Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

[Matt]

That’s amazing. I could easily be deaf with kids, in fact I’d prefer it, but blind with a blind wife? And traveling. Kinda makes me feel like a bit of a whiner.

[Giles]

A few from yesterday...

[Giles]

[Giles]

[Giles]

[Giles]

Got to the Islands, which was epic. Took 3 hours to averaged about 30kph, topping out at about 55kph. Took one very large wave, which slammed the 3 of our back in our seats, the volume of water that came onto the boat was unreal. But the boat took it in its stead.

Yesterday we had Mahi Mahi, Giant Trevally, Black Tip Trevally, Bonito and Queenfish. Szymon got best fish honours with this nice GT of about 30-40kg...

[steelworker]

@Giles oh my !

[jordanscollected]

@Giles Great catch Szymon! Does your fishing trip support locals like trips past, or is this just sport fishing?

Have you gotten to/had to fish off shore too or has the weather allowed you to use the boat?

[SourPower]

@Giles Ho Lee Scheiße

[Giles]

@jordanscollected said in Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure:

@Giles Great catch Szymon! Does your fishing trip support locals like trips past, or is this just sport fishing?

Have you gotten to/had to fish off shore too or has the weather allowed you to use the boat?

Not in the same way as Morocco, but Omanis don't really work, at least not in menial jobs (which includes hospitality, guiding etc etc), but we are helping give lots of people from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Tunisia etc paiod employment.

Not fished from the shore yet, out on the boat. The wind gets up as the week progresses, so may get some shore time in.

[Giles]

Today. Too many Mahi Mahi and Bonito to count (I had a 12 pound Bonito), and a few Queenies, all on light tackle. Mahi Mahi for dinner.

Raised 12 GT's on one drift, but they were coming up short, so made contact with none

[jordanscollected]

@Giles do you guys drift socks to slow down or is it better to just roll with the waves?

[Giles]

We just roll with it, when you are playing a GT, you often have to back the boat up to bulldoze a large fish out of a reef, and more often than not a a large fish will drag you 360 around the boat, a rope hanging out of the back would be a recipe for a lost fish.

[Giles]

So, it has been tough fishing. The GT’s (primary target species), were just not playing ball. We had a few hits between us (probably about 30), but the fish were very nervous and coming up short, the only one of us to land a few was Szymon.

We had amazing sport on light tackle and caught lots and lots of lots of different species.

Have booked for next year, a month earlier when the weather will be more settled.

[Tago Mago]

@Giles Did you get to see any of Oman or was that not part of the plan?

[Giles]

Saw a lot of Halanyat, it’s a brutal place. Hot, arid and barren. Lots of civil engineering going on, it’s mainly government and military as they try and get on top of people, gun and drug smuggling, Yemen and Somalia being the active in all 3.

Most peoples idea of a desert island will not be this

[Giles]

We have a 4 hour drive to Salalah tomorrow, but the scenery will be mostly, hot arid and brutal

[Tago Mago]

@Giles you make it sound so appealing

[Giles]

I like it like this

[Giles]

came back to mainland Oman yesterday. 10km from home, we saw birds working the water, so we diverted to take a look. The sea was a mass of sardines and busting fish, we pulled a load out, then finished the journey....

Mahi Mahi for dinner.