Bitten in Trinidad !!!!

It was August in Trinidad 2001, no place on earth is as hot and humid as Trinidad in their rainy season. During the day it is so hot just thinking of moving your body is enough to make you break out in a sweat. 

The day had cooled off slightly after our supper, which consisted of  barbecued "Chicken Parts" and baked potatoes.  Day had quickly disappeared into darkness as it does in the Caribbean and the anchorage at the Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association was dead calm.

Relaxing in our pitch black cockpit, having our after dinner drinks Julie & I were quietly talking  about what we were going to do in the next season. Would we go up to the western Caribbean or go through the Panama Canal?

Suddenly...... without warning there is a loud smashing & crashing going on in our cockpit. Julie is yelling "###%%$$" some unintelligible things and I have this instinctual  feeling that I have been hurt. Julie thought it was one of those Vampire bats that had flown into the cockpit. What ever it was it was still here because we could hear it still flipping around on the floor. Julie got a flashlight and violas, we have a "Cutlass Fish" on the floor, still trying to attack everything within striking  distance. At this pint we noticed I was bleeding like a stuffed pig..... I had been bitten!!

This had been our second visit to Trinidad & I had heard about Cutlass fish jumping into dinghy's & biting holes in the tubes. I dismissed the stores as pure B.S., but suddenly I was a believer.  This one was about 3' long, ugly with big teeth like an eel.

No Shit!!!