Wahoo!
21 February 2011 | Bas du Fort Marina, Guadaloupe
Peter
The title isn't a yell of excitement (at least not this time), but the name of a fish that we caught on the way over here to Guadeloupe (or at least I think that is the name for it). But more on that later. Um...update! My buddy tells me it is NOT a wahoo (dang!) but a barracuda. Either way, it is/was still yummy!!
We arrived at Portsmouth, Dominica Sunday afternoon just in time for carnival. Actually, carnival doesn't start for another couple of weeks. So Sunday was just the beginning - the warm-up, if you will. I suspect they need to start some serious conditioning a couple of weeks prior to the main event!! A double-decker, retrofitted bus was rolling around town towing a large, portable generator to power two giant towers of speakers, one at the front and one at the back. Nowhere in the anchorage was safe! I asked Will "I wonder if they play that music in America?" We had never heard it before until we got to the Med. It is this up-tempo, driving, electronic sound. And if they were playing multiple songs then it fooled us cuz it all sounded like the same, droning beat!).
We got an early start for the 45 nm passage to Guadeloupe and were met by a pleasant, if sometimes gusty, 15k easterly. We had the full main and jib cracked off and we were making 7.5-8k. Of course, nothing lasts forever, nor did this wind. But we still had a fairly pleasant passage, even if the last couple of hours were hard on the wind.
As the wind veered on us midday and we were forced to harden up, the boat started to get a little 'tippy'. Ruth was doing fine (when she wasn't ruining the woodwork with her fingernails!). So to instill a bit of confidence and control in the girl, I showed her the sheet stopper for the traveler and told her she was in charge of that line and it was called the "tippy controller". I told her "Now when the boat gets too tippy, you just let this line out!" To help her out, I even labeled the sheet stopper for her!! (As it was, Ruth was just fine and never had to run for the 'tippy controller'!!) But we'll leave the label there for any of our future guests...just in case!!
An hour or so later we landed our first Caribbean fish! I think it is a wahoo. It has a serious overbite (just like a girl I dated in high school!) and was in big need of some dental work. It only had 4 or 5 teeth (just like another girl I dated in college!), and they were looong and looked sharp. We got six steaks out of it - three per side. It will make for a couple of tasty dinners.
We tied up at the marina to get laundry done, equalize the batteries using shore power, and fill up with water. Guadeloupe is actually two islands split by a small (and shallow) river. If you go up the river it is probably only 3-4 nm to the north side of the island. But if you are too big of a boat, you are looking at 55-60 nm to go around. As luck would have it, we are just a tad too large. The depth at one of the two bridges is 6'. We draw 6'7". And while there is a 2' high tide at 0500 (when the bridges open for boat traffic), it is just too risky. So we are going to go around the island "the old fashioned way".
My buddy, Chris Dingle, who is a licensed captain presently down here in the Caribbean, maybe found me a ride on his friends' boat - a Tartan 41 - for the Heineken Regatta in St. Martin. So we may try to make that to satisfy my 'need for speed'!!