As advertised in the previous blog we went fishing today and I said I would be revealing stories of the “one that got away”. In fact two got away, a marlin and a frigate bird!
I hooked a marlin which immediately zoomed off, the clutch on the reel is set to 80lbs so it was pulling at a higher force than that. I managed to reel it in for a few minutes then it pulled away again, this went on for 10 minutes after which I was exhausted and the guy helping us took over. He had a go for ten minutes then I tried again and so on for half an hour then bang, the marlin managed to break free.
During this excitement the boatman stopped the boat and then reversed a little way, a consequence of this was the boat rocking a great deal which finished Gill off, she became rather sea sick.
Three frigate birds were following the boat (picture at the top of the page) and one decided to have one of our small fish we were using as bait, so instead of our bait, line and hook being in the sea it was 30ft in the air, the bird decided to drop his "catch" and fortunately did not get snagged on the hook.
But all was not lost, we caught 8 barracuda all about a metre long. The picture shows Gill reeling in the first one.
As we have stayed 20 nights in the same hotel (21st and last tonight) I ought to say something about it. It is in the best position of any hotel on the island (unless you want a sandy beach) but is probably the worst managed of any hotel (it is owned by the Parks Department).
The staff are all lovely but when something goes wrong unless we, the customer, point it out nothing is done. For big events they lay on a buffet, they have probably always done this and in no time at all the hot food is dry and the salads a little sad. We made the mistake of having Christmas lunch, it was not good and heard the complaints of others who had made the same mistake on New Years Eve.
The hotel has a nice bar but almost no one uses it, we all go to a lively place on the quayside which has a better atmosphere. Once we got used to the laid back style of the hotel we enjoyed ourselves but tonight, our last night, we will eat in the Admirals Inn next door, a very well managed and swish place (but of course double the price).
As in all hotels they make a point of saying they have a room safe, it is quite small and attached to – nothing! It makes a convenient carry out bag for all your valuables which saves the burglar having to ransack your room.
Breakfast in the morning is taken overlooking the harbour (picture below). It becomes a competition between us, the paying customers, and the birds who are after our toast, cakes and sugar.
In the UK when I was a boy blue tits learnt to break into the tops of milk bottles to steal cream and this technique seemed to spread throughout the country as the expertise was passed from bird to bird. Presumably this skill has now been lost with plastic bottles, that’s progress for you. Both here and in Grenada we have seen Carib Grackles which are like blackbirds stealing packets of sugar from the tables, opening them by standing on the packet and tearing a corner and then eating the contents. We have not seen any other birds do the same.
Tomorrow we have a posh lunch by a swimming pool which we will test during the afternoon before heading off to the airport and home on the overnight flight. I will write a summary of the holiday on the way home, I bet you can't wait.