oh and what did we have for dinner? Pan seared Mahi with herb butter and a fresh garden salad of course.

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