CAPT MIKE IN THE MADIVES: DAY FOUR

Had a little twenty minute shower about an hour and half after sunrise. But, the boat has a hardtop and sunbrella side pieces so all was dry in the cockpit area.  Ibrahim our skipper speaks English well enough but, Issaq our crew does not. So I'm trying to learn a few words in the local language. A good start is the word shukuria which means thank you. But, here on day four I'm still sometimes say "sugaree" and now have the Jerry Garcia song  by the same name playing in my head. We are soon underway and the boat is now armed and ready to do some serious trolling:

Soon there was that cranking sound from the fishing reel and Issac grabs it while the captain powers down the boat.

Soon Ibrahim joins Issac on the stern with the gaff.

Looks like we've got ourselves a nice Dog Tooth Tuna:

Almost does not fit in the fish tub.

All this excitement and it's only about 10:30 AM. So we head off and jump off the back for snorkel on a nearby reef. The boat drifts nearby until we wave for a pick up. We then headed for and anchored near a  sandbank at 03 50.561N 073.22.482E  We stayed here for the night too.

A Safari boat has beat us to this location though:

And dumped a number of it's passengers on the sand bank:

But, they were soon back aboard their boat and then we had the place to ourselves. We snorkeled around the reef and swam to the sandbank were Issac picked us up in the dingy. We came back to the boat for lunch. Where we enjoyed some of the Tuna caught earlier for lunch:

Now this is what I call fresh fish! But, it gets better. For our five o'clock snack time what could be better than some fresh tuna hors d'oeuvre sandwiches:

And to top the day off with some local cuisine. I requested and Ibrahim cooked up a local Maldivian dish called Garudia with some of the leftover Tuna. It's a fish soup served with rice, pepper, lime, onions and spices:

Just pinch me to make sure I'm not dreaming.  And so another day in the Maldives comes to a delicious end.

CLICK HERE FOR CAPT. MIKE IN THE MALDIVES: DAY 3 POST

CLICK HERE TO SEE CAPT. MIKE IN THE MALDIVES: DAY 5 POST