Ship’s Journal from Mallorca to Fiji

Update 06/04/25 01:00 am (GMT-8) 400 Nm WSW from Galapagos.

Sara screeched and then screamed high pitched noises. Not exactly intimidating but clearly angry. Seconds earlier we had weighed and secured our anchor. One more audacious sea lion had snuck all the way into the cockpit. But the stinking stowaway thought wise to hop and slide back into Wreck Bay. Danny the friendly water taxi driver drove out to wave goodbye and receive his Islander t-shirt. The girls on SY Calm who had just spent 2 fun days with our kids were ashore unfortunately. 

Sara’s tummy was still a bit insecure, An’s ached and I was sure I had a fever and knew I couldn’t be too far away from the head but I was feeling better by the hour. 

We were all happy to be at sea again. We saw 2 more sea lions 4 miles offshore and a very big pod of dolphins in the late afternoon. 

The next day everybody bar An was in top form again. It was time for the kids to return to their school tasks. That was the biggest challenge of the day unfortunately… Sara, An and I set the example by doing our own office work as well. 

The biggest sperm whale we’ve ever seen swam by followed by 2 more in the distance. Dolphins were here and there. Charlie spotted a shark. The birds are living and crapping on board again. I had to tell Oceaan off for lassoing one! Luckily neither bird nor boy were harmed. We were sailing pretty nicely under mainsail and genoa and later we exchanged the genoa for the Code Zero. At nightfall we dowsed the mainsail. We motorsailed until 3Am. Since then we have maintained good speed under Code Zero only which doesn’t stress the rig and captain as much as the main and the boom. I loathe the banging and tugging of the main and boom when rolling off a beam-on wave. 

Yesterday the routine was pretty much already found as well as the tradewinds. Office time was interrupted by the loud and long zzzzing of the reel. We stopped the boat. We reversed actually as whatever was hooked was unstoppable. Once we could start taking the line back in the break was on completely but the monster would at times still run away. The rod was bent like never before. An was manoeuvring under engine. The kids were passing on my instructions to her on the flybridge. After about 15 minutes we received a VHF call from SY Begonia. The 12m sail yacht has been within 20 nm range since the first night but we hadn’t spoken yet. They had noticed that we’d stopped and checked in with us, which is very cool. 

We were stopped for almost 2 hours. That’s how long the fight lasted. In the last 20 minutes the enormous, estimated 100 kg Yellowfin revealed itself. Then ran with the line again. Then was reeled in again. In the end I resorted to setting the line on the capstan. This is a small winch on the back of the boat, designed to pull mooring lines in. I said to Jan that it would be make or break. To our surprise, it worked like a dream and with hardly any effort we were bringing in the giant fish. It was circling under and next to the boat. I was just about to grab the gaff -the hook with which you pull the fish on board.

And then, with a loud snap, the nylon line broke and with it our hearts… We decided we need to get smaller lures because we’re only hooking massive fish.

Charlie Beau had organised a quiz for afternoon entertainment which was enjoyed together with An’s banana oatmeal cookies. Jan had made banana bread for evening dessert. 

I’m on my night watch now and have just adjusted the course from WSW to straight onto Nuku Hiva. We’re averaging 7kts and all is very well!