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We're just now coming up for air around here. Two weeks straight of non-stop holiday madness has a way of inevitably catching up with you, and if our general fatigue, near-liver failure, or overall sense of senselessness isn't sign enough, then the fact that the christmas tree has reluctantly shed it's final needle certainly is. The boss and his family are packing, the fuel tanks on both boats are empty, and there is an unbelievable list of maintenance chores and repairs to get started on. I woke up this morning, stared at the ceiling, and told nobody in particular that I'm in dire need of a vacation from this vacation. We made it through the holidays once again, but just barely.
Things went to hell in a hurry since my last report, despite our usually positive intentions. We managed a good day new year's eve on our charter with Eddy Kaskel, and somehow conjured up the energy to mount a convincing attack on the festivities later that night at Margaritas, where a truly epic celebration was partaken, but that's where the good times came to a screeching halt.
Sometime after two in the morning the boss' family received a phone call that one of their nephews, a fine young man named Jack Battle who had a true passion for fishing and whom i personally helped best several monster yellowfin and marlin down here on his uncle's boats, had suddenly, and unexpectedly, passed away at the age of twenty one. Jack was like an older son to my boss and his wife, and the realization of what had just happened cut the entire family deeply. Receiving news such as this is never easy, but a short few hours into the new year with a head full of festivity and no expectation for contrary events, well...it was a shocker to say the least. As the party train ground to a staggering derailment, we all tried to comprehend the news, and comfort those who's loss was of obvious impact.
Jack was a true champion of life, a young man with a pure heart and unequivocal commitment to his family, friends, and all of the many endeavors he partook of on a regular basis, particularly fishing. Many of my friends down here had the pleasure of fishing with Jack over the last few years, in my opinion he was the one sole member of the boss' family who could play at the level we aspire to operate on. There are plenty of sportsmen out there, but out of those masses a scant few truly love the game as much as we do, Jack was unquestionably one of those people who i could fish with everyday, and never grow tired of it.
As the grim reality of life took hold, another shoe dropped as my wife Catherine fell to the ground with a terrible case of shellfish poisoning from dinner at the 4-Seasons earlier that night. I spent the remainder of the evening tending to the nuclear fallout from two sizable dirty bombs, trying in vain to figure out how things had gone so terribly wrong. Cath got so sick that she had to be hospitalized the following afternoon, eventually taking five liters of IV fluids and various remedies to bring her back to semi-consciousness before the doctors felt confident enough to discharge her at one thirty in the morning the following evening.
As my boss and his family echoed, Cath's sudden sickness, while terrible in it's entirety, was a welcome diversion to the heartbreaking news about Jack, as it at least gave all of us something immediate to concern ourselves with, allowing the realization of Jacks death to slowly sink in while we cared for someone who was among the living, albeit someone still requiring serious care to keep them that way. My boss' family is full of doctors, and i was relieved to have such cautious, calculated care behind a situation that could have ended very, very badly without the kind of experience and solid decision making that my boss' family of physicians is privy to. What remains remarkable, is that people are still capable of loving, despite the fact that their own hearts have withstood such devastating loss. They say everything happens for a reason, just what the hell things like this happen for though, i can't say.
We managed to get Cath out of the hospital and continued to deal with the painful fact that Jack was still gone, and the grim realization that no amount of loving care would ever bring him back. It was a very difficult day for everyone to endure, particularly the boss' children who looked to Jack as an older brother and admirable mentor. Sometime in the afternoon we all decided that it was probably a good idea to go fishing, since if Jack had been here that's likely what we would have been planning on doing anyway. The boys and i took off for the marina to prepare the boat and gather supplies, while the boss' family made arrangements on a personal level for the remainder of the afternoon.
Later that night at dinner, gathered around the boss' same gigantic dinning table that we have all shared so many amazing moments together as family and friends, we toasted Jack's life and tried our best to remain in good spirits because we all knew that's exactly what he'd want us to do. It was one of those times where despite the loss, people were coming together to celebrate life and all of it's splendor, despite it's sometimes overwhelming costs. There are opportunities in life where you either say "Fuck it" and just give in to the sometimes horrible situations, or you say "FUCK THAT!" and rise above them. Despite the tears, this was certainly one of those "FUCK THAT!" times.
The next day we went fishing, and Jack was most certainly with us. As we deployed the spread of marlin lures a solid fish detonated on the second lure in the water while the wind-on was still coming through the guides. I looked over at Oren, who couldn't believe what was happening, and smiled as he pushed up the drag and a blue marlin erupted right behind the boat. "THAAAAAANKS JAAAACK!!!!!" i screamed, and then "HOOOOOOOOKUUUUP!!!!!" ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ......
The boss went to work on the throttles as his wife dove for the chair, i handed her the rod and all 15 family members on the boat erupted in much needed cheer. Goddamnit sometimes you don't need any further proof that there's larger forces at work around here. The fish puts on a show, cutting a swath through the ocean that causes the crowd to erupt in glorious syncrhonicity with every leap. It's the kind of medicine we've all been dying for, and i can actually feel the healing power of the moment reverberating through the boat. We might be down a player, but we most certainly remain a team.
Kristin does a remarkable job on the fish and for once I'm putting the gloves on, scoring the wire a short while later for the release. There's more than a few tears as the fish swims away, but like the wheat farmer who prays for rain, these drops falling on the deck mean more than sadness on an otherwise sunny day. The hairs on the back of my neck are still prickling with the kind of magic one experiences in moments like this. Above all else, it was a glimpse into humanity and a first hand introduction to human nature at it's best.
We put the lines back out and went to the work on the tunas next, catching fish on nearly every pass with the Archer bars and kite baits for the remainder of the afternoon. We fished right until sunset and ran the entire way home under a sky filled with the kinds of tangible reminders that there's truly something larger than all of us out there. A new star guided the Maximo safely home last night, Jack Battle's new fishing hole above us, amongst the very best constellations that after all these years we still call friends, family, life, and love.
Here's to you Jack, and all the big ones still to come.
(A few shots of the man doing what he loved to do to below...)
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