So there are literally hundreds of mahi mahi schooling around the boat right now. Our junior engineer caught 5 of them in about 15 minutes. He's been beheading them and then rinsing the blood off the deck with predictable results.
Those results being that I just got to watch a rather large whitetip shark (I'd guess it was 8-10 feet) come rocketing up from the deep and eat one of the larger mahi mahi that was swimming around in our stern lights. That was some serious National Geographic shit!
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 18, 2012, 03:45:59 AM
So there are literally hundreds of mahi mahi schooling around the boat right now. Our junior engineer caught 5 of them in about 15 minutes. He's been beheading them and then rinsing the blood off the deck with predictable results.
Those results being that I just got to watch a rather large whitetip shark (I'd guess it was 8-10 feet) come rocketing up from the deep and eat one of the larger mahi mahi that was swimming around in our stern lights. That was some serious National Geographic shit!
:eek: Sounds fucking epic, and I bet no one caught footage of it.
Nah, my phone doesn't work down here so I keep it on airplane mode and leave it in my cabin as an alarm clock so I wouldn't have been able to catch it even if I had had enough warning that it was going to happen. Probably never get that lucky again but I'll start bringing it out on deck with me at night when I go out for a smoke from now on.
Damn, nice. Life just goes zero to awesome sometimes, especially when nature/ocean are involved.
I would have "emptied my orange sack" in my pance from terror.
Bad Ass
Quote from: navkat on January 18, 2012, 04:56:56 AM
I would have "emptied my orange sack" in my pance from terror.
Yeah, truth be told, pretty much this, right here.
Awesome and terror can, sometimes, go hand in hand.
Right??? I'd be like "Shark does NOT BELONG UP HERE."
Something about Jaws making himself comfortable in my personal space, grabbing a snack.
Well it wasn't like I was in the water with them. And any shark that can leap up over our gunwale to take a bite out of me probably deserves to win.
I told the captain about it this morning and without missing a beat he turns to me with this dead-serious look in his eyes and says "We're going to need a bigger boat."
:lulz:
that's really awesome
I'd love to see more pix of what the world looks like from your boat
Unfortunately when we're working at AUTEC I'm very limited in when and where I can take pictures, and what I can take them of. The stuff we have hanging off the stern for this job is classified so at best they'd throw my phone overboard if they caught me taking pics, at worst I could be barred from AUTEC and/or even prosecuted. But when we head back north next month I'll try to get some good pics. Our next job is going to be 130 miles offshore out by Hudson Canyon in the middle of february so I'll probably be able to get some good pics of the times this job is the exact opposite of fun.
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 18, 2012, 01:56:04 PM
I told the captain about it this morning and without missing a beat he turns to me with this dead-serious look in his eyes and says "We're going to need a bigger boat."
Props if he turned right around and started singing "Spanish Ladies".
mmmmmmm mahi mahi.... you can't blame the shark. :lulz:
I'm surprised there aren't cameras monitoring the water around the boat to begin with. It's a research vessel right? Maybe I misunderstood. :sad:
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 18, 2012, 03:45:59 AM
So there are literally hundreds of mahi mahi schooling around the boat right now. Our junior engineer caught 5 of them in about 15 minutes. He's been beheading them and then rinsing the blood off the deck with predictable results.
You guys have been murdering Central Africans and LAUGHING about it?
YOU'RE BAD PEOPLE!
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 19, 2012, 03:51:44 PM
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 18, 2012, 03:45:59 AM
So there are literally hundreds of mahi mahi schooling around the boat right now. Our junior engineer caught 5 of them in about 15 minutes. He's been beheading them and then rinsing the blood off the deck with predictable results.
You guys have been murdering Central Africans and LAUGHING about it?
YOU'RE BAD PEOPLE!
Scratch that. I was thinking "Mali".
Carry on.
:lulz:
Also, that sounds awesome.
Quote from: Khara on January 19, 2012, 03:48:34 PM
mmmmmmm mahi mahi.... you can't blame the shark. :lulz:
I'm surprised there aren't cameras monitoring the water around the boat to begin with. It's a research vessel right? Maybe I misunderstood. :sad:
No, it's more like a "research" vessel.
We specialize in providing plausible deniability.
(Also we couldn't really have cameras monitoring the water around the boat since there's usually something that doesn't technically exist yet hanging off our stern.)
