Old Men and the Sea

Hey All,

Its the last full week of March. Hope its going out like a lamb for you. I was discussing with Alex today that even though the weather hasn’t really ever dipped below 65 degrees this winter, it still feels like spring time here. Or, should I say smells like spring time. It is sort of hard to explain, but when I get off the ship in the mornings I get hit with the same sensation that I would in early April in Michigan. It must be that some plants are blossoming or something, because even though I have been taking my allergy shots for almost 5 months now, I’m still sneezing like crazy. I guess my Ohio allergist didn’t test for all the tropical foliage found in the Caribbean…weird.

Anyway. Time to tell you about adventure number 2. Last Tuesday, my boys; Bennett, Michael (Booba), and Phil, hopped into a cab and headed for the South end of Dominica. We met up with Rock and Mikey, two locals that Bennett met the week before. They threw us in their little boat and motored us to the middle of the Bay. Rock handed us our fishing poles, which were not poles. They were little boards with 50lbs line wrapped around it and a lure and hook at the end. Bennett and Booba dropped their lines and we proceeded to troll around the Bay looking for schools of fish. It was pretty windy, which apparently doesn’t bode well for easy fishing, but makes for a fun ride. The waves were rolling and in such a small boat if felt like we were on a roller coaster. I couldn’t help but yelling “Is that all you got?!” to the thrashing water, and I was dropping every sailing and Castaway reference I could. I’m sure Rock and Mikey thought I was an idiot, but I think they enjoyed my child-like enthusiasm.

After only 10 minutes or so, Booba got a bit and started reeling in the fish. Due to the fact that we didnt actually have polls he was just pulling in the line, mangling up his hands pretty bad. It was a impressive struggle and after a couple of minutes we saw a little bit of splashing about 15 feet from the boat. Rock and Mikey yelled and pulled up the fish…well, half of the fish. Our catch had been bit in half by a Barracuda! Mikey Jumped for a wooden pole with a large hook on the end and Rock started dipping our catch in the water to attract the Cuda. When it got close to the boat we could see the shadow under the water, it looked like it was between 3 and 4 feet! Mikey waited for the right moment and made his move, jabbing at the fish. He missed and we all yelled for him to make another attempt, but our Cuda was long gone by then. We were left with a half a Tuna, (which we named Dan), and an intense desire to catch some more fish.

We continued to troll around the Bay for another hour with little success. I had a bite that I reeled in for a while but it broke loose right before we got in on the boat. It was a little disappointing, but Rock and Mikey took us outside of the bay and rolled us around in the bigger waves to distract us from the bad fishing and let us do a little bit of snorkling. I was very amused. They told us that the wind was not the best, but they would take us back to the beach and cook us our catch.

Bennett grabbed a couple of Kubulis, (Dominican Beer), and we watched as Rock dressed the fish on the beach and Mikey lit the fire and boiled the water. They boiled up some green bananas that were picked across the street and tossed in some onions and seasoning. Dan (our fish) was thrown in last and we waited with our beers. Rock threw in the head for me and told me I had to eat the eye. Feeling very much like Anthony Bourdain, I obliged and the four of us eat our bounty on the beach. The bananas were delicious. The fish was quite good but I thought it could use a little bit more salt, not to be picky. The eye, however, was actually really tasty. It was more fatty than the rest of the fish and had some good flavor. It made me want to have my own travel show.

After our meal we headed back in the cab, full and a little sun-burned. Although we only caught a half of a fish it still felt like a success and don’t think I will every forget that experience.

Here are some shots from the day.

Stay tuned for more adventures from sea.

Contract Countdown: 42 Days

GO SPARTANS!

Much Love,

BJSR