The wild-life...

Besides Ines, Jon and I, who, after not seeing another human for 40 days are behaving rather like wild animals, the remainder of the wild life has be quite exceptional. I can only describe our friendly ocean going mammals i.e. dolphins (look in bottom left corner of adjacent picture) and whales as unbelievably trusting. Considering they are wild creatures and the boat is pretty large, these guys do not understand the meaning of "my dance space, your dance space". Its almost as if they are cruising along riding the swells, when one of the gang spots the yacht and says "hey buggers, there's a yacht over there, woohoo lets go gate crash the party". Their arrive with huge aerial displays and distinctive rhyming beeps, seems to be them showing off and just to let the party know that have arrived. They then head straight to dominate the dance floor in the wake and bows of the boat. But that's no the surprising thing, its just how dam close the are prepared to push the physical contact thing, is. I can honestly say I've given both species a high five & "thanks for coming boys" and seen some fantastic smiles, the ones only made with the eyes. So When these unexpected guests pop round, you were always sure of an unforgettable experience.Did you know that you will never catch a dolphin or whale with a hook - rather strange you can't catch the mammals of the sea(not that I would want to ), but you can catch all the fish. Speaking of which, as Ines is a keen fisherman, he leaves a line out most of the time. This results in the occasional excitement when the real buzz's out of control, Which to be quite honest hasn't happened that often. Ines says its due to all the drag net fishing and other illegal goings on with our friends from the far east and the Spanish. Its really sad. Which made what we did even more unforgivable. The real went one dozy afternoon, only this time it was truly out of control. We looked at the horizon and saw an awesome display while a sail fish tried to free itself from our hook. It seemed to dance across the water in quick graceful turns and twists. The line ran out in matters of seconds. The other two, Ines and Jon had been having poor luck up until now and did not want to take the rod, so I took it but with the exact opposite intention of that of a normal fisherman. I wanted to set this guy free. But after half an hour of fighting and attempting to perform my catch and release program, the poor fish was exhausted. I've been told by many a keen fisherman that it is cruel to let them go when they are in this condition. So I reluctantly pulled it closer to the boat where Ines gaffed it and bought it on board, not without nearly being pulled in the water with one last powerful attempt by the fish to get away. As Murphy's law goes as Ines pulled it on board, the large hook in its bill just simply fell loosely on the deck, as if to rub it in my face. So we had "Sally the Sail fish" steaks for 7 days on the trot, just to ensure she didn't go to waist. I'm told you would pay top dollar for such a meal in a good restaurant and as it could no be any fresher and cost nothing, it was hard not to chuckle at the irony of it.

In the early hours of the morning, on deck patrol, We frequently found that the various types of flying fish. It seems they decided that our yacht was more of a aircraft carrier and look like sound landing spot. Invariably their judgement was wrong like this one who seemed to be in the middle of dinner - talk about "sussi on the go" this guy has a squid almost as big as him in his mouth. I reckon he would have choked anyway.