The Fish Are Biting!

Saturday May 29th

We woke up to phone calls telling us that the Sailys were biting! We rushed to get our cooler packed for the day and headed out to meet some friends for a day of fishing.

"Whitey", the deckhand, met us at shore, picked us up in a kayak and rowed us to the boat. Alan started rigging up the poles and when everyone arrived, we headed out to sea. The water was calm as glass, it was absolutely gorgeous. There were a few of us "newbies" on the boat and so all the guys decided that we should be the first to catch what was biting. Megan, Jacques and Mia's daughter, reeled in the first fish of the day, a beautiful Dorado...the next bite would be mine!

We stopped fishing just after lunch to swim and snorkel. Pemba is a really great place to snorkel, the water is clear and there is a lot of life in the ocean! We saw a ton of fish, starfish, and the most beautiful bloodred spanish dancer (nudibranch).

After a great swim we hit the fishing again, waiting for some bites. A few hours later, a Sailfish jumped on one of the baits. Alan raced to set the hook and we all watched its magnificent jump. I strapped on the fishing belt then took the rod from Alan and began reeling in my Saily! He didn't put up that much of a fight, nothing like I was expecting. After about 10 minutes I was exhausted but, I had him!

I reeled it in and Alan fought with it for a good while before he was able to boat it. It was the most beautiful fish I'd ever seen. Deep deep purple dorsal fin and purple verticle lines all over its back, WOW!! And HUGE! We estimated his weight to be about 100 lbs. Here is a picture of Alan, Jacques, me, and my Saily!!!!

Good Team Work Boys!!

And, yes, I have out-fished Alan once again. When he went sailfishing in Cancun for his bachelor party, he never got one this big!

My saily was the hit of the day! We released it, took some underwater pictures of it swimming off, and headed to shore to watch the rugby finals.

Upon reaching the shore, people had already started calling Alan to confirm my catch of the day! Small town gossip gets around FAST! We went to Russel's Bar to watch the Rugby game that night and everyone there was asking about it!!

What a GREAT day!