The First Catch

The night before parting from Pitons, I caught a yellowtale snapper, large enough to feed two people. The captain doesn’t eat fish, so the admiral ate it all. It is better for sailors to have too much than not enough wind. If it is blowing to hard, you can shortened the sails, but you can not add more wind to them, if the Nature doesn’t supply it. Waiting for wind can be very testy. Being the admiral, she thinks she has a lot of rights. For instance, to decide, how many sails should be added to those, that are already flip-flopping in the calm air, but wavy sea. Now, captain is a wise man. He does what he wants and at the end of the day still gets a good meal. Admiral is also the cook. There was little wind starting from St. Lucia to Bonaire. And yet, the captain and the admiral are still sharing the cabin. And the boat, for that matter. The third day the clouds appear on the East horizon. The wind is coming! The water is changing the colour, it seems darker now, laced with so much white. We are moving fast, accompanied by dolphins for a while, and all the time by the sailfish, shining in the bright sun. If the wind keeps, we’ll be within the sight of Bonaire in another night and a day. What a thrill, when the boat reaches the speed of 11 knots. But it is night and there is no debate this time, the main sail has to be shortened. The waves are big, the mizzen sail is keeping the boat steady. We are enjoying the ride. With little sleep behind us we hook up to the mooring in front of Kralenjdijk. About time, last night the captain ran out of beer. P.S. Rum comes out of the hiding place.