New Zealand Economic Zone 11 April 2011 43S50 173W16

We’re still in New Zealand waters. 2400 miles to go, seems like too many right now. I’m tired. It’s that first-couple-of-days-of-passage syndrome. It takes awhile to get back into the swing, back in the roll, back into the sway. Good wind, good speed, and we’re going the right way today. An unbelievable quantity of seabirds follow us – even more since we caught two albacore. Our new best friends are sure we’ll cough up some more fish guts any second. Silver Lining may look like she should be able to consume more than two lousy tuna, but our fridge is not that big, and we have to eat all we catch. I’m sure the whales and fishing boats they’re used to following are much more productive than us. So we confuse them, but they continue to follow – hope springs eternal.

Schools of tuna are everywhere. They are voracious too. Frank sent a titalator off the back to tease them. It’s a giant lure he found on the beach in Mag Bay when Logan was a baby. He did not put a hook on it, we’re just towing it. we never actually used it for catching – I’m not sure we’d really want to land the monster that would be tempted by it. We keep it around more as a souvenir. Imprinted on it’s side in big iridescent letters is written, “EAT ME.” Apparently these tuna are literate (and they have no aesthetic taste); frequently throughout the day, the line goes taught from a wild strike. Hmmm, maybe they do have good taste, and are infuriated by it’s gaudiness. Lucky them, we’re done fishing for the day. The galley has been a packing house, Frank slaving away to vacuum pack, boil, cook, can, freeze and sauté all that we can. Fish soup and sashimi for dinner, tomorrow we’ll be making tuna pate, and sushi rolls. Wish we could share some with you, it’s delicious.

xoxomo

what about that blue? It’s so close to gray on this monochromatic day. -Frank-