Thursday, July 20, 2006

Day 14 - Fish On

Early start (5:45), The BU, Drinking and boating (lots and lots of cuba libras), swearing like a sailor (I now understand the phrase), 6 tuna, haley chumming the water (leaving early), snorkeling, waiting till 9 to eat our tuna (latin america time), michelle getting some!


I cannot believe we had another early start today! I am supposed to be on vacation. I guess it is my own fault for wanting to do a little deep sea fishing. The last time we went, we had dual 80hp motors on a really nice fishing vessel. This time, we had Martin in his little 15ft, 40hp weenie-mobile. Martin was all decked out in his island gear, complete with cutoff shorts and a doo-rag. We were also accompanied by Arthur, the guy who picked us up in his van when we got off the ferry in Roatan.


I should mention that this marks the first day that Haley and I have come down with BU on this trip. We both know that it was bound to happen eventually, we were just hoping we could continue to put it off. After a thorough cleaning of our bowels, a nice pepto/antibiotic cocktail, we were off.


Okay, so back to our fishing trip. All went well at first. We started catching all kinds of tuna right away, and we thought we were gonna have an amazing fishing day. Then it got kinda slow, which turned our attentions to both our BU and for Haley, it gave her time to remember how seasick she gets in boats (or vans or busses, for that matter). Haley went and sat in the back of the boat, where things only got worse when she turned the color of her grey-green jacket. She then chummed the water and ended up feeling much better. However, the BU got the best of her, and we dropped her off at the hotel.


Don't feel too bad for Haley though. She was on the boat when we caught all our fish and didn't have to endure the following three hours of getting skunked. Luckily, we caught 6 tuna, weighing between 5 and 10lbs, which would end up being plenty for our whole group and the strangers who wanted a free meal.


While we were being skunked, we did have a couple bites. Arthur was manning the poles and each time we didn't catch a fish he would let out a string of obscenities that would make prisoners cringe. I now understand why it is called cussing like a sailor. Arthur was also funny because he kept downing the rum (or ron, as they call it) in his "Cuba Libras." That combined with a couple beers made for a very tipsy first mate, which may help explain the anger in his eyes each time we weren't able to land a fish. I couldn't believe it when we finally made it to shore and Arthur went to fetch his van to pick up some more tourists. Maybe he wasn't in the best shape to be driving. Oh, and who drinks rum at 6:00 in the morning, anyway? It reminds me of the bumper sticker we saw in Puerto Rico that read "Rum, it's not only for breakfast."


Later that night, we had the most incredible fish feast as well all partook of that incredibly fresh tuna. We had a local restaurant marinade the fish in a little lime juice and local spices and let me tell you, I have never eaten anything better. Fresh fish is amazing. Of course, we have to wait a couple hours after Martin and Arthur, who said they would be there at 6:30 with the fish and grill didn't show up until after 9:00. But it was well worth the wait. The BBQ went nicely, with one of our group going off into the dark with Arthur (I won't reveal any names), and Martin getting nice and high on some ganja. It is definitely a different world here than I am used to, but Haley and I are definitely enjoying ourselves.

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