3/5/12

Nothing tedious about this day at all - flat calm seas and near zero wind have a
way of eliciting the best in all things nautical. The day was passed in comfort
and confidence as the jubilee from the prior evening carried on.

Heads are somewhat still in the clouds as the overwhelming success of this
entire Clipperton experience continues to sink in. Reflection only serves to
increase the grandiosity, recollections prompt forgotten, or subliminally
cataloged details; the sum total of such pure time shared with fellow voyagers
is a wealth of cherished memories - material of legends; rightly so.

Rolling into the second evening of travel, between the flat calm and focused
reverie, the tenor of sentiment favored flowing conversation and libations. It
made for a lively time of it as one could not but help succumb to the contagion
of high spirits. From the bridge perspective this is a dream setting; burgeoning
exuberance traveling home in flat calm conditions. Needless to say appropriate
homage is being paid again and again.

Photos today feature a fine promo shot with ecstatic angler Ulysses Quijada and
his first deuce that came in at a ripe 220. First of all the bite of this fish
was absolutely insane. Seconds after Ulysses bait entered the water some twenty
feet off the downwind corner this fish came flying out of the water with the
line clearly trailing from its jaw providing a perfect, full broad side view of
his imposing proportions. The morning sun highlighted all the colors and
imprinted an indelible image in the minds of the three or four of us who
witnessed the event. Incredible.

Any way here is Ulysses and his trophy along with the Royal Star crew, Corbett
Wright, IATTC senior scientist Kurt Schaefer, and several bottles of our
favorite sponsors brew. Ballast Point Brewery has sponsored every Royal Star
tagging voyage since 2006 sending along many cases of their refreshing
selections of Ale's to share with partaking guests. It has become quite a
tradition that was thoroughly appreciated in the tropical evenings at
Clipperton. It now almost goes without saying that Royal Star tuna tagging and
Ballast Point ale's go hand in hand - a fine combo from my perspective. I'll
mention more about our tagging objectives accomplished during this voyage
tomorrow.

Photo number two features tuna man from days of old Greg Packard with his 197
landed on our final morning. Greg's knowledge from his days as a purse seine
tuna fisherman in the 1980's was shared to all our benefit throughout the
voyage; in particular on the final day when a working seiner arrived at the
island, made a close set, and provided us with a front row seat. Never a dull
moment; that's fishing!

Tim Ekstrom


Photo Here...


Photo Here...