Pass the Bananas

More Editorial by Julian Putley
April 2008 Issue

“There are no f-%@#*g bananas on board are there?” said one of Charlie’s guests on a recent trip around the islands on a large catamaran. The man had been fishing off the north coast of Anegada for over an hour without a bite.

Oh yes,” replied Charlie. “Have a look in the fruit bowl on the counter…and there’s another bunch in the cupboard, top right in the galley. Help yourself.”

OK,” said Larry, the guest. “Deep six ‘em… Now!”

Charlie was non-plussed. He’d never heard of the superstition that bananas were bad luck on a fishing boat. “What about the banana daiquiris we’d planned for happy hour?”

They gotta go,” said Larry. “That’s why we’re not catching fish. Bananas are bad news.” He was deadly serious and becoming more than a little irritated that someone should have been so careless as to even allow the dreaded fruit on board.

The bananas went over the side and the fishing continued. They were trolling two lines with ballyhoo bait and Charlie figured they should have had a bite or two by now. Then he noticed the bait was skipping across the top of the water. “Larry, you need to set the lines deeper, put some more weight on them and let out more line. This was done, ten minutes went by and still no luck. Then there was a shout from the trampoline. “Look at this… f_%@#*g Banana Boat sunscreen. That’ll do it every time.” Larry tossed the offensive sunscreen into the water.

The other guests were now wondering if Larry was losing it. He was stomping around the boat muttering to himself between swallows of his ever-present Carib beer. “Anyone wearing ‘Fruit of the Loom’ underwear?” Then he dashed into the galley and came out clutching two large bags of plantain chips. Before anyone could stop him he had opened the bags—and into the water they went.

As luck would have it, seconds later there was a strike and Larry pulled in a fish. It was a measly three pound Bonito. It didn’t matter though. To Larry it could have been a 60 lb Bluefin tuna. He was pleased as punch and his expression said ‘told you so.’  “I’m buying the banana daiquiris at the restaurant tonight,” he said smiling. “As long as you pass them by tomorrow morning.”