REPORTS FROM THE RIP: Three more firsts on the ROCK

Blue Heaven returning to Riding Rock With a few flags flying

Still riding the "Rock". The Blue Heaven is still sitting at Riding Rock Marina San Salvador. They say when you are here you are riding the rock. Referring to the island of San Sal as " the Rock". Some crews come here and bitch about the lack of things to do. They are the crews that just sit on their boats. The free diving here is spectacular. The visibility seems limitless at times. Matt and I make a point of getting out every day or so after our chores are done when the boss is not here. We mostly go down to near the Columbus Monument in Long bay. There we just pick a new reef each time and swim out from the beach. There is more life the further from the beach you go. On our last swim, I came face to face with a nice size lemon shark. I think it was more freaked out than I was. We saw each other and it hauled ass. Im sure it was thinking " I have not seen a manatee here for years". The beaches here are spectacular. Seldom will you see another soul and with a body like mine thats a very good thing. Matt and I are waxing and fixing things today. But tomorrow after a few chores, I think we are going to go explore some new reefs on the north end of the island.

Spectacular view of some of the boats here at Riding Rock Marina ( courtesy of Jeff Choy on the Who Dat)

Matt getting ready to grab the leader

This past weekend we had some friends of the boss on board. They were a pleasure to fish with. The first afternoon, we only had one nice mani to show for our efforts. The second day we did not see much but did manage to catch one blue marlin. Congrats to Jason Grace on his first. Day three was still slow we lost a nice blue. On day four, we decided to go catch some tunas and maybe do a little deep dropping for snapper. It sucked. We spent the entire morning and up until 2 pm catching nothing. So at 2 pm we decided to marlin fish again. Fifteen minutes into trolling, we had two blue marlin pile onto our spread. One was around 450 and the other around 200 lbs. Both blues ate the long riggers and went ape shit. They were both airing it out at the same time. What a fantastic sight that was pretty to see. Both fish were peeling line off the reels and spending more time in the air than they were in the water. Unfortunately the bigger of the two fish pulled the hooks. Lance who had lost one the day before, lost another. I felt bad for him, but we did catch the second blue. Twenty minutes later we hooked another blue. This time Lance was successful in releasing his first blue marlin. We were all pretty excited about catching two blues in two hours. But it was not over yet. A few minutes before were were going to head to the dock, we hooked another Blue Marlin. This time, Jess ( Jasons wife) was on the rod. This fish was a mean one. The marlin put on quite a show and pushed Jess to her limits. She hung in on the fight though and released her first Blue marlin. I was so proud of Jess that she did not give up.

Now, I do have to say this. Jess is married to Jason who is a fitness trainer. They are both in great shape. Lance too is in great shape and trains regularly.... With that said, MAN OH MAN was there some whining coming from the cockpit. Whhhhaaaaaaa my back hurts.... Whaaaaaaa my arm hurts. I had to laugh. Catching a marlin is no easy task. You use muscles that you did not know you had. All of my anglers did a great job and all three have a new respect of marlin fishing.

The bite here in San Sal has been hit or miss. There have been very few days where we do not catch a blue but there are some long days as well. This new moon should bring the numbers up. ( and the sea grapes are coming ripe on the bushes)