What We’re Watching
Feel-Good Fish Story
If you’re looking for an hour-and-a-half of the feels—in a good way—Netflix’s Blue Miracle movie is an excellent place to start. The movie tells the story of Casa Hogar, a Mexican orphanage in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and its participation in the world-famous Bisbee’s Black & Blue marlin tournament in 2014. The competition, which started in 1981 with only a handful of participating boats, today hosts as many as 150 boats with a top cash payout of more than $4 million. The movie begins with Hurricane Odile blasting its way into Cabo, leaving behind it a vast swath of devastation. A massive rebuilding effort ensued, as did an anonymous donation of $250,000 that allowed 50 local charter boats to pay the $5,000 tournament entry fee. One of the entries was given to Omar Castaneda, the director of the orphanage, who brought along three kids under the guidance of a burned-out charter skipper played by Dennis Quaid. With his help, the team hooks up with a 385-pound marlin and wins the top spot in the tournament, netting $258,325 for the orphanage. While the fishing and boating scenes can be picked apart for accuracy, the movie will leave you smiling. You can stream Blue Miracle anytime from Netflix.
More salty reads
Bay Boat Books
The Chesapeake Bay is well-known for its purpose-built working craft used by watermen to harvest oysters, clams, crab and fish from its rich waters. Larry Chowning has an encyclopedic knowledge of these boats and knows virtually everything about the folks who build or built them. Two of his books, Deadrise and Cross-Planked and Chesapeake Bay Buyboats, discuss the history and design of two of the bay’s most iconic working craft—the buyboat and deadrise workboat—from the very beginning to modern day.
Deadrise and Cross-Planked discusses the Chesapeake Bay deadrise workboat. Chesapeake Bay Buyboats tells the story of the buyboat, a design that originally carried freight around the bay but later was used to transport oysters to shore directly from the oyster grounds. ($35, Tidewater Publishers) — Gary Reich
What we’re listening to
Tip Top Boat Tips
Sponsored by MarineMax and updated with new episodes every week, the Boating Tips Live podcast is available on all major podcast and streaming apps. It’s hosted by two longtime captains who moderate discussions revolving around everything from charter vacations and megayachts to watersports and marine electronics. Of particular note are the sessions where the two skippers field live questions from boatowners on a variety of topics.
