On a day that saw several boats decide discretion was the better part of valour and call a lay day, Shaka braved the elements to fish the middle Ribbon Reefs and our efforts were rewarded in spades with an 850lb marlin for Ed Vander Kruk – crashing the tuna (which, incidentally, Ed had caught off the back of the boat at our mooring on no. 5 Ribbon Reef yesterday) on our last downsea run of the day. She was tagged and successfully released just on dusk.

Any day the big girl comes visiting is a good day on the GBR, no matter what the conditions...