Plenty of Fish in the Sea

     One of the major points of excitement on the trip was fishing. Darv went all out before the trip and outfitted himself with the best equipment to get some action. And it paid off. By the end of the trip we were often catching and releasing the fish. Of the 28 days we spent on the ocean, we ate fish 26 of them. Without catching fish for dinner, we might have been rationing our last canned goods. But as it was we ate really well. Darv was also master chef in the Galley. He brought a toolbox full of spices and wasn’t afraid to use them! After our first disappointing Tuna loss, we were so excited to catch our first fish, a small Dorado. After that the fish kept getting bigger! We ended up naming most of our lures and we had our favorites by the end of the trip. They all found a special spot in our hearts. 

Here they are from left to right: Green Machine, Gorgeous George, Red Baron, Show Girl, Elton John, and Marilyn Monroe. They all look a little worse for wear after all the action they saw. Especially Marilyn, who had a lot of her platinum blond locks bitten off.  

 Here are some pictures of all the delicious fish Darv cooked for us! Mom and I made the rest :)

This is called 'Poke' and we made it with fresh Dorado. It's raw fish with marinate. Man is it ever tasty! 

Darv cooking on the gimballed stove 

FIsh tacos on the sea!

Happiness is ... 

  

     We had two really big  prize catches, a 50 lbs Dorado (Mahi Mahi) and a 70lbs Wahoo. I had no idea how thrilling it would be to catch such enormous fish. My adrenalin was always pumping when we had a fish on the line. I even reeled one in myself! When we got a strong hit on the lure and we knew it was a big fish it was all hands on deck. Darv would masterfully reel in the fish and then as soon as it was close enough to the boat Dad would gaff the fish in the gills and we would pull it into the boat. They would often be flopping around powerfully so I would pour vodka into their gills to calm them down. Mom would be behind the wheel steering us safely. Darv always had to go up on deck to bleed and filet the fish, and often it had to be done in rough seas. I don’t know how he did it, but were thankful he did! Afterwards we would scrub down the deck from all the blood. Soem of the fish we caught while we were motoring and some were caught while under sail. The best speed to catch fish was between 5-7 knots. 

The fish look so beautiful and colourful when they swim in the water!

Dad gaffing the Dorado! He always hooked them on his first try, so we started calling him the Gaff Master 

The big guy is in the boat!

50lbs Dorado 

You can see how they lose their pretty colours very quickly after being caught

Measuring up. 52 inches long 

The fish is almost as big as mom!

The Gaff Master and Darv 

The fish was too big to bleed inside the boat so we had to drag him in the water by a rope 

 Ok,I had to get a picture with it too! (I'm holding up a local newspaper from my hometown. You send them pictures of yourself from your trips around the world holding up the newspaper and they publish them. Were hoping for front page ;) ) 

The Wahoo. Caught with 'Show girl' lure 

Wicked stripes!

70lbs Wahoo 

     The official fish caught by rod and reel: Dorado, Blue Fin Tuna, Bonita, Wahoo and Bill Fish. Fish caught by spear gun: Sheep’s Head, Parrotfish, Grouper, Mullet, Scup, Octopus, Lizard Fish, Red Snapper and Lobster.    

Bleeding a fish 

Trolling all day every day 

Darv's tarp he used to fillet the fish 

Feeding the family 

First time reeling in! 

My first catch! Dorado! 

My biggest catch ever and the Dorado 

After trolling at night for days without catching anything Darv finally caught this .. thing! It was a bit of a mystery fish but we thought it was part of the Bill fish family maybe. Of course he saved his mandibles.  

Mom named it 'Ugly fish' 

We couldn't eat the fish fast enough and without a freezer on the boat and this particular fish was going bad. So darv dragged it over the side of the boat hoping to attract a big fish. About an hour later Dad heard some splashing while he was on shift, when we looked over the side of the boat it was gone and the rope had been chewed right through. We suspect it was a shark, or at least a realllly big fish   

Marilyn Manroe. The platinum blond with red lips 

More beautiful Dorado  

       

Skip Jack Tuna 

The first red meat fish we caught on the trip 

The Skip Jack Tuna flipping his tail fast 

Gorgeous George makes his debut  

Awesome stripes on a smaller Wahoo.  

