Chapter 348 - 231: How Dare It?

Chapter 348: Chapter 231: How Dare It?

The next morning, the Nanchen was a hive of activity. Gu Nan, Ye Jing, and An Jun were busy securing ten crab pots.

The crab pots, shrimp traps, and ground cages they had bought earlier were all moved onto the boat. There was a dedicated storage locker on board where the smaller traps and cast nets were kept.

During the renovation, one wall of the locker had been specially fitted with a fishing rod rack, and next to it was a rack for spearguns.

For this purpose, Gu Nan had spent over fifty thousand to buy three more spearguns.

There were short guns for hunting in reef areas, as well as spearguns for hunting large fish in blue water.

For Gu Nan, spearfishing was an addictive sport. The only issue was that it was too physically demanding; he’d be exhausted after about two hours. Otherwise, he could do it all day, just like fishing.

The crab pots were too large to fit in the locker, so they had to be secured to the aft deck with packing straps.

The boat had not only a crane but also a winch on the port side. If something was too heavy, the winch and crane could be used together.

The fishing boat was large enough that even with the crab pots and winch taking up some space, there was still room for more than twenty people to fish. With only six of them, it was a piece of cake.

Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao couldn’t make it on this trip. Coincidentally, they were both abroad for a joint project and had already been gone for a week.

It would be a while before they returned. After that, they’d be busy for a few more days before getting some time off, so they had specifically arranged to go out to sea with Gu Nan then.

The boat didn’t need refueling, and freshwater wasn’t a concern. However, for