Be The Jam

Position: Somali Basin

N 01°03.93'

E 056°34.44'

Heading 352°. Light wind from South west, boat speed 3.5 knots only. (Doldrums).

Straight on the diary this morning! Sitting enjoying my first cup of coffee, morning sunshine cascading down, boat moving very genitally along, no real swell to make the going uncomfortable to speak of. (Hope you captured the moment - what can be equated as 'Bliss'). Just hold that feeling there for a moment I look down to see a couple of fins. Is it a shark, no…? It's a Sailfish (Could have been a Mako, Swordfish, or any of that family). It was gently swimming next to the boat having a good look at us! Then it did a gentle swing round and swam down the line we had out, I could finely hear it saying; 'This line will only fool a sole as stupid as a Tuna fish'.

I have never seen something so big, I was secretly hoping he wouldn't grab the lure, he didn't. It was a magnificent looking fish, a true Sam urai Warrior of the Seas. A morning to remember.

We have a rat! It was spotted last night. We are now four soles living on this boat. If we have anything to do with it; we’ll soon be back to three! All sorts of plans are being hatched as to how to catch it. The bugger has eaten into two of the melons. We think it must have come aboard while we were getting repairs. It's quite worrying, it could cause havoc on board, chew its way through our food, and then start on all the electrical cabling. I'm sure you haven't heard the last of the Rat story, I will keep you posted.

The tuna we caught the day before yesterday has been put to good use. We had Tuna in ginger and chilly batter yesterday, very nice, and then we had tuna fish and tomato - onion salad for lunch today. Rupert is now making a fish curry with plenty of coconut milk. We also have tried for the first time to salt some fish. We took a couple of fillets yesterday and put them in salt till this morning. Then we strung them up to dry. The idea was spawned in Mahé - Seychelles . One of Philips friends gave us a bag of sea salt and told us how to dry fish. It's been said it's useful for bribes in the Red Sea and OK to eat when fish supplies are down. We'll try some in a week’s time and see what it's like. It couldn't have been done to a nicer fish; the Yellow Fin tuna has mostly white meat and will cure nicely.