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Phillip catches the fish first. He gets the second one, too, and then David catches a marlin. It’s too small to keep, unlike Phillip’s two barracudas, so it gets gently put back into the water to swim another day.
My arms are thunderously tired when something finally tugs on my line.
“Oh my God. I think there’s a fish.”
“Just a nibble?” David asks. “Or is it hooked?”
“Uh, what’s the difference?”
“Is it tugging?”
“Yes,” I say, my arms going taut. “I think it’s hooked?”
“Reel in the line,” Phillip says. His voice is coming from close by, his own rod forgotten. “Slow and steady. That’s it. Reel it in just like that.”
“It’s heavy,” I say. Adrenaline pumps through my veins. Maybe this is what they like? The thrill of the chase? “Can you see it?”
He leans over the side of the boat. “No… yeah. David, are you seeing this?”
But David’s ready with the net. Up comes a large, yellow-green fish. It has a blunt face like a pug.
“Oh my God! What’s that?”
“You caught a dolphin,” David says.
“Adolphin?”
“Yeah. Dolphinfish. You guys will often call it mahi-mahi,” he says. The fish gives a mighty wiggle. “Look at that! Your first catch!”
“Should we throw it back?”
“No, no, this will feed an entire family. Yes, please!”
Next to me, Phillip’s words are quieter. “Great job, Eden.”
“All I did was hold a stick,” I say.
“No, you rhythmically tugged on it, too,” he corrects. “And that made all the difference.”
That makes me laugh.
Fifteen minutes later, and our fishing trip is concluded. David suggests we both take pictures with our catches. Phillip is pretty unwilling, but as I pose with my giant dolphinfish that’s decidedly more fish than a dolphin, I’m grinning.Another check on my “explore Barbados” list.
Behind the camera of my phone, David frowns. “I can’t get you and the fish in the shot. Can you back up?”
I take a small step. “Like this?”
“More.”
I back up. Then, I back up a bit more, until the back of my legs hit the railing of the boat. I’m thrown off balance. My arms flail, but there’s a giant fish in them, and I can’t straighten up. The mahi-mahi slips through my grasp and lands on the deck… just as I start to tilt backward.
“Eden!”
I claw towards the railing as I flip over it. But it’s no use. I go overboard.
I hit the dark-blue surface of the sea. Lukewarm water surrounds me, and I quickly kick back up to the surface. We’re far enough off the coast that I can’t see the sandy floor in the depths.
Phillip laughs. I’ve never heard it before. He laughs so loudly that it echoes across the waves, but sounds entirely genuine. Even when he bends over the side of the boat to extend a hand, he’s laughing—deep chuckling sounds that soothe the worst of my shock.
