Offshore Update: The Gary Curse

Well I guess our last post spoke too soon about our pleasant passage to Bahia Ballenas.
In order to set up the story of today let me first tell you two other stories.
As a small child I have a memory of fishing that really stands out. The Peacock and McLoughlin clan headed somewhere to a trout farm where the pond was so full you could grab them with your hand. All us wee kids got little fishing rods and everyone proceeded to catch fish after fish.... Except me. The curse had been cast.
As I grew older (not much bigger) the curse also gained in strength. My first memory of fishing on a sail boat was with the McQueens in Desolation sound. After many years I can still picture this sequence of events: Winnie caught a fish, which was then half eaten by a shark and then the head (with the hook) was grabbed by eagle who then got tangled in the line. The curse was now strong enough to affect anyone close to me.
Fast forward to today... We've been traveling in a caravan of about 10 boats. As dusk approached last night a number of the boats proclaimed proudly that they had paid for their Mexican fishing licences and had caught their weights in various species of tuna. Our boat caught none. This morning, determined to not be outdone, we deployed our line again and waited (with baited breath) for the impending strike. Shortly after our bungie tightened. We caught one!!
Except it was a Turtle?!?!?!?
Oh crap! It was a Turtle!!!! (Karina says sorry Babs)
1 hour later after a major ordeal to get the 50-60 pound turtle on board, perform surgery to remove the barb from his front chest just below his fin and splash him safely back in the water, we watched him swim away and decided we would put the hooks away for now.
No we didn't think to take a picture for those that are asking.
We then caught a crab pot and we haven't seen whales yet. But that is another story.
The good news is that the Gary curse also seems to work for good and not just evil. We've had great luck with people giving us fish and today was no exception. Thanks so much to Scott, Tanya and Josh on Kialoa for the yummy donation of part of their haul to finish the day off on a fantastic note.