The Trip

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought that I knew way more than I did coming into this. Not the case. I am getting schooled on a daily basis, and stoked. Slowly, and not always smoothly, I am transitioning into a serious fisherman. I have not yet set foot on land. 11 days into the trip and we have caught over 30 marlin, and countless yellow fin tuna, dorado, and wahoo. I am the man in the cockpit; rigging all rods, pinning bait, gaffing fish, and leadering marlin by hand. It is intense and extremely exciting.

Today I had to take the "donkey knocker" (a plastic bat full of lead), and bash a dorado's head in after it got into the boat so that while flopping around on the deck, it didn't hook one of the people in the cockpit, or damage the boat. The aftermath included blood spatter worthey of Dexter.

Other then brutally murdering sea life, I have seen a lot of great things. Paddle boarding the small but extremely long waves at Santa Maria, snorkeling, watching dolphins ride the wake off the bow of the boat from the pulpit, epic sunsets, 80 degree water, and eating like a king, have all been great additions to the rigorous fishing schedule.

Unfortunately the weak connection here has rendered me incapable of adding photos or video but I will get it up soon. Until next time.

Good Times

Bailing on Princess Cruises was one of the best decisions I've ever made. My life on El Tigre is turning out to be exactly what I was looking for and it will only get better when we leave for Mexico in early November. For now, Newport Beach is a cool town. Turns out I had some friends up here, and through them I've got a chance to see the area and meet some new people.

This week we will taking inventory of what we've got and prepare for our trip south. I'm so excited to get on the water, kill some fish, surf, and "get salty." The only time that I've been out of the harbor on El Tigre is when we went bait fishing for a trip to Catalina that had to be cancelled due to the gale force winds caused by the Santa Annas. Even so, it was a good time. The chef hung around and made dorado and cheese enchiladas along with fresh sushi.

While fishing for bait, I was consistently pulling in multiple fish at a time. At one point I cast out and I felt something big hit the line. At this point I didn't know what I was fighting but I fought it and got it toward the surface. When it got close I was surprised to see I had landed a seal! A cod was on the top hook and the seal must have went after it and got snagged. Luckily it got off the hook before I had to take it out with pliers. Fisherman don't like seals and when we figured out what it was my captain said in jest, "bring it in, let's club it!" Didn't get to club it but it's the first story of many that I will accumulate while on El Tigre.