FISH ON!!

First little mahi-mahi caught in the Med

We finally caught a fish in the Med!  


After trolling a line almost the entire 3,907 NM that we have sailed (motored) in the eastern Med and Adriatic since April 2011, we actually finally caught a fish.

And such a whopper!  In the Caribbean or the South Pacific we would have thrown this poor baby back into the sea.  But since fishing in the Med is so poor, we kept him.  There are 2 fillets which will make a very nice dinner tonight.  Never have we kept a fish that would only feed the 2 of us for a single meal.  This is a first.

On deck while I searched for the gaff hook.
It's been a very long time since we needed it!

After catching this little mahi-mahi in the middle of the Gulf of Taranto en route from Santa Maria di Leuca to Crotone, we later had 2 more hits on the line.  But each time the fish managed to spit out the lure.  One got away because the reel jammed when the line got back lashed.  Do not know why the other one got away.  It seemed like a bigger fish and played out a great length of line before spitting out the lure.










Oh, well; we have fresh mahi-mahi (dorado, dolphin -- take your choice of name) for dinner tonight so we are happy.

And a delicious dinner it was too.  Enjoyed with the white wine gifted to us at the last marina.


We departed Santa Maria di Leuca at 05:00 this morning.  Leaving the little harbor in pitch black darkness was not my idea of fun because the area is so shallow.  But all went fine.  An hour or so later I chanced to look behind us checking for any boats that might be out there that did not have AIS and would not display on our monitor and saw the most unusual sunrise.

A most unusual sunrise at sea.
Just Do It!

The Nike symbol.  Cool.

It was a day of nothing but motoring.  Not enough wind to fill the sails one bit.  Could not even motor sail.  Gosh, are we burning the diesel this year!

We are now docked in the transit area in the small harbor of Crotone.  May stay here 2 nights or maybe a week.  We have not yet checked out what is here.