We left Brunswick on time to catch the ebb tide out of the harbor. As with most places we visit, we are both happy to be moving on, and sad to leave.

Our plan was to take a longer route to Charleston so we could do some fishing in the deeper water offshore. After visiting the local grocery store and seeing frozen tuna steaks at nearly $30 a pound, Karen had “requested” that I deliver a tuna for our freezer. One of our favorite dishes is fresh tuna poke, which is doubly good in hot summer weather. I feel there are a lot of fish I can deliver “on order”. Mahi-mahi, grouper, tilefish, snapper. But while tuna is a regular catch on Harmonie, it is a bit hard to predict when we will find them. I promised to do my best…

We did have a successful fishing trip. A king mackerel, a false albacore, two barracuda, a small mahi-mahi, and… a blackfin tuna! Blackfin are not large tuna, a REALLY big one is 30 lbs. But they have been a stable on Harmonie’s sushi menu because they are quite common in the waters we sail in. We can take a 10 lb. tuna like this and convert it into 6 lbs. of high-quality sushi. The fish are landed, and bled immediately, then cleaned and butchered quickly. Usually in the freezer within an hour or so of swimming, they come to our table as good as the best on the market.

And a few hours later, there are the preparations for a perfect tuna poke dinner laid out in Harmonie‘s galley, with a lot more bedded down in the freezer.

Poke is a dish from Hawaii, although it is frequently thought of as Japanese. In its most basic form it is fresh, raw fish, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Beyond that, the chef’s imagination is the limit. In the US it is almost always seen with tuna as the fish. In Hawaii, it is made with a wide variety of fish, and each family has their own variation on the theme. Served over rice, our recipe is traditional, simple and delicious.

Our trip was pretty much as predicted. We motored for the first 20 hours or so in very light headwinds, and once we turned toward Charleston Harbor entrance, the wind picked up a bit and clocked around to the east, and we sailed most of the way back in to shore. Not fast, with winds ranging from 7 to 10 knots, but comfortable and easy.

We entered the harbor just before 6AM and docked at the City Marina by 7AM. We managed to keep our eyes open until the office opened at 8 to complete the paperwork before settling down to catch up on sleep.