Darv saved this Wahoo as it had some orange rope (still in Darvs hands) caught in his mouth. We released him after. 

     I’m glad that I took so many pictures of the fish we caught because they were absolutely breathtaking! I never considered fish very beautiful until this trip, now I definitely have a new perspective. 

Some pictures of the fish caught by speargun: 

Atlantic Sheep's Head 

Octopus 

Parrot fish and scup 

Giant Oyster! 

Dear Trade Winds, where are you?

     When you leave on a long voyage you only have a weather forecast for about the first week and then you’re stuck with whatever Mother Nature wants to throw your way. The route from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean follows the North East Trade Winds. These are constant steady winds that blow from the northeast and make for smooth but fast sailing.

     Well, this year the trade winds forgot what their job was. Week two brought very confused seas. We either had no wind, squalls with huge gusts and rain or lots of wind coming from the wrong direction. Our progress towards our destination slowed down to a halt. It was a constant battle with the wind. We would put up the sails and the wind would die. Then you take down the sails and turn on the engine just to get more wind in an hour. We were adrift on the ocean for a few days as we were trying to conserve our diesel. We spent a good amount of time each day complaining about how we were getting weather that according to the “trade winds” was non existent. Each day without wind we could tack on another day to our voyage. And the days were adding up. We began to joke that sailing had become prison with a chance of drowning.    

One of the many flying fish that landed aboard 

Dad working his magic with our wind vane "Wallie" 

Typical lunch on the sea 

Rainbows after the storm 

Calm seas make me happy 

Darv steering in a squall. Pouring rain. 40k winds. He's a trouper 

And so it began

     Day one we set off from Lanzarote with nearly 3000 nautical miles ahead of us, full of excitement and a bit of that “what the heck am I getting myself into” attitude. It was very windy as we left the harbour that afternoon. Everything was going great for about five minutes until we made an accidental jibe and ripped our main sail before we even passed the official starting line. The good news is that for a downwind sailing trip your main sail is not very important. So we hoisted up the Storm Tri sail, which is almost the same as a double reefed main sail and we were ready to take on the Atlantic. 

Leaving port in Lanzarote 

Our first night out dolphins came to greet us 

Our first night on the sea 

     The first week we had good strong winds and we were making good on our course. Darv devised a rope ladder so that he could jump of the boat and swim in the water. Pods of dolphins would often swim and play around the boat and Darv would jump into the water and try and capture them on video. I was a little apprehensive to jump into the ocean and let the boat drag me along but in the end I jumped in too. I have never seen such perfectly clear inky blue water! It was gorgeous, although for the most part I didn’t see any fish when I snorkelled in the middle of the ocean. 

Darv exploring some floating debry out at sea 

The first week, when we still had fresh fruit

The first fish! 

Darv getting dragged 

Snorkelling in the middle of the ocean 

Not letting him go!  

     Mom and I had even made as any pre made dinners as would keep in our fridge, so we didn’t even have to try cooking on a 30-degree angle yet. The moon was full and at night it looked like a great spotlight guiding our way. For the most part the sun was shinning and the crew of Argo was in good spirits. After all why wouldn’t we be, it was only the first week …

Happy sailing wife 

Checking for boats probably! 

That's some serious rigging. Wing on wing action 

A true sailor 

Fresh poke! Nothin' betta 

The spinnaker is full and beautiful 

Land Ahoy!

AT LAST! 29 days (or an eternity) at sea and we have finally arrived in the Caribbean on the island of Martinique. It has never felt so good to step foot on solid ground. We're still adjusting to our land legs. I think I can speak for all of the Argo crew when I say we had the best showers of our lives yesterday. It feels both surreal and immensely wonderful to be safely on land. The trip took almost a full week longer than anticipated because of bad weather, but we are here and we have enough stories to fill a lifetime. Now I’m faced with the huge and daunting task of how to possibly put into words this experience. The blog will never capture the true terror or excitement we experienced in the last month, but in the next few blog posts I’m going to give it my best try. Check back soon for tons of pictures and stories to come.  

Our first night's sleep with land in sight in 28 days. We moored here for the evening, but still had not stepped onto land!  

FInally we step onto land! (well actually a floating dock) Yahoo 

Dads beard after a month at sea