Second Star to the Right

What a start to a day! I decided we needed to try a new lure this morning, so at 7:30am, I put my favorite lure on and dropped it in the water and crossed my fingers. Just as I was coming off watch, I heard the "zinggggggggg" of the line running out Ð FISH ON! Since we were actually sailing at about 4 knots, we didn't stop the boat. I brought in another mahi Ð not huge but big enough for a meal for 4 people Ð and cleaned and fileted it with some help from Tracy who is master of fileting fish. Charles and Keith were kind enough to clean up the mess on the deck. And now, we'll be having Mahi Meunire for dinner!

As if that weren't enough, we were joined by a pod of hundreds of dolphins who raced across the bow of the boat, jumped through the air, and put on a synchronized swimming show for us for almost an hour. They are the most graceful creatures with speckled silvery and gray backs and shiny white bellies. We were all enjoying the show so much that none of us even bothered to go get a camera. But, it was an amazing sight I will never forget.

And THEN, as if the day weren't good enough (it was only 10:30am, mind you), we found enough wind to fly the spinnaker! We ended up SAILING ALL DAY (no engine noise whining in my ears and slowing killing my brain) at 6-8 knots. It was absolutely wonderful. It was sunny and the spinnaker was full and we were just scooting along quietly across the waves without the terrible drone of the engine.

Tracy and I soundly beat Charles and Keith at Spades again this evening. That's two nights in a row. We'll have to give them a break and let them win soon so they won't have their egos bruised.

Dinner was mahi with a butter, garlic, white wine, lemon and caper sauce Ð again, you can't get much fresher than right off the back of your own boat!

We doused the spinnaker so we wouldn't have to deal with it at night, but we are still sailing at 6+ knots with the genoa and main. We're all looking forward to a restful and quiet night's sleep!