Around The World For The Elusive Black Marlin

Hawaii was a great pit stop for  recuperating from the time change from Australia. We have had a great 3 days playing golf in the Kohala Coast on the BIg Island of Hawaii. The courses here are challenging and visually beautiful.It crazy to watch your golf ball go out of bound then bounce back from hitting lava rocks.This visit we decided to stay in a condo at The Islands Mauna Lani   http://www.islandsatmaunalani.com  instead a hotel.You  don’t  get the ocean view but what you do get is lots of  space,gorgeous view of the greens and gardens.

Our first day we played at Mauna Lani South http://www.maunalani.com/golf/hawaii-golf-courses. A game that normally takes 3 hours took about 5 hours. People cant help but to take longer because each Hole is more beautiful than the other and most stop for photos or a glimpse at the beauty. The holes  by the ocean are special, the Whales are migrating though this area right now. So pleasant to look out into the ocean and watch the whales breaching and watching them exhale.The  exhaling is interesting. When the whale resurfaces, they have to release the used up air back into the atmosphere just like all other mammals do. This results in a spout, but it isn’t water (at least not at first). The air inside the whale is typically quite warm from the whale’s body heat. When it’s exhaled, it meets the much cooler temperature of the air outside and immediately condenses, making it look like a spout of water. Looks like a Choo Choo train on the water.

Our second day Mike played  Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea Hotel  was the very first place we stayed  when visited Hawaii for the first time 14 years ago. This is an old school place with plenty of charm. It does cater to the older crowd so it has kept up it’s class. This golf course  is one of the most scenic golf courses in Hawaii   http://www.princeresortshawaii.com/mauna-kea-beach-hotel/big-island-golf-vacations.php.

Our third and last day the weather deteriorated. We had a fishing trip scheduled on the Luna with Capt. Chip Van Mols  in hopes of a large blue and spearfish. Our captain called us the evening before and cancelled the charter due to high winds. It was blowing over 30 knots. Next best  thing to do with this type of weather is go out for a drive and check out the sites. Off to Hilo we went. Hilo is about 2 1/2 hours from Wikaloa area if you take the scenic route, which we did. Along the way we stopped at parks, historical areas and viewed a few waterfalls. Hilo it self is not as appealing as the Kohala coast area. It is a bit run down and quite granolie. Un bathed  looking tourist with babies hanging off their bodies in tie dyed baby hammocks, plus plentiful tourist in socks and crocks. Not our scene unless I was going to a 70’s party or burning man.It’s also hard to find good eats here to keep you from bumming the lou.” As usual Mike had to bust out the immodium “.The last time we visited Hilo there was a local festival going on ” The Merry Monarch Festival”  the town was vibrant and much different than an average day.

Once we quickly headed out of Hilo we decided to take saddle road which leads to the Mauna Kea Observatory http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/ which is the worlds largest astronomical observatory with telescopes operated by astronomers from eleven countries. The combined light gathering power of the telescopes on Mauna Kea is fifteen times greater than that of the Palomar telescope in California for many years the world’s largest and sixty times greater than that of the Hubble Space Telescope.  I love astronomy , this would be such a treat. As we headed up saddle ridge road to 13,796 ft  we came across a park ranger on the road marking the road closed to the summit,  unless you were with a guide or tour. It was very cold up there , a 30 degree difference from sea level. This is our 3rd attempt trying  to make it up to the summit of our visits here.I guess we have to come to the Big Island again.

All good things must come to an end,but I really see it as the beginning of another adventure. When not traveling, I always plan for the next adventure and yearn for the romance of the journey. Immersing my self into cultures and other ways of life. To think about the new adventure is to depart from the everyday.  Photographs we took while traveling on my screensaver takes us back to the places we visited.Meeting people and making new life time friends. These things are what travel is all about for me.

One does not need to be wealthy or lotto winner to travel the world. It is about having a goal, a plan and some hind site. Make the commitment, make a plan even if it’s 6 months to a year from the time you can go. Set your dates in a calendar and block them off. This will start the process. Start a savings and add to it as often as you can . Cut back on things you frivolously spend money on and use this money for your travel funds.Work and extra day, add  this $$$ towards your savings. You can do it if you really want it. When I am in an airport and look around they are crowded.Some are commuting for work or to visit family, but most are traveling for pleasure. Trust me,  they share the same burning for travel that burns inside of me and they are not all rich.Just people, average people that have made a commitment to a plan.

