Day 177, Year 5: Rainy Day Projects
Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Weather: Off & On Rain All Day; Winds ESE 12-15 Knots
Location: Ile Fouquet, Peros Banhos Atoll, Chagos

After moving everything off the v-berth yesterday, we enjoyed our first night sleeping there last night. It was much cooler-so windy and cool and that I had to have a top sheet. So we will keep things this way while we are here in Chagos. Because we both took showers yesterday, I used the shower water to soak the sheets from the aft cabin bed overnight. That’s why it rained. Every time I soak sheets overnight and get them ready to hang out in the morning, it rains. But I went ahead and washed the mattress cover and material that has been covering the v-berth, and most everything is dry tonight. It has been very windy, so drying could happen in between rains. It is a little labor intensive bringing clothes in when it rains and then hanging them out again, but it works. Today we got under the v-berth and rearranged things. We put the huge spinnaker back under the bed and got out the candy-stripped boat covers that we will use in Salomon while doing our varnishing projects. Getting under the v-berth prompted Mark to clean out the huge drawer that he keeps electronic gear in and I cleaned out the cabinet in the v-berth and ended up gathering all of the batteries we have onboard and getting those better organized. In the afternoon, Mark worked on re-rigging his fishing pole with stronger line and I started mapping out our Madagascar anchorages. This requires reading every bit of information we have and then using what we know to make tentative plans for our three months there. It looks like we will have no trouble spending that much time there. The unusual geologic formations and unique plants and animals will certainly keep us busy for three months. It looks like most anchorages might be a bit rolly, but we’ll just have to put up with that so we can enjoy such a special place in the world.

Mark, Ed, and I went out in the dinghy mid-day to recover the lure Mark lost yesterday and found it amazingly quickly. Mark swam in one direction and Ed in the other, and Ed picked the closest route as he found it almost immediately. Both tried fishing from the boat this afternoon. Mark caught something, or rather something caught Mark and immediately went under some coral. It must have taken almost an hour for whatever it was to rid itself of the hook and escape, but at least Mark got back all his gear this time. We had the Bonito caught yesterday for dinner tonight and despite everyone saying that it is not a good eating fish, we found it to be quite good. I marinated it in the marinade recipe I inherited from my sister Margie and that was the magic formula. Oceanic Bonito and Skipjack Tuna are used interchangeably, but evidently Bonito should have a lighter pink meat. The fish Mark caught yesterday had dark meat like Skipjack, but whatever it was it was quite good when marinated and grilled. So we’ll stop throwing all of these fish back. They are easy to catch and small enough that you can eat it all in two days. So a couple of these a month would be great.