Flapping in the Cooler

As anyone who is obsessed with reading my status updates on Facebook would know, yesterday I went finishing in the Pacific Ocean yesterday. I went with some of the guys living on island. We rented a boat and used their gear. When we launched, I was really excited. I didn't really care about catching fish, but being in the ocean on a boat is freeing. Sometimes I'll sing "Born Free" to myself while standing near the bow.

After we went through the pass from that lagoon side to the oean side, we headed towards a bird pile. This signals that birds are feeding on the abundant number of fish in the area. Clever. Well we didn't catch anything, which is unusual. We drove around for a while, passing the various islands. I wanted to get out and explore them.

On our way back we caught a 30lbs Yellowfin Tuna. On the floor of the boat, its mouth was wide, as if it were gasping for air. If only it breathed through its mouth. They dumped it in the cooler where my bottled water was. It looks like I'm not going to drink water for the rest of the trip. After a while, I hear a Boom Boom Boom from the cooler. It was that fish. For the next ten minutes, that's what I heard and felt coming from the cooler. Then it became more intense. BOOM BOOM BOOM. I thought of Egdar Allen Poe's Telltale Heart. The fish was pretty strong. Then it stopped. Suddenly I felt a boom boom boom boomity boom boom bo boom. The fish was in it's death throes. It went silent.

I know it's just a fish, but it was weird. We caught another fish and it bled all over the floor. I didn't know that fish can bleed like that. I thought to myself that tonight's dinner will be vegetarian, but I ate meat because it tasted good. We are planning to eat the fish tonight, so it went to a good cause.