Fish at last

Days have passed without catching anything, and we were getting despondent, so today we tried trailing an old fork and an old spoon fitted up as spinners. A lovely blue day again, although wind has eased down to 15 knots and we are slower.

Mark is on cook duty today, and produced wonderful apple fritters for tea. After that Justin changed fishing lures back to the lurid squid. As the sun set and Mark was about to fish up supper, both lines got a bite The one on the watamu yoyo line got off, but Justin reeled in the other eventually after we had reduced sail to slow down. It was a good sized tuna, the biggest yet, about three feet long and very heavy. I subdued it with a squirt of rum in the gills and Emily has filleted our prize. Supper delayed a bit, but all very happy.

Otherwise this ocean feels very large and empty. No planes or satellites visible at night, although as the moon waxes brighter each night we see fewer stars. No sails, fishing boats or whales by day. The flying fish are a welcome frisson, as are occasional birds. Tonight a young booby circled us as darkness fell and finally landed on our dinghy for the night. Emily gave it some tuna, which studied and dint immediately eat. Probably never tasted tuna before.

We have nearly 1000 miles to go, so two thirds of the way done.