Veronika

700 Miles From Anywhere

Captaining a motor yacht with trans-oceanic capabilities, and an avid angler, I’m fortunate enough to fish some of the most remote destinations on the globe. Whenever we need to cross an ocean to meet guests at an exotic locale, our route always seems to take us over seamounts and far flung reefs which are rarely fished.

And so this was the case when we brought the expedition vessel, Veronika to Brazil from Europe in September 2007. En-route there was a small rocky outcrop called the St. Peter & St. Paul Rocks, situated about midway between the west coast of Africa and the east coast of South America. I’d always dreamed of fishing these rocks, but never had a reasonable excuse to expend the fuel required to reach them. As soon as the trip to Brazil was confirmed, opportunity wasn’t just knocking; it was breaking down the door.

Difficult to come by, information on these rocks are scarce. There was a paper written by Brazilian scientists from 2003, and another by an expedition carried out by Charles Darwin. Both state there are an unusually high number of sharks in the area, more so than anywhere else. This worried me, but in reality we didn’t know what to expect. However, previous fishing expeditions such as this had always yielded outstanding results, an outcome we were sure of.

We adjusted our speed as we closed the distance so we would arrive at the rocks in good light, as navigating these sorts of areas, which have little to no charting, requires a clear lookout. We had the rocks in sight for quite a ways long before we registered anything on the depth sounder, a Furuno color unit good for 1300 meters. As the depth soared from 3500 meters to 200 meters, we dropped two lines in. No use wasting valuable fishing time while looking for a place to anchor, I thought. The crew didn’t even get a chance to set the drags before both reels screamed to life from the pull of a pair of runaway freight trains. The chef’s father, Jimmy, and our 1st mate Stuart, spent the next 20 minutes being dragged around the aft deck, squawking like crazed school kids. Color was seen and the fish turned out to be two large wahoo, around 30 kilograms each. The same scenario unfolded a few more times, all within one minute of the lines touching the water, and all with big wahoo.

By now, the ladies on board were antsy, as the boat turning all the time was interfering with their tanning session. We finally gave in to their frustration and proceeded to search for safe anchorage.

The area around St. Peter & St. Paul Rocks is extremely steep; 20 meters from the rocky shoreline and you’re in 100 meters of water. Fortunately, we managed to find a rocky shelf which rose to 35 meters where we deployed the ground tackle, making sure to pay out plenty of scope. There is very little shelter, a lot of current, and swells you would expect to find in the middle of an ocean off these rocks, but fortunately, Veronika is equipped with Quantum ZeroSpeed stabilizers, which can make any lumpy sea flat. Once these were engaged, all was good to go.

Powered by twin Caterpillar 4306 diesels, the 95-foot long, 23-foot wide Veronika, an Inace built Explorer Yacht carries 9,100 gallons of fuel and 2,200 gallons of fresh water. With a range of 4,000 miles, she is a steel hulled vessel custom built to explore the world’s oceans. She was created to be a multipurpose platform for fishing, diving and marine exploration while providing her owner with ultra-luxurious yacht-like amenities. She has eight watertight compartments, plus separate compartments for the stabilizers. Her keel is in reality a separate skeg and can be damaged without affecting the hull, and her exterior is designed to be easy to keep and designed to take the bumps and bruises that go with exploration voyaging.

With the girls now happy, we deployed one of the tenders and rigged for big pelagics. But first we would have to go ashore to the resident scientists’ hut to seek permission for a stay. Making our way into the horseshoe shaped bay, there was a huge surge running with waves breaking over the rocks, so it was going to be an interesting landing. We managed to get the crew on the rocks and tied the tender onto a mooring the scientists had set up. The team was very happy to see us, and we spent some time there talking with them about the area. Other than the occasional Brazilian fishermen, they had never seen anyone else there. They made the call to the Brazilian Navy to get permission for us to stay, which was granted, be it for just one night.

The scientists who lived there were documenting the sea life on and around the rocks, as a lot of it is endemic to that area. They were discovering new fish, octopi, and corals, and were very excited about the entire program. One of the scientists was studying the pelagic species, so we homed in on his knowledge. He spoke of certain months of the year when dorado ran thick, five or six feet in length, literally thousands of them. He would pull them in with cord to “study.” The scientist also claimed you could pull in wahoo from dawn to dusk. And so, with the sun beaming, we anxiously headed back to the tender.

The scientists were right on. We spent the next few hours hauling in wahoo after wahoo along with the occasional yellowfin tuna, rainbow-runner and trevally. Amazingly, as we brought a wahoo close to the tender, there would always be another six or eight swimming beside it, all in the 20 to 40-kilogram range. The water was crystal clear, making it easy to spot fish from a long distance. We kept one small fish, about 10 kilograms, which was perfect for dinner. Everything else was released. With soar arms, we headed back to the vessel for a late lunch and a well-deserved nap.

After a fantastic meal and plenty of rest, we got back into the tender and decided to fish another part of the area. It was the same situation; you could catch fish as long as you had a line in the water. After another couple of hours, and a load of fish, we were again spent. We lifted and washed the tender, and discussed the day’s antics on the aft deck as the sun melted into the horizon.

As we sat on the deck that evening enjoying our wahoo, we started hearing something thumping on the transom. To our surprise there was a school of the largest flying-fish we had ever seen. Measuring some 18 inches in length, they were soaring into the transom, evidently attracted by our underwater lights. It’s moments like this when you realize you’re living out a one-of-a-kind experience, an anglers wildest dream, fishing on an incredible expedition yacht in some of the most remote waters on the planet.

The next morning we awoke to a great breakfast on the aft deck with our backs and arms feeling the effects of the previous day. As we finished, we sat at the table grinning at each other wondering if yesterday was a fluke. Again, the sun was bright, perfect for another day of great fishing. We deployed the tender and loaded the gear. Setting off, we decided to head in a different direction, and just as before, the results were the same. For as long as we fished, we hooked up, mainly wahoo. Can you get bored catching wahoo? After another few hours and cramping arms, we were spent. It was time to head back to Veronika’s comforts and prepare to depart. We readied the vessel for sea again and made sure everything was battened down in case we confronted some nasty weather on the final 700 miles to the coast of Brazil.

An escort from a large pod of dolphin accompanied us on our way off the shelf for five miles or so. As the porpoise played on the bow, I sat on the bridge reminiscing over the last couple of days. I felt extremely fortunate to have finally made it to this distant group of rocks, some of the most isolated in the world, which in most circumstances would’ve been a high-risk endeavor. Thankfully, the Veronika was a solid, self-sufficient vessel, purposely built for these kinds of explorations in view of the fact that a lot can go wrong when you’re hundreds of miles from anywhere.

As I sit here writing this short narrative, thinking back on the voyage, I can’t help but smile.

Darren Nightingale is a superyacht Captain and has been in the industry for nearly 15 years traveling the world extensively. He has fished and spear fished all of his life. He is also the General Manager of Global Explorer Yachts, a company which creates ocean going luxury yachts which can take you anywhere in the world.