Eventful day

Today, I almost have too much to tell, so I will keep some for tomorrw.
First of all, during the night we crossed the antimeridian and have
entered the eastern hemisphere. It is a little less symbolic than
crossing the equator, but still, we feel that it is worth being
celebrated. Apprently, it also confused the software which is supposed
to let you see us on the map since we disappeared from the screen for
almost one day. I have no way of knowing, since to see the map I would
have to connect to Internet and I can't do that at sea. Anyway,
everything is back to normal and I am told that we have reappeared on
the screen this time in the eastern hemisphere.
Today, we had also decided, as recognition for its services for the last
five months, to promote to the rank of fully fledged crew member, our
faithful windvane which had been steering the boat since we left Fort
Lauderdale. There has been a little problem with a serious case of
arthritis between Manta and Tahiti, but it has been solve since. The
Monitor has therefore now a name which could fit the name of Lady X's
driver, and before lunch, we baptised it with rum Barbancourt, of
course, under the name of Firmin.
After which, it was time to sit down for lunch to enjoy one of Claude's
specialties, a salad that could be served in a three stars restaurant.
Obviously, as soon as we sat down, the fishing line called us to action.
Is is now almost routine. I roll up the genoa, reduce the main, remove
the cushions from the cockpit, prepare the hook, the cherry liquor and
the camera while Claude and Jean-Francois devised a proper strategy to
bring the Mahi Mahi (yes, again !) aboard. Unfortunaly, Claude lost
patience and tried to lift the fish on the hook to attempt to land it
inside the cockpit, as he had done for the previous one. This time, the
beast unhooked itself as soon as it got out of the water and we lost it.
OK ! We put everything back in place, we put the fishing line back in
the water and we sit down to continue lunch. Well, no more than ten
minutes, and again we got a strike.
This time, we talked a lot about taking our time to tire the fish before
attempting to bring it aboard. But once again, we got it too close too
soon close to the boat and it had still enough energy to jump out of the
water and break the line.
We put the line back in service, but this time a bigger line, with
bigger everything, swivel, hood and lure.. I will tell you tomorrow
whether it was successful.
By the way, yesterday afternoon, we passed Turtle Island and a
helicopter flew over us, checking us out. This is the first sign of life
that we see at sea since we are in the Pacific.