Oct. 20th: Whales and the one we let get away

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19 42.73 S
174 16.98 W

Wind: 22 knots from due South
Seas: big out there, not so big here.
Crew: Everyone getting settled in new anchorage

We just had a victory at sea moment. After waking at 4 am, monitoring the wind change, large seas building and us bucking and rocking at the anchorage. Our quiet little scenic anchorage by the uninhabited island turned into a rocking and rolling mess that had us on deck scrambling to get out as soon as we had light to see. The wind, clouds and occasional shower moved in, changing the sea instantly into a stormy mess. The team assembled instantly as I called them and had the boat sailing to a different anchorage within only a few short adrenaline laden minutes. We are now sitting comfortably in a very calm yet windy anchorage. It is 7am.. Cyrus and I have been up working, planning and monitoring for the past 3 hours. Yesterday we sailed South to the Haapai group on our way to wards New Zealand. We decided to anchor at this incredible island surrounded by winding reef and inhabited only by thousands of birds. We arrived at sunset and planned on exploring more today. But alas, Mother Nature had other plans for us.


Yesterday eve:
Cyrus swings the helm slightly to port as he sees the multiple blows, splashes and explosions of white water. There is a battle brewing. A battle of one of the largest kinds. "BROOKE!" they scream and I run on deck to witness a wrestling match of Goliaths along with the big eyed crew. Some of these guys were witnessing one of Mother Nature's greatest dating games for the first time in all it's glory. 6 humpback males were showing off, wrestling, pushing, shoving, head lunging, tail slapping, pec slapping, and growling at each other in order to get closer to a whale who must be some hot mama. The best part? The female seems to think that maybe she can ditch the guys by wrapping around the boat, swinging under and around us. Nope. Good try though and I have to commend her on her effort, but alas, those boys will not give up so easy. We spent about an hour watching the age old story unfold... boy likes girl. other boy likes girl. boy doesn't like boy. boy fights boy. other boys join in. girl tries to ditch the boys. boys chase after girl and fight each other. girl seems exhausted. And the rest of us watch the drama unfold. At some point the strongest and most persistent boy in this story will probably get the girl.... until another boy shows up and challenges him. But as we sailed on... the boys were still a rolling exploding mass of muscle and mist and hope.

We can still see the battle in the distance. Birds are diving around us.. must be a bait ball and that means larger fish! Brett sees something darting at our lure."OOH!" yells Brett.. "GET IT!" and it slashes again "WHAM!" the rod jumps.. nothing. "COME ON BUDDY! GET IT! GET IT!" screams Brett. I am laughing watching this fish go after our lure then ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!! FISH ON!!

"OH MY GOD!" ) yells Brett (among other things) as he tries to reel . Cy slows the boat and the fight begins. It leaps. Uh oh. We have accidentally hooked a Marlin. We don't want a Marlin. We love Marlins.. in the water.. not out of the water. They are one of most over fished species in the ocean. They are beautiful, they do not need to die and they are big. We are NOT equipped to deal with a Marlin. "OH GEEZ, WHAT DO WE DO" says Cyrus as he preps the boat for a fish arrival. Brett very pain strikingly reels it to the boat.. all of us saying "Throw the hook! Throw the hook!" Brett even keeps giving it line in hopes it can sling it off. But no. I yell for the others and we all watch as this AMAZING creature is brought to our aft swim deck. Cyrus is standing there with gloves on. " What the hell do I do with THIS??" he asks. We are all in shock. Oh geez. "It has a long sharp freakin' bill on him.. " Cyrus says. "Yeah.. and it is pointed right at you" teases Brett. Peter adds "Just pull it up on the swim deck". "WHAT?" We all say in unison. "Are you kidding me?" Cyrus says. " It wouldn't fit. And it is as big as you and weighs more than you!" Brett adds, "And it was made for swimming fast and hitting things with its bill. It is PURE muscle. It will easily pull all of us right in."

I have seen Marlin hanging dead and in photos. I have seen them hunting along side us in the ocean at a distance. I have seen a few nature videos and I know lots of people have caught them. We have hooked them before but they have always either thrown the hook or took the hook. But no one ever told me about the colors they flash! This dark creature with scared eyes was flashing an incredible violet color from various points along his body. I am sure many people know why they have this... I just love that I didn't know that and got to see it! It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and such a wonderful surprise!

After a lot of discussion and panic, we finally try the ol' boat hook trick. Thankfully the lure had just snagged his bill and he had not swallowed it. So Cyrus took the boat hook and the plan was to try to knock the hook out while Brett simultaneously gives a little slack on the line so the hook might pop out. He pulls the fish right to the deck and as Cyrus jabs at the hook, the fish goes nuts, thrashing violently at the same time Brett gave a little slack. The line goes tight for a second then the pink 'hot tuna' lure whizzes at Brett and I's heads. We both cringe and partially duck & yell as it slashes through the air.. narrowly missing us. (whew) The marlin hesitates in shock for only a second before gliding gracefully back into the depths again. We cheer and head in to the new island chain and an anchorage that proved to be less than comfortable this morning. What an amazing couple of hours.

We will be checking into the port South of us as soon as the weather calms a bit.

Now.. I think we are ready for a nap. 😊

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