Aves de Sotavento

Venezuela
12.01.230N
67.41.031W

20.6 NM
5.2 Avg
7.4 Max
3.56 Hrs.

We lifted anchors at 10 am and ever so slowly made a downwind sail to Aves de Sotavento. We read books the whole way but occasionally looked up to make sure that we weren’t running into anyone or getting into anyone else’s way.

The highlight of the trip was when Orpailleur caught and landed their first fish. They radioed their success and then proceeded to describe the fish to Dale in an attempt to ascertain whether it was edible or not. As close as he could figure without seeing it, it sounded like a Wahoo! Excellent for the dinner table.

They secured their fish to the side of the boat and then motored up to us. Yep! It was a wahoo. Now for the fun part; learning how to get it from the hook to the pot.

We rounded the northern side of the group of islands known as the Aves de Sotavento and then down the western edge of the bank to a group of 3 small islands. Gerry spotted a slow moving swell and selected the south western side of the middle island and tucked between it and the farthest island in hopes of protection from it.

We anchored in about 14’ of crystal clear water and the anchors set in deep sand on the first try. Both Dale and Gerry jumped in to make sure everything looked good and then swam back to the boats. Gerry said that there was a barracuda as big as he was keeping close to his anchor. Dale spotted a King Helmet that we took several pictures of before returning it to its resting spot beneath our boat.

We lowered the dink, grabbed our books and cheat sheets on identifying fish and the various methods of processing the fish in preparation for the frying pan. Gerry was adamant about the fillet and release method, as he didn’t want anything to do with gutting the fish. I grabbed my camera and off we went.

As it turns out, Nicky is the one credited for catching the fish and they both participated in the cleaning process. Although he didn’t look too good when he first started, Gerry stuck to it and filleted the fish without passing out. I stayed upwind and noticed that it didn’t smell as bad as our tuna had. Maybe fish smell more if you gut them.

Skinning it took a bit of trial and error. Dale started it, but then Gerry took over and finished one side and Nicky did the other. They sliced it into giant steaks and bagged up most of it. They gave us a couple of steaks for our freezer, brought some over to put on the grill for dinner and still have several meals in their freezer.

Now that they are seasoned fishermen, we know that they’ll be eating well on their Pacific crossing. All they need are just a few more lures.