Nettuno

Next day we headed for Nettuno harbour, next to Anzio back on the mainland, again in fine weather.  Since leaving Maiori Sue had been trailing a fishing line and experimenting with different methods and lures (imitation fish) and was showing a scary aptitude.  First she hooked a large Tuna, then we think a Dorado, but both these slipped off the hook as we tried to land them.  On the way to Nettuno she got another big brute which I reeled in and managed to flip into the cockpit.  There was this beautiful blue, grey and silver beast, about two feet long.  Sadly, Sue’s fishing expertise does not yet extend to delivering the coup de grace.  With the fish flapping wildly on the cockpit floor with me holding it down we tried pouring gin into its gills, which we had been told was a relatively humane method of killing.  Half a bottle later the poor thing was still very much alive so I started hitting it over the head with an adjustable wrench.  Ten minutes later the boat looked like a scene from Psycho, with blood everywhere and me hysterically screaming “die you bastard” while still hitting it with the wrench.  After about twenty minutes it was quiet, although still making the occasional accusatory twitch.  By this time Sue and I were grey, emotionally exhausted and feeling like the murderers that we were.  That night with the help of the marina officials in Nettuno we identified our prey as a Lampuga, a mullet-like fish good for eating, so we did the decent thing and gutted, scaled and pan fried it.  I have to say it made us feel more like real cruisers, catching, killing and eating our first fish.