First Southern Hemisphere Atlantic Coryphaenidae

I sat in the bottom of the cockpit scrubbing furiously. The ice box shelf refused to get clean. The spilled bean soup stayed stubbornly on it. The sun on my back made me sweat, the only relief was pumping cool sea water on my hands, my feet, and the shelf piece. Any reason to stop would have come as a relief and especially the particular reason that came.

A shouted word from Mama sent me to feet. As she had said, the fishing line was up tight and something bright was zig-zagging in Sila's wake. The small blue shape zipped left and right, putting up a considerable fight for something so small. Jack and I easily dragged the young fish in. After two or three tries, Daddy had gaffed it. We swiftly hoisted it aboard and in just a few minutes, the fish was filleted. As an appetizer to dinner we had fried mahi-mahi.

The fish was only twenty inches and weighed only ten pounds but it was still a special fish. We have certainly caught fish in the Atlantic and south of the Equator but this is the first time we have succeeded in doing both with one fish! – Porter

Editors Note: We caught the fish at 28º35.2'S 024º51.3'W yesterday (Sunday March 8th). Very light winds today and we are motoring NE (roughly towards Ascension Island). Today is day 13 and we have sailed 1,700nm since leaving South Georgia and have something like 3,000nm to go to the Cape Verdes.