Rarotonga Day 2

I had decided a few weeks ago to try out the offshore fishing at Raro. We made our reservations and met our captain at the dock, but not before reporting to the Cook Islands Police for a driver's license. It was mildly amusing at the police station. There were two maori ladies and while I was having the photo taken and waiting for the license to laminate, they were gossiping about me, in a language they thought I could not understand. It took all of my restraint to not let on that I had understood their catty comments.



We spent our time on board the Seafari with Derek and Denise from Bay of the Islands, NZ. Derek is an agronomist and is currently working for the US government as a contractor, in Afghanistan. They were very nice, friendly, people and we had a lovely morning with them.



As has been true of most of my offshore fishing excursions, we did a lot of fishing and not much catching. We did hook one large fish when it was my turn to sit in the chair.



It was an 18 pound wahoo (ono in Hawaii). He was way out and it took me a couple of minutes to reel him in. I have to say, I don't get much thrill out of the heavy gear you have to use.



We came to the boat prepared for a day in the sun (full length pants, hats, and etc.) Bubby still got pretty badly sunburned from the rays reflected off of the water's surface.



Here is our captain, who happens to be from the Dalles, Oregon. He lives on Raro six months of the year and guides steelhead and sturgeon on the Columbia the rest of the time. He was completing the last leg (bicycle) of an iron man event later that day. It turned out he ran track for U of U in his youth.



Here are Bubby and I with the fish. She didn't want to hold it. I wonder why?



We seared some up for dinner last night. It was delicious. Of course it doesn't get any fresher than this. There is another large piece we need to eat for tonight's dinner. We might make a fish burger out of it. Wahoo is super white meat and non-fishy. It made a delicious seared fish, and we ate it with pasta and another lovely salad.



Last night's sunset was beautiful. We wandered down to the beach as soon as we got our dishes done. I made the mistake of checking my email this morning, but it will have to wait until I get a chance to deal with it (there are about 85 eletters to answer). I am not going to do that now, when I am being charged by the MB for my wifi usage.

Buboppy