Friday, May 8, 2009 - Fiji Bound

Yesterday we began to lose our wind, but continued a fair sail until evening when we begrudgingly turned on the motor. It was an eventful day for us. We caught a lovely Mahi Mahi, just under 3 ft. long, and enjoyed fresh ceviche for dinner. In fact over time after experimenting with various recipes from friends and from magazines, I've come up with our own favorite variation of "Destiny Ceviche". As Rachel Ray would say: It is yummo! So I'll post it here in case anyone else may want to try their hand at it next time they snare a fresh Mahi Mahi, or any other light meat fish.

1-2 cups diced fresh fish (Mahi Mahi)
1-2 limes juiced
1-2 lg. radishes, sliced paper-thin
1 large tomato, diced
1 very small onion finely diced
Salt to taste
2 lg. cloves garlic, sliced paper-thin
Cracked black pepper to taste
1 stalk mild celery, diced
1 avocado diced
Toasted sesame seeds
Soy sauce &/or dash of Tabasco
Cover diced fish in limejuice and toss until well coated. Let sit 10 minutes then add next 8 ingredients and let sit for at least 20 minutes to marinate. Just before serving, dash lightly with (low sodium) soy sauce and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

During the rally there are various competitions among the cruisers. We don't participate in all of them; in fact Frank is kind of a Grinch about these things. I love them and enjoy the camaraderie of joining in. Anyway this year they are:

Best kept cruiser log (Captain's log)
Largest fish caught on passage
Best Protest
Best Story - using all of the boat names in both rallies
Best Nautical Brag (tall tale)
Best dressed pirate - at the arrival bash
Closest ETA (we had to write our best guess and hand it in to the rally coordinator prior to departure from Opua)

So, yesterday I wrote a fairy tale/story and submitted it. We'll see how we do.

Today we have had NO WIND! In fact at times there isn't much more than a wisp. I read an entire Scott Turow book since my watch last night. We tried the gennaker but all it did was flop around so we doused it and opted for the engine. Weather reports are not promising much for the rest of our passage. Only 345 miles to go!

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