Up at 6 a.m. to go fishing. Merv and I were supposed to catch a bus to Vilmoura at 7:30 or 7:45, neither of which showed up. Called a taxi and made it to the marina by 8:15 a.m. for our fishing trip at 9:00 a.m. The boat was a 10 meter (31') deep sea fishing boat with a crew of two. There were supposed to be 8 of us, but 4 didn't show up, which gave us all lots of room.

  
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Our partners were two German Air Force fellows, who were stationed out of Viseau here in Portugal. Finally, off we went at 9:30 a.m. and onto the open sea.

    
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Good wind up, with a fairly rough sea. Up and down, back and forth, we finally made it to 45 meters (150') of water and rigged for shark. That consisted of a rod each with 100 lb. test line, a single hook and a foot long bait fish threaded on. Fishing consisted of drifting, with about 50' of line out. To attract sharks, they filled a mesh bag with a mash of fish, which trailed alongside the boat.

  
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Michael (one of the Germans) got a strike at 11:45 a.m. and hooked one at 12:10 p.m., a 6' long blue shark (Mako). Lots of excitement in the boat when he came aboard. Took 15 minutes with a baseball bat to settle him down.

Even though we had high expectations after the first catch, that was it. Both Germans got sicker than dogs on the way with the constant rolling, which was severe at times. Air Force? Must be mechanics. Back to the marina at 4 p.m. for pictures and the trip home.

    
    
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On the way back in the boat, I asked Michael where he was from in Germany. I found out he was from Butzbach, where Lee spent a week last year. Small world. The boys gave us a round-about ride back to our resort, where Lee and Carole had been sunning and shopping all day. Up the hill for supper, back to the room for 3 games of rummy tiles and off to bed at 10:30 p.m.

    
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