Tyler joined the 16,000 foot club today

The Blue Heaven is now in San Salvador ( San Sal) at Riding Rock Marina.  Over the past couple of days we transited the southern part of the Bahamas from Turks and Caicos to here.
We anchored out off of Plana Cays the first night and had great weather for it. Our anchor was in 40 feet of turquoise water. The boat sat in 90 feet of water right where it drops off to 1000 feet. The water went from turquoise to brilliant blue and then turned a cerulean hue as it got deeper and faded to dark blue. I have anchored at Plana before and I swear the water there is the clearest I have ever seen.
We fished for a while before hitting the bunk. We hooked and lost some very large fish before the sharks started cutting us off.  In the morning we got up at 4:30 and headed for the island called Samana ( not to be confused with the town of Samana in the Dominican Republic. ) As the sun peaked over the eastern horizon we began deep dropping in 700 feet of water. It did not take long before we had a box full of Yellow Eye Snappers. After an hour or so of that we made for San Sal.
The sun was still behind the early morning clouds as we made 27 knots. We were about 20 miles from Samana and 40 miles from San Sal when the boat shuddered hard. We had hit something. Its such a sinking feeling when that happens. Tyler had been cleaning up inside the boat when it happened. He came running out on the back deck and without me saying a word, he started digging out a mask and fins. Now, when you are out in 16,000 feet of water miles from anywhere in the Atlantic, there are two kinds of animals out there. There are Really big fish, and then there are animals that eat really big fish.  Tyler did not stall at all. He slid over the side and observed what we had hit. It was a large nylon cargo net. It had wrapped up both propellors up completelly Tyler was able to get the net free from one of the props. but the boat was sitting side sea and was rolling real bad. I was so worried that the boat would come down and hit him in the head. Swimming in that deep water was the least of Tyler's worries. I told him to get out of the water. We gathered our thoughts and decided that it would be best if I stay on the bridge helm and use the bow thruster to hold the bow into the wind. I did not like not being right there to help Tyler or grab him if the boat hit him. Tyler jumped back into the dark blue water and went to the task of freeing up the prop. Suddenly he came up screaming!!!!!! It scared the shit out of me. Then it registered on me what he was screaming about. He had looked down into the depths as he toiled with the cargo net and a knife. What he saw was not a shark, but a blue marlin. The shear thrill in his voice was enough to take the edge off of the task at hand. He said later that he glanced down and saw a greyish silver object swimming up towards him. Initially he thought Shark!!! but it was indeed a blue marlin  the marling passed below him and he got a great view of a blue marlin swimming in the wild. We have lots of pictures of Blue Marlin and even videos of hooked blue marlin as we release them. But to have one swim up to you like this was truly a once in a lifetime event. After the fish swam on, Tyler finished getting the net freed. After we were back up and running, he sat in the companion helm chair jabbering for 30 minutes. He was so excited. I was excited for him as well. Not many people get the chance to swim in that kind of water and one in a million will ever see a Marlin like that.
I do have to give that young man credit. He took some risks today and defiantly earned his pay.
We arrived San Sal around mid day. We washed the boat cleared customs and immigration and set up camp before I showed Tyler around a bit. He really liked meeting the bartender ( Miss Peaches) He had heard so much about her. I think he is a fan as well.
The bite he has been on and off. With some boats seeing or catching a few blue marlin each day, while others see none. I hope we are one of the lucky ones tomorrow when we start fishing here.
All for tonight I have a hankering for Flan or something like that.

Landing in Turks and Caicos

" Fred" our pet Triple tail 

Sun setting a couple nights ago

Blue Heaven at Blue Haven

Tyler working hard

Sun rising over Attwood bay at Samana

San Sal on the bow

Whale spouting along side us

Back in the Driftwood bar

Cool place

Veiw from the porch of the Driftwood bar in Sal Sal

Miss Peaches , My favorite bartender 

Loved this tiny gas station in Provo

Nice rainbow runner