The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Our first fish, dinghy woes continue, and a fire at sea

Light winds blew as we headed south on the Sound along with just about everyone else who'd been in Rudder Cut Cay the night before. We had a mission of getting close to George Town to get the dinghy gas line fixed asap. We were the only boat who chose to sail and were moving along at about 4 knots in 2-4 foot seas and Harry set out the fishing lure and line. After a few tacks and about two hour later, he got a bite! In no time, Harry was reeling in a 24 inch tuna - our first fish and a beauty! Next came the hard part - killing the fish and filleting him on the stern of the boat. We used a few ounces of gin over the gills so we hope he had a happy end to his life and with book illustrations close by, Harry managed to fillet the fish and had it in the fridge 15 minutes later tossing the  carcass back in the ocean for someone else to finish off. 

Catching, not just fishing

We were feeling pretty proud and happy now with some fresh fish in the fridge for dinner when we noticed a large black cloud of smoke off our stern about 2-3 miles away.  As all the other boats heading south had long passed us, we appeared to be the closest and so we did a 180 degree turn back north towards the smoke.  It didn't look pretty and with binoculars, I could even see flames - not what you want to see on a boat. Thankfully, a faster powerboat approached the scene from the north getting there long before us and rescued the sailor from his dinghy and so no lives were lost but it is probable that his boat was a complete loss as there is no "Tow Boat USA" or Coast Guard to aid ships in distress in these waters. After this incident, we knew we weren't going to make George Town so we pulled into Rat Cay Cut and found a nice anchorage off Children's Cay with views west to Barreterre and the chain of cays where water depths are only 1-4 feet.