Guest Blog by Warren – Part 2

Fishing had been a little on the slow side on Pina Colada and we all were anxious to break the drought. We landed a few small Bonito and then during the trip up to Nuku Hiva we hooked and lost a rather large Yellow fin Tuna.

I'm not sure if it really was my turn on the next hook-up but at the sound of the reel screaming again it was me who got the big prize. Both Nick and Patti helped me into the gimble and harness that was to be so necessary in the time I was to fight this fish.

He tore off line in 100 meter lots and with Nick and Patti's skill at quickly getting rid of sail and turning the boat around to chase we settled into a pattern of run and retrieve with me mostly loosing. After about half an hour we were stunned to see a huge Black Marlin launch itself from the water about 200 meters away, almost walking on its tail as it tried desperately to throw the hook.

During the next hour or so it tried to stay deep and it was to be almost two hours before we saw it up close through the clear water.

Nicks past experience with Marlin (Caribbean injuries) made us all concerned about landing it, but after 2 hours 45 minutes and a great team effort, Nick hanging head first over the side of Pina Colada, with Marg and Patti holding his feet, had this magnificent creature by the bill and was untangling and retrieving the lure and hook.

Now that we had succeeded in catching and landing this great animal we were all struck with the overwhelming desire not too do it any more harm. Unfortunately the fight had taken its toll on the Marlin and it was so exhausted that it looked like it might not survive.

Patti knew that swimming it along might help to bring it back to life, so Nick was to hang over the side with a little of my help for about 15 minutes while we breathed some life back into the shiny sleek creature. During this time we photographed (only 80 shots!) and measured and estimated its weight with the help of game fishing records online.

To our delight we watched this beautiful, graceful 8 ft 220lb Black Marlin swim away to the depths leaving us, and it, with an experience of a lifetime. My thanks to Karen and Boyd for having the gear on board. What a buzz.

We slipped quietly to sea from Ua Pau at about 8am heading south west with a 10 knot nor easterly and began our 525 nautical mile passage to the Tuamotu's. This trip was always going to be a highlight as it had been many years since we had spent nights at sea with our family, now this time with quite some roll reversals. The pride and pleasure of seeing loved ones at one with each other, the boat and the sea, is quite an emotional experience and their ability to make life comfortable for us in all sorts of conditions made the 4 day trip most memorable.

Patti is an amazing person, not only does she have all the skills in sail and boat handling, but at sea can produce the most mouth watering culinary delights. Evening meals on deck as we ran along under full mainsail and spinnaker while George (recently installed gyro controlled auto pilot) kept us on course, warning only if the wind angle changed a few degrees and we may want to re trim the sails.

Our fruit supply was fantastic and we only just kept up with the ripening mangoes, paw paws and bananas. We had to empty the last of a half gallon jar of rum before we left to make room for the huge amount of guava jelly that we had now made and during the voyage it was strained and nearly filled the rum jar.

Coconut trees appeared on the horizon during the morning of the fourth day at sea and we made our way to the pass into the lagoon of Tahanea, a southern atoll in the Tuamotu chain. This atoll, now uninhabited, had the remains of a village and probably one of the remotest yacht clubs in the world. Some past visitors had made the sign "Blue Peters Yacht Club" by a shack in the abandoned village.

We anchored in the lagoon and were instantly met by a welcoming party of nine quite large Black Tip Reef sharks. They were to become our companions during our stay at Tahanea and became known as "The Bruce's" or the "The Tight Nine."

Nick announced that if we want to swim here we will have to get over it and so it wasn't too long before we were swimming with our friends only a few feet away!

It was some sight to see Patti laying on the bottom at 40 feet with two sharks almost two thirds her length doing 10 foot circles around her!

The fish life in this atoll was untouched and it was a real thrill to see huge Bass, Corol Trout and Trevally up close.