Ni'ihau Trip

I went on the boat to Ni'ihau, the forbidden island. I performed the first dive. It was a wall dive with a bottom of about 300 feet. There were many schools of angel fish (pennant and pyramid) and I also saw a trumpet fish. After that I stayed on the boat and "bubble watched". I also watched Andrew, the captain, fish and I got to drive the boat a little bit too. During the long ride back to Kauai, Andrew started trolling. About midway back, one of the troll lines started to buzz. Something was hooked. No more than three seconds later, the other troll line was buzzing too. Immediately, Andrew stopped the boat and started to reel in his lines. The fish on the first line got loose but the fish on the second line was still on. Andrew let one of the divers reel in the fish while Andrew gave out orders and Hans took over the wheel. Andrew didnt know what he had snagged but he knew it was big. After about thirty minutes of reeling the fish in, it was close to the boat. Dolphins and other fish began surrounding the caught fish in the pool of blood. At this point Andrew had a gaff in his hand waiting to the fish to surface. It was a monster yellow fin tuna. As it surfaced, Andrew hooked it but the tuna was so heavy, Andrew couldnt pull it in the boat and the gaff slipped out of his hands. The tuna was about to get free. Andrew jumped in after it and somehow brought it back to the surface. I jumped down from the captain's deck and grabbed the gaff but it was tearing through the tuna's jaw as I was trying to lift it in the boat. Andrew was holding the tuna by its tail off the stern of the boat. The gaff hook ripped through and the fish went back into the sea with Andrew still holding on to it. He wrestled it back to the surface. I lowered one of the ladders for Andrew and laid down on my stomach to hold the tuna by the tail while Hans gaffed the tuna once again. Finally, the tuna was on board the boat. Andrew got out of the water and started posing with the fish. He laid beside it, spooning it. It was an awesome moment filled with euphoria and adrenaline. The tuna weighed in at 150 pounds after being gutted.