I like to pay for most of my travel expenses prior to departure ( airline tickets, accommodations, excursions). Basically if you do this prior to your getaway you can just take spending money for dining or purchases. Then when you get back from your trip you have no debt and can start planning your next adventure! Have a positive attitude , a good outlook, and all will come. It’s a way of life for me.

Fortunate to go home to paradise with new imprints in my memory bank.

These are quickie photos to post for the bog. I have so many beautiful ones I need to go though. Will post later.

Our  second day in Wolgan Valley we went on a bush walk with our guide along the the creek for about 1 1/2 hrs and saw many macropods. My favorite was seeing the mothers with their joeys. It is incredible that they can have 3 joeys at one time. The macropod is able to be pregnant, she can stall the pregnancy while having a joey in the pouch and a joey on legs. The babies are born the size of a jelly bean. Amazing! Kind of gross but she has to lick their butts for them to go potty while they are in the pouch and she also keeps her pouch clean by licking it clean as well, yuck!!! If she does not lick their butts they will not go potty. Glad humans don’t need to do this. I yet found another oddity that the  macropods “twig and berry” aka “penis and testicles” the testicles are in front of the penis, weird. Another fact is when the kangaroo gets hot they drop their testicles so low they can lick them.WHAT!! There were a lot of low riders in Wolgan. Their penis also looks like a carrot .These guys are studs.You also see them doing a lot of licking of the forelegs to evaporate heat. They are incredible animals even though they look like giant mutant rabbits!  

Suddenly on our walk I started noticing odd shape poop around higher edges of the trail, it was poop shaped like ice cubes ( square ). More oddities of Australian animals.Curious I asked the guide where the square poop comes, she says from the adorable marsupial wombat.They like to poop in high areas to mark their territory.Even though their pooper shooter area is round their poop comes out square.Wombat is the only animal in the world that does this. Fascinating!

Along the walk I had many opportunities for photos as you are vey close to the animals  .This was exhilarating  because this is exactly how I like to view wild life in it’s natural habitat not in a zoo or petting farm. There were so many eucalyptus trees, tea tree and different variations of trees I have never seen before. The creek was so pristine you can drink right out of it.The water comes from a spring that has no contaminants to the resort for use.

This evening we set out on another safari adventure earlier at 5:30 to be able to view many many macropods in the wild, there were fields of them. I was set out to find the very rare albino wallaroos.There are  a few on the Wolgan property which is why I specifically came here. The resort’s field guides have noticed the albino wallaroos are more timid and less trusting of humans than their grey brothers and sisters, and wait until it is darker to come out to feed. No, this is not an escaped lab rat on steroids,it is an albino wallaroo. On our safari outing we were lucky enough to spot 3, 2 joeys with their moms and 1 adult. I  could not believe my eyes, they are  with startling snow white fur. This genetic mutation usually only occurs about once in every 25,000 births, so this sunburn prone posse is rare as well as striking.It’s easy to see why naturalist Charles Darwin was fascinated by Wolgan Valley when he visited back in the day. Lucky we were able to see them,they had not been seen for quite a few days and we got to see 3!! Mission accomplished

On our last morning we set out  early for a self guided mountain bike ride though the ragged elevated trails in hopes to see the albinos again. Leaving the more attended grounds by our villa instantly you see hopping kangaroos crossing your path.This place is heavenly we could have stayed here for a few more days. No luck this am for the albinos ,they were not out. Feeling  really thankful we saw them yesterday. We continued on our trail to the platypus deck located on the creek in hopes of finding one , these creatures are rare to see in the wild because they are nocturnal and I was not about to do a 5 mile ride through these trails of wild animals at 5:00 am to check out the platypus. Today we had a short 2 1/2 drive to the airport so decided to stay as long as we could at the resort. We had a wonderful farewell lunch after our bike ride and off to Sydney we went. On our way to the airport we made a quick stop to see 3 sisters rock.Here is the story ….According to one Aboriginal legend, the pillars were once three beautiful sisters named ‘Meehni’, ‘Wimlah’ and ‘Gunnedoo’ who were turned into stone by a powerful tribal elder. The women had fallen in love with three brothers from another tribe, but were forbidden to marry under tribal law. The brothers decided to capture the three sisters, causing a major battle, and the elder turned the women into stone to protect them.

