7-5-08 Holy Mackerel!
A very interesting thing happened on the boat today as we were departing from this quiet little town on the Western end of Puerto Rico named Arecibo. A strange visitor came aboard.
Let me set the scene for you. We, on the tug had just separated ourselves from the barge. The captain was maneuvering the tugboat getting it into position to tow the barge to our next port. Myself and 2 deckhands were standing on the stern of the boat, chatting while the Captain, on a deck just above us, was doing his thing, working the engine and steering controls this way and that like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. The only thing missing was the curtain.
Then suddenly in our field of vision, an eight pound fish launches itself from the depths of the blue waters of the Caribbean 20 ft into the air, his graceful flight ending unexpectedly onto the hot steel deck of our tug a mere 5 feet from where we stood. Without missing a beat, the Captain yells, LUNCH!
Felix, who is one of the deckhands, grabs the fish before he could wiggle himself free back into the water. Ernesto, the other deckhand, instantly pulls out his knife and in less than 2 minutes, this fish is cleaned and cut up into 10 serving size portions, ready to be cooked. Talk about fresh fish!
Man, this fish had all the odds against him. I’m going to assume he was running at a rate high speed from some larger prey that was chasing him down below. When he broke the surface like a cruise missile fired from a submarine heading straight up, he probably thought he was home free. If he realized during his decent that he was about to land on a tugboat that had a professionally trained Chef (Ernesto) with 13 years experience in high end fine dining on board, he probably would have had a stroke before he hit the deck. Watching Ernesto with a carving knife is like watching an episode of “Top Chef.” It’s a beautiful thing.
So, in just a little while we will be enjoying a delicious, if unexpected meal. What flew onto our deck was an 8 lb King Mackerel, known in Puerto Rico as “Sierra” which means sword.
Ernesto explained,” Because they have razor sharp teeth man!”
A very interesting thing happened on the boat today as we were departing from this quiet little town on the Western end of Puerto Rico named Arecibo. A strange visitor came aboard.
Let me set the scene for you. We, on the tug had just separated ourselves from the barge. The captain was maneuvering the tugboat getting it into position to tow the barge to our next port. Myself and 2 deckhands were standing on the stern of the boat, chatting while the Captain, on a deck just above us, was doing his thing, working the engine and steering controls this way and that like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. The only thing missing was the curtain.
Then suddenly in our field of vision, an eight pound fish launches itself from the depths of the blue waters of the Caribbean 20 ft into the air, his graceful flight ending unexpectedly onto the hot steel deck of our tug a mere 5 feet from where we stood. Without missing a beat, the Captain yells, LUNCH!
Felix, who is one of the deckhands, grabs the fish before he could wiggle himself free back into the water. Ernesto, the other deckhand, instantly pulls out his knife and in less than 2 minutes, this fish is cleaned and cut up into 10 serving size portions, ready to be cooked. Talk about fresh fish!
Man, this fish had all the odds against him. I’m going to assume he was running at a rate high speed from some larger prey that was chasing him down below. When he broke the surface like a cruise missile fired from a submarine heading straight up, he probably thought he was home free. If he realized during his decent that he was about to land on a tugboat that had a professionally trained Chef (Ernesto) with 13 years experience in high end fine dining on board, he probably would have had a stroke before he hit the deck. Watching Ernesto with a carving knife is like watching an episode of “Top Chef.” It’s a beautiful thing.
So, in just a little while we will be enjoying a delicious, if unexpected meal. What flew onto our deck was an 8 lb King Mackerel, known in Puerto Rico as “Sierra” which means sword.
Ernesto explained,” Because they have razor sharp teeth man!”
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