The One That Got Away … Monday 12th – Tuesday 13th March 2018

The One That Got Away  …   Monday 12^th – Tuesday 13^th March 2018

I always thought that fishermen who describe epic exhausting struggles fighting big fish were just full of bull-shit. Well I’ve had to change my mind a bit on that … but we’re getting ahead of ourselves …

On Monday morning we went ashore in Saint-Pierre with the hope of visiting the geological sciences museum that describes the science behind the eruption of Mountain Pelee. On route to shore we chatted to the people on the neighboring boat who said they thought the museum was closed on Mondays. Not to be deterred by speculation (well informed speculation as it turns out) we hiked up to the museum anyway, only to find it closed. So much for that plan! We did pass the ruins of the old fort that was later converted to a church and formed the center of one of the most vibrant and densely packed areas of the town. Many people were in that church when the volcano blew in 1902. We were surprised to hear that the current population of Saint-Pierre is only 4,800, which is a lot less than the 30,000 inhabitants that perished on that awful day. We aren’t sure why the town hasn’t rebounded to its former size. We wandered back through town and had lunch out at the Tamara restaurant and then spent the afternoon doing a few boat jobs – in my case I spent the whole time polishing our brass oil lamp. Around 5pm we headed over to “Northstar” and had cocktails with Ted and Shan, before heading back to Cotinga and getting ready to leave the following morning.

Preparations for departure included taking off the outboard engine and stowing the dinghy on the foredeck, fitting the inner forestay and clipping on the stay-sail, making sure everything is stowed away securely and wiring up our “ballyhoo” fish bait. We had bought the “Ballyhoo” back in Les Anses d’Arlets and stored them in our freezer and I was very keen to do some serious fishing. We got up early on Tuesday morning and pulled up the anchor at 7am (with no problems). The passage between Martinique and Dominica (Dom-in-eeka) is about 26 miles and it’s a further 25 miles up the west coast to Portsmouth, our destination. Conditions were good with winds of 15-20 knots from the ESE, which put us on a comfortable broad reach, and seas were about 5 feet with some larger underlying long period swells. I was optimistic about our chances of catching some fish because we have found “Ballyhoo” (a small baitfish) to be more effective than artificial lures. We had a line from our rod with the “Ballyhoo” and a hand-line with a red plastic “squid”. Fishing was a bit challenging, as it has been on much of this trip, because of the large amounts of Sargasso sea-weed that is in the water and catches the lines. However, after numerous false alarms the line from our rod went screaming out and once I tightened up the reel tension it became obvious that this was a fish, and a big one. We were doing about 7 knots under full sail and I couldn’t make any progress reeling it in. So whilst keeping a firm grip on the rod we were able to furl up the genoa and slow the boat. I was still able to make only marginal progress reeling in the fish. Gloria prepared the gaff by tying a line to the end so that we could secure it  to the boat in case we couldn’t keep hold of the shaft. For 20 minutes or more I tried to inch in the line and it was truly exhausting. On two occasions we saw the fish close to the surface but couldn't keep it up. The handle on my reel broke off which didn’t help. In an effort to try and move things along I started pulling really hard on the rod, sometimes managing to snatch up a little line as I dropped it back down, and then the line snapped. To be more precise, it actually broke at the junction between the main line and the 50 foot lead-cored leader that we were using, and it probably frayed through at the junction. I was gutted! We should have tried to stop the boat completely, but were reluctant to do so out in the open water. Actually we should have “heaved to” – it would have been good practice. I have no idea how big the fish was, but I do know it’s the largest fish I’ve ever had on the line. Based on the color when near to the surface I suspect it may have been a large Mahi Mahi / Dorado. Sadly we’ll never know, but we’ll try again when we head up to Guadeloupe.

The rest of the journey went fine. The winds held up until about two thirds of the way up the west coast of Dominica and then became flaky and we motored the final eight miles or so. We arrived shortly after 3pm and were helped onto the mooring by Avin Lawrence, one of the Portsmouth Association Yachting Service guys. We have gotten to know Avin a little better over the following days and he’s a fantastic bloke … but more of that later.

Mike

Yellow and Grey wall Saint-Pierre (the colors are genuine!)

Ruins of the old church in Saint-Pierre buried by the Mt Pelee eruption 1902

Mt Pelee in the morning light as we head north to Dominica

We had good conditions for the 26 mile open water passage to Dominica, wind waves were ~ 5 feet, but there was a larger underlying swell that we could barely feel and that doesn't show up easily on photos, but this sequence of another boat (~45 ft) gives you some idea that things aren't always as flat as they appear.