An unexpected surprise!

After a relative rough night it is awesome to have the sun shining down
on us this morning.The wind has dropped a bit and with that the swell is
also more gentle on us.We are up to speed again,but gradually letting
out a bit more sail.Yesterday,small clusters of a type of seaweed
started popping up here and there.It took some effort to get a piece
with the boat hook and after a few attempts we finally landed a small
piece.This morning the seaweed is coming past in big clusters.I just
dipped the boathook into the water and in no time had a nice big piece.A
difficult colour to describe,perhaps mustardy comes closest.Little
prickly leaves with airbubbles that looks like small grapes to keep them
afloat.The piece I just hooked also had a barnacle attached to it.Lots
of life out here.If you can google floating seaweed perhaps you can come
up with the scientific name for this form of life.

We also had a few fishing boats on the horizon last night plying their
trade.They have been around for the last two nights,and same as
yesterday,we sailed past some of their floats bobbing on the water this
morning.Their bright lights at night make them quite easy to spot.We
also had two ships passing us yesterday.Just had to interupt my writing
for an hour or so.As I say,a lot of life out here.I asked Brad earlier one
what he is planning for supper.He said fish with spuds and salad.I decided
to let the lure out,hoping for some fresh dorado.An hour ago our fish
alarm sounded and lo and behold,a huge dorado frantiaclly jumping out of
the water behind us,solidly hooked on our lure.The hunter became the
hunted.

Brad fiited gloves and then the battle ensued.By this time Pieter was also
out and witnessed this epic struggle,Brad against this huge green,yellow
fighting machine,one on one.I reminded Brad to keep in mind that this is a
sacred ritual and not a killing just for the sake of killing.I al;so
pointed out to them the dorado following the hooked one.Yes,they mate for
life and the partner was following closely.On closer inspection I saw we
caught the bull,the female is called,as you can probably guess,the cow.The
bull has a very square head whereas the cow is more rounded.I furled in
some headsail to slow us down a bit and Brad was getting the fish closer
and closer.We contrapted a noose to tie around his tail when he got in
closer,but when I tried to grab his tail,it was much to big and slippery
to hold onto,and still slapping dangerously.Thinking quick we tied a knife
to the end of a broomstick and used it as a harpoon to subdue this figting
beast.Soon the blood was flowing and then we could get him in,tie the
noose around his tail and drag him backwards to drown him.Brad lifted him
onto the boat and laid him down,still slapping his tail.We prefer to not
let the fish suffer unduly and,as is the case with most dorados,the only
way to really take them out is clubbing them on the head with what some
call a priest.The winch handle worked fine and within seconds the dorado
was laying deadstill,hopefully no longer feeling any more pain or
fear.Having seen this a few times before,I told Pieter and Brad to observe
how the colour changes,from a bright yellow and progressively to white
blue as it's spirit leaves the body.Brad posed for a few photos and we
will post them soon as we get to Madeira.We high fived each other,gave
thanks to the fish and to Providence,for providing in such grand fashion.

The boys are outside processing the fish and soon we will have some
sushimi for lunch and for supper freshest possible dorado fillets.There si
more than enough,and you are most welcome to join us.With that I will end
todays posting,got to get the goodies ready for the sushimi.Bon appetit!

Paul

P.S.Our position now at PM03:16UTC 05*46'N/26*48'W.If you check our position
on google earth you will see that we are due west of Liberia,about 700nm
from the nearest continent and about 550nm from the Cape Verde islands.