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| photo courtesy of Gulf Coast Research Laboratory |
I have had a few folks tell me that if I thought catching a white marlin was a blast, my offshore experience would not be complete until I had tussled with a tuna and a dolphin (mahi mahi). Well, I got that opportunity this past weekend aboard the Jesus Freak with Captain David Walker and friends. We got a bright and early start both days, and after our devotion time, departed Pirates Cove Marina, navigated to and through Oregon Inlet and steamed southeast towards the Gulf Stream currents. After about a two-hour run, we came across our destination, a well-defined line of sargassum or what is commonly referred to as the "weed line". Both the currents and wind work to accumulate this vegetation, which originates in the Sargasso Sea, for miles, with some mats being packed together rather significantly. And when and where we found the weed line, we found the marine life - lots of it actually. Small baitfish and schools of triggerfish took cover beneath the sargassum, while mahi mahi, yellowfin and blackfin tuna, wahoo and a few remaining marlin lurked nearby. Not far away, numerous bottlenose dolphins, turtles, pilot whales and even an unidentified species of shark made their presence known. Life was virtually everywhere around the sargassum, a vital natural resource which serves as an ecosystem all of its own.
Matthew 28:19 (NASB)
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