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 20, 2012, 01:21:28 AM
Quote from: Khara on January 19, 2012, 03:48:34 PM
mmmmmmm mahi mahi.... you can't blame the shark. :lulz:
I'm surprised there aren't cameras monitoring the water around the boat to begin with. It's a research vessel right? Maybe I misunderstood. :sad:
No, it's more like a "research" vessel.
We specialize in providing plausible deniability.
(Also we couldn't really have cameras monitoring the water around the boat since there's usually something that doesn't technically exist yet hanging off our stern.)
What are you talking about?
Regardless of which acronym actually contracts us, 95% of the work we do ultimately is for NUWC or DARPA.
So in other words, I'm not allowed to tell you what I'm talking about. :lulz:
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 20, 2012, 01:39:41 AM
So in other words, I'm not allowed to tell you what I'm talking about. :lulz:
I knew that. Bad joke didn't translate well. :lulz:
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 18, 2012, 03:45:59 AM
So there are literally hundreds of mahi mahi schooling around the boat right now. Our junior engineer caught 5 of them in about 15 minutes. He's been beheading them and then rinsing the blood off the deck with predictable results.
Those results being that I just got to watch a rather large whitetip shark (I'd guess it was 8-10 feet) come rocketing up from the deep and eat one of the larger mahi mahi that was swimming around in our stern lights. That was some serious National Geographic shit!
Your story almost (ALMOST) makes me wish I still lived on a boat. Your boat life is likely very, very different from the one I lived but I do recall anchoring off of the Yucatan peninsula when the tropical flying fish were spawing (this type: http://eol.org/pages/207280/overview)
Naturally, it attracted every predator for miles, including Blue Sharks that would circle the boat and join in the smorgasbord.
We were actually fishing for food at times and that's a different story all together, but I finally got tired of seeing the sharks circle and only eating the shit bait fish (not the fliers, another species I wouldn't identify even if I knew because of bad memories from eating so damn many of them) and worked with the Chief Engineer to fashion a large hook from 1/4" aluminum, in order to catch one of these sharks.
After we finished the hook, I asked the boson to help me knot a nylon line strong enough to hold a good size shark. He recommended an eye splice in 1/4" nylon. Watching and learning to tie that knot (and many others in my time on that boat) gave me a great respect for mariners, above and beyond what I already had.
I tied a 15' line to a pole on this boat, baited the hook with half a fish and tossed it over.
a 5' (maybe 4-1/2", my memory embellishes by the half foot) blue came by and nibbled the fish. As soon as I saw him try and swallow it, I yanked on the rope to bury the hook and then let it go.
He was hooked and done. I celebrated with my compadres and let him tire himself out for 5 or 10 minutes (not nearly enough, btw) and pulled him on board.
I'll spare the gruesome details between how I caught him and how he ended up on our plates, but after soaking the meat in milk for a couple of hours, I enjoyed the best shark I have ever eaten.
Long winded story but, ECH, your tale made me miss the water. For a minute, anyway, and I'm glad I read TT.
Was his name higgs?
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 20, 2012, 01:39:41 AM
So in other words, I'm not allowed to tell you what I'm talking about. :lulz:
But you can pack me some mahi mahi in some dry ice and ship it? Because Missouri think "fresh" fish is a catfish with two heads from the Mississippi River.
I'm so jealous, I miss fresh snd for that matter edible seafood..... :cry:
I'm pretty sure I can't send either fish or dry ice through the mail from a foreign country without an import license.
But even if I could, that would be the most expensive mahi anybody ever ate. :lulz:
That said, mahi is one of those firm-fleshed fishes that does not suffer any from being frozen. My advice would be to make friends with someone who is in charge of ordering for a local restaurant. Ask them if they'll order some for you from their vendor.
Quote from: Fuck You One-Eye on January 20, 2012, 03:35:02 PM
I'm pretty sure I can't send either fish or dry ice through the mail from a foreign country without an import license.
But even if I could, that would be the most expensive mahi anybody ever ate. :lulz:
That said, mahi is one of those firm-fleshed fishes that does not suffer any from being frozen. My advice would be to make friends with someone who is in charge of ordering for a local restaurant. Ask them if they'll order some for you from their vendor.
I was only joking....
That's a good idea, I work with a few restaurants, I'll have to check with them. I really don't care if it is mahi, just a decent fish that isn't catfish.