Our stay in Wolgan Valley has come to an end and so has stay in Australia. We have seen the beautiful city of Sydney and the stunning Opera House. Visited areas that are not commonly visited by tourist. Actually never saw or heard an American while we were here.  Fished for black marlin in the Tasmanian` Sea plus a plethora of wildlife. But most celebrated Mike’s 50th birthday! Till we meet again Down Under.

Departing from Port Stephens we had a farewell from about 20 large white cockatoos sitting on electrical lines. I cant even begin explain the sounds you here when you take your first steps out side.There are massive amounts of exotic birds flying around, it has been on of my favorite things. As we drove away from Port Stephens I felt a little melancholy especially when you are not sure if you will ever visit this area again. Yes sure you can return but there are so many adventures I would love to do that it is hard to repeat.

We continue our drive to the beautiful Blue Mountains.Driving in Australia is not for the faint of heart, even though this is not a third world country where the driving is usually crazy,driving here may be  worse. There is more traffic unlike in the third world counties, the steering wheel in on the right and I find my self leaning towards Mike because the cars to the left of me look like I can literally touch them or they  going to hop in to my seat. I am sure we will get used to it but by then it will be time to leave.

Greater Blue Mountains Area is a World Heritage Site, consisting of seven national park areas and a conservation reserve. I love visiting Unesco sites. The Blue Mountains acquired their name form atmospheric temperature rise, the essential oil of various Eucalyptus trees evaporate and disperse in the air, then visible blue spectrum of sunlight propagates colors. Therefore the reflected landscape from mountains seems bluish by human eyes.

We stayed in  the Wolgan Valley eco-chic retreat and its quite off the grid. It took us 6 hours to arrive here from Port Stephens . Once we arrived we had to park our car and wait for a porter to transfer us to the grounds. There is no way we could have taken a car though 2 rivers, this what quite incredible. As soon as we walked in to the reception area I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.The name of the Wolgan Valley is derived from "wolga", a local Australian Aboriginal language name for the climbing plant. Within the Wolgan Valley there are several significant Aboriginal sites. There are only 40 rooms, full occupancy is 90 people. It is not full now since the Holiday just passed. Mike and I feel like we are all alone in our safari camp nestled between two national parks and set within its own 7,000 acre, carbon-neutral conservation and wildlife reserve. www.wolganvalley.com If there is any place in the World you you must visit it is here. HEAVEN ON EARTH

Once we arrived we were escorted to our private ranch style villa, and as soon as I walked in I had a smile form ear to ear.The room has a private pool and a double sided fireplace  plus a gorgeous screened deck with a view of the valley. Just breathtaking.

Up again up again clip pity clop. Going 15 to 20 miles offshore today to the Continental Shelf. It was a lovely ride out, listening to Triple Jay radio station as we snacked on our decadent bread that I talked about in the last post.Then took a 15 minute shut eye before the fishing began. There was a tournament going on so there were quite a few boats out. As we slowed down to start  the hunt,we could see some nervous water ahead, well it was bait not just a little bit of bait but large areas of massive bait which is exactly why these marlins are here.

As we circled on of the bait balls. Rosco spotted 2 Stripey's Mike then dropped the slimey back to it and it gobbled it up.The weight was approximately 120 kilos / 264 lbs. It was Mikes first stripe marlin and it gave us a grand show it was beautiful. It is times like these that that get you hooked!

As we trolled for a while I saw something black in the water on the left long and then something showed up on the left short. When I said "something was back there" Captain Rosco said it a Tube Worm ??? A tube worm what the hell is a tube worm Rosco, he said I don't know its just something else that will eat you up in Australia mate. Love this guy he has a great personality. Well it wasn't a marlin but shortly after one swam right through our spread and had nothing to do with us.

Glad we had a great bite in the am, because for the rest of the day we had a shot at 3 or 4 but they were legless bastards and would not eat! By the end of the day we saw about a total of 8 they just weren't biting and boy did we have a great menu out there for them. Some times they are just cotton headed nini muggins. Hahahaha ....but cant complain the 3 days have been amazing! Mike caught his first black marlin with a total of 4 and his first stripe marlin, I caught my first black marlin giving us a total of 5 Blacks and 1 Stripe. Not to shabby. I think Mike has had an amazing 50th birthday he will never forget which was my game plan from the start.

Well sad to say but that is the end of our fishing in Australia :( :(  . I woke this am and was sad , I  knew we had to go. I wanted back on that boat for a chance at a grand slam.We almost had it yesterday if we would have been able to find a blue marlin. Well I guess we have to come back. I am sure we will but our next visit will be on the Barrier Reef with this group of guys again some time in the future during the Oct -Nov when the Black bites are hot! Port Stephens you were good to us. If any one out there wants Black Marlin and off the chain fishing come visit Port Stephens and fish on the Calypso you will have the time of your life.

Rise and shine at 5:00 am , YUCK! Girl has to do what a girl has to do for her man.It must be true love because at 5:00 am all I want to do is stay in my nice comfy bead but nope that is not an option today off to smell nasty diesel exhaust all day. On Saturday we fished right out front of the harbour less than a mile from shore in 150ft of water. That to me is amazing "Marlins" right there! It is what the Aussies called a glamour day meaning a calm water day at sea. Being that I am a glamour girl I was all about this day. It started off chilly in the am then it went to supreme glamour I was finally able to wear a bikini!! It was the fist day in a week that I can finally tan my loins. This girl was happy once the bikini was on now i really felt like I was fishing.

Heading south towards the light house Rosco our Captain started marking the large arches on the Furuno the bait marked from the top of the screen to the bottom, incredible. Rosco would troll around looking to mark the marlin once he marks them we stop and start live baiting with the slimey's This type of fishing is similar to how we fish for sailfish in Islamorada. Love it because it is sporty, the rod is in your hand and you are dropping the baits back to the marlin so it is a true catch unlike trolling lures. Mike and I troll lures in the Bahamas for Marlin since we have no crew and It is just the 2 of us become difficult to drop baits back with just 2 of us so this is an absolute treat to feed the marlin and feel the bite!

Shortly after marking the marlin we have a hook up, Mike dropped the bait back caught a black  stubborn slob on Saturday. Time to clear the lines on the left we have a dredge a bridge teaser on the right and 2 live slimeys. The adrenaline begins. Oh what fun !!! About 30 min later bam another black shows up and I am up for my first black, I listen to the captain saying drop the bait joanne fast fast get it back there, like a good listener I do as the captain says and my black ate but it ate to good, even though we were using circle hooks this one swallowed  the bait and marlin took a jump and bit the leader off of my 30 which had a 125 lb leader on it. Circle hook really?  Sporty sporty sporty we use 300 in the bahamas this girl does not like to loose a fish.Well off this fish went, this one got away from Captain Bligh aka Jojo. Within 15 min I had a chance at my next one, oh what fun especially here you stand up to fight the fish. Yee Haw my first black marlin release!!

The days are long, we usually arrive back to the marina around 6 pm then head to the hotel bar for a cocktail and get ready for dinner . This evening we had dinner at the Sandpiper  http://www.sandpipersrestaurant.com.au  and Mike tried Barramundi " Asian Sea Bass" . Food around here is average nothing to amazing. Actually some of the best bites we had were on the Calypso our charter boat. Every morning around 9:30 am I would be salivating waiting for our morning snack. Dean would go into the galley and start slicing this freshly baked decadent mouth water bread roll with raisin that had this sinful frosting on it plus he would spread soft butter on top. Just thinking about it right now makes yearn for it.The breads here are off the chain the food is average but again it is mostly seafood and I don't eat it. Then for lunch Dean would head back into the galley and start lunch he made great sandwiches but our favorite was the toasted panini with ham ,avocado ,mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes and onions. Yummy!! Then the kicker was on the way in to the harbour he would come out with a cheese plate with salami and ice cold Peroni,  this girl did not want tot get off the boat! These guys are top notch they are amazing fishermen they are classy and respectful they allowed us to actually catch our fish not them hooking the fish and passing the rod to us plus they kept our bellies happy.

  Port Stephens is a large natural harbour located in Hunter Region of New South Whales.  Sand dunes and beaches everywhere.  Unfortunately we only have 1 day to explore it because our days here are for fishing. On our 1 day we chose to try to find a Koala bear in the wild.We set out to an area called Tanilba Bay where  they have the Tilligerry habitat a reserve  you can hike and try to spot Koalas in the wild. Yes we could have gone to a zoo or farm but I really wanted to spot one in the wild.

It was a beautiful boardwalk hike through the reserve, we headed towards the water in search of the koala. We were told they like to be by the ocean because it is cooler. Koalas survive by eating eucalyptus leaves, each koala can eat 200-500 leaves a day. Our stroll in the reserve was approximately 45 min unfortunately we did not see any. Trust me we tried finding one badly so badly our necks were in pain when we left the park from looking up all the eucalyptus trees.

On Wednesday we drove 2 1/2 hour from Sydney to Port Stephens making a stop for lunch at Elizabeth’s www.mcwilliams.com.au the McWilliams Winery in the beautiful Hunter Valley http://www.winecountry.com.au .I must say that it really looks no different here than it does in the USA , it is just like driving at home except you do it on the left. The arwww.mcwilliams.com.au the McWilliams Winery in the beautiful Hunter Valley http://www.winecountry.com.The area we are in NSW is like being in California and Cape Cod mix except for the Koala and Kangaroo crossing!

We soon arrived at the Anchorage Resort www.anchorageportstephens.com.au. Here more there is a difference between the USA there are exotic birds flying around all over. Cockatoos, Parrots, Macaws, just tons of beautiful birds that I am in awe of.It is evening now and going we are off to dinner at the hotel to get so grub and a good nights rest because our departure is at 7 :00 am on the boat.

Around 1 or 2 am every morning our phones ring because of the time difference from home so we have now started to mute our phone. We did manage to get a good nights rest and we started the day on the Calypso http://www.marlinfishingaustralia.com.au at 7;00 am. I forgot how spoiled I have become with our outboards the smell of diesel is nasty the seas were sporty. But off we went. Fishing here in Port Stephen is close to shore we were fishing within 20 min or so after leaving the dock, we had site of land all day. We started cathing bait around these large Island on the ocean then trolling for a few hours.

Our Captain Ross and Mate Dean are very accommodating and great all around guys.Both have traveled all over the world fishing.Nothing happened Immediately , but we were marking bait and with a sabiki our mate brought up some “slimeys” a mix between a cigar minnow and a mackerel. They call it summer here right now but it is cold to us , I was in pants and a fleece jacket all day. My body never saw a bikini all day.

First we trolled for a bit then switch to only 2 live baits and a teaser very similar to how we sailfish. Even though I was quite green I looked over to the left and saw a black coming in hot! Bam our first black hook up. The mate has us set up with Shimano 30’s so it was a sporty fight, it is also stand up fishing we never used the fighting chair. They place a rubber style ball on the butt of the rod and you dig it into your groin area. Unfortunately the first one got tangled up in the teaser and broke off. At this point I thought oh well there goes our chance and we may not see another all day, boy was i incorrect. In the middle of the day the bite got hot Mike caught 3 more black marlin and releasing 30lb Mahi’s . The marlin in this area are not as large as the one found on the Barrier Reef they are much smaller and are migrating through this area this time of year and are plentiful which is what brought us here instead of the Barrier Reef. Got to go where the fish are .

It was a great day , the kind of day we were hoping to have flying across the world to fish. On our way back to the dock we trolled skipped dead bait around these large rock Islands that are very impressive looking trying to find a stripe marlin. The stripe did not show up but I have never seen such an aggressive hammer head bite. Mike dropped the bait back to it and had him on for a bit but off he went.

On the way home mate Dean made us a wonderful cheese plate with salami, crackers , spreads etc and the best ice cold Peroni beers! They taste so good after a long day on the water! I was glad to be back on stable grounds!