You can teach a man to fish, or feed him and send him off with a pole

Not only were we given a huge chunk of salmon, we were given a fishing pole. You know how they say in certain countries you have to be careful what you compliment because they may feel compelled to give you the item you complimented? Apparently in the cruising community you have to be careful about saying “hello” :)

Carol waived at a tender returning to the MV Vanessa Renee and they turned around to chat. He complimented them on the fish he had seen them cleaning on their back deck and they told us “fish curry in 3 hours”. Three hours later they blew their horn, we packed up a bag of cold beer, got in the kayak and paddled over to their boat for seafood curry, beer and good conversation. Carol was getting fishing tips and he said that he was going to buy a rod and reel at our next stop at a town and did the master fisherman have any advice. Motivated by what I think was a combination of generosity and shock that a man on a boat on the W Coast of Vancouver Island didn’t have a fishing pole, he said he was going to give us one of his “old rusty ones that might not work but could be cleaned up”.

The pole works perfectly. I think he was trying to make us feel less guilty about accepting it.

Thank you.