Spot X, A Marlin, Doggies and Sharks.

In the early hours of the morning we weighed anchor and headed out from behind the shelter of the islands towards our destination "Spot X". The wind was still quite strong and the sea state a bit too rough to dive but it was forecast to moderate, so we used the wind and sailed to our dive site.  When we arrived we decided against diving until the conditions calmed down and used the time to double check our gear. Finally in the afternoon the wind dropped and the sea calmed down enough to dive and we eagerly threw our gear on.
On entering the water we were treated to 30mt visibility, outstanding visibility considering the conditions and a water temp of around 29c. We saw little in the way of fish life to get excited about though conditions were still quite bad, we did however expect things to improve over the next few days as the weather got steadily better. We dived hard until it was too dark to dive and then, having had no luck we boarded the yacht and stowed our gear for the night. Once again we ate splendidly and having filled our stomachs we all crashed into our bunks  tired but eager to see what the morning delivered.
 

Our gear all ready to go just waiting for the weather to moderate.

 I woke early and ate a light fruit breakfast as did the others as one by one they appeared on deck, we gathered our thoughts and formed a plan for the day. We would dive Spot X until early afternoon and if we still had no luck we would move South to Castor Bank. We then geared up and entered the water, similar conditions to the previous day prevailed however the sea state was much more comfortable. We hadnt been in the water more than 10 minutes when I spotted a Black Marlin of around 150kg swiming in from my left. I didnt have time to breathe up I just took a deep breath, spat out my snorkel and dived almost on top of the fish. It continued swimming on the same course and sped up a little when it noticed me. I kicked a bit harder and gained some distance, I lined my gun up on the fish and when I thought everything was right I fired, only to see the fish dance a little and the shaft skip harmlessly across its back. Richard was extremely quick and managed to capture the whole event on video and a later review of the footage in slow motion revealed the reason for me missing, the Marlin was descending as it swam and I had not noticed this.

I was extremely dissapointed to have blown such an opportunity, but there was no way I was going to dwell on it and we kept diving. A short time later as we drifted across a drop off, Greg dived and dropped down on top of a reasonable sized Dogtooth Tuna and after a long dive fired a shot and secured a fine first fish for the trip. I dived as Greg was retrieving his fish and was also rewarded with a pair of 25kg Doggies swimming up to see what was going on. As I reached about 25mts one fish turned and swam away while the other circled under me, I lined up on the fish under me and as it started to swim directly away I fired. The shaft landed exactly where I had aimed and stunned the fish for a split second as great clouds of blood poured from its gills it shook it's head and took off. .
The fish ran for about 30mts before it stopped and once again shook it's head emitting another cloud of blood. At that point I was almost certain I would land the fish and started to retrieve my float line. A short 10 minute fight enshued before I got a good gill hold on my first Dogtooth a solid 25kg fish. Once again Richard was right behind me with the camera and captured the moment on video. In the interim Greg had also landed his fish and we both boarded the yacht grinning happily.

Removing a slip tip from a Doggie

Greg with a nice sized Doggie.

Once we had taken photos and rerigged our gear we were back in the water and on the hunt once again. Before long Greg had another Doggie close to 40kg fighting on the end of his float line only to have it vapourized by a pack of hungry sharks before he could land it. After this we found it exceedingly difficult to get fish past the sharks, with me losing most of a coral trout of around 20kg to them and Greg losing half a reasonable Doggie. Eventually it got impossible with sharks buzzing all around us, I had one attempt to take a fish from my hands and remove my fingers in the process, luckily it failed! Greg also had a close call so we decided to move on and hunt greener pastures before anything bad happened.

Of course at some point we had to pay the taxman.

Having an increasing shark problem and not seeing a lot in the way of fish we made the desciscion to move South to Castor Bank, we stowed out gear, hoisted the sails and headed South. We ate a wonderful meal of Dogtooth Tuna skewers cooked on the barbque and watched an amazing sunset. We relived every moment of the day numerous times and planned our days ahead before flopping into bed. In the morning when we woke we would be on Castor Bank, and with 2 days left on the yacht anything could happen.

Sailing South To Castor Bank.