Grand Cayman Day 6: Fish On!

Very early morning start at 5a today because we were going fishing! Vi made breakfast tacos and we drove down to Kaibo to meet the boat by 7a. We were on "True at First Light" with Captain Jonathan and First Mate Perry. The 46' boat was really nice with an upstairs deck and air conditioning in the cabin.

We started marlin fishing about 15-20 minutes out since we were already in deep water.

Vi and I were ready!

We got a marlin on the line fairly quickly. All three of us took turns reeling him in, which took about 20 minutes.

He finally made it to the boat on Vi's next turn.

Marlins are catch and release in the Caymans so Jonathan and Perry pulled the 100lb guy up to the boat so we could take some quick pictures and then let him go on his way.

This was an exciting start to the trip! We decided to switch to fishing for something that we could keep and eat. This took a little longer but Vi heard the reel spin and got to the rod first. She reeled in a 15lb mahi mahi and we were set for dinner.

We all moved to the top deck of the boat where it was much cooler to wait for fish. The captain let Mike drive and play with the electronics.

Not too much longer and we heard the reel go again. Mike made it downstairs to the chair first where he caught a 10lb blackfin tuna. A real world record catch! He was still proud though and we could still eat it.

The next fish would be mine but it was a long and hot afternoon until that happened. We ate our lunch and tried to stay cool. Vi took a nap in the air conditioned cabin. Finally, just before the end of the day we heard the infamous "Fish On" cry. I jumped in the chair and reeled as hard as I could. I didn't know what was on the line but it was heavy. Turned out to be a 50lb barracuda.

Unfortunately, due to ciguatera poisoning, barracuda aren't good to eat. Perry said his neighbors eat it anyway and are used to it so we gave it to him to pass on. We also gave them half the mahi and kept half for ourselves as well as the tuna. Perry cleaned and packaged it all for us.

On the way back to the condo, we stopped off at the grocery store to get stuff to cook with the fish for dinner. Vi cooked the mahi in butter and lemon with a baked potato on the side.

It had been a long day that started early so both Mike and Vi crashed by 9p or so. I stayed up about an hour later blowing up balloons and decorating for Vi's birthday the following day. I wanted her to wake up to the decorations.