In bygone days, we were the big shots in fishing. In the Atlantic, how many mahi-mahis, wahoos, barracudas and even tuna did we bring aboard through the strength of our wrists and gloves! We are of course talking about fishing for food, the kind that helped the first mate to develop certain marine culinary skills – fish pate, salted fish, dried fish flavored with spices, raw or cooked. And yes, we really have to when we have just landed 10 kg, with no freezer aboard.But from a fishing point of view, the Pacific had decided not to be kind to us. And since our hulls have been sailing the Polynesian waters, if we have caught two wahoos and three tuna, it’s the end of the world. We have tried everything to find a solution to this problem. A sailing boat which doesn’t fish is like a sailor who doesn’t drink, or worse still, a sailor who drinks fresh water. So, the captain changed the lines and kept the lures, he changed the lures and kept the lines, with a fishing rod, without a fishing rod, with small hooks, changing the lines and keeping the lures, with big hooks, changing the lures and keeping the lines, with lures specially made by the fishermen in the Marquesas, who took pity on the crew to such an extent that they gave us their catch, as if to apologize for the fish which watched 'Contre Temps' pass, mocking us and making rude signs with their fins. We saw them do it, I swear! Which all inspired this sentence from the ship’s boy: “do you really think that the fish are stupid enough to take a green and fluorescent pink plastic thing for a real fish?” This is why for almost four years now, the crew has been buying its tuna from the fishermen, which helps the local economy. It’s cheaper than buying lures. Until this miracle happened – on three successive outings, we have caught a tuna, one on each trip! Thanks to the fish ‘mana’…
Who: Cécile & Joni
Where: Marquesas Islands, Pacific Ocean
Boat: Mahé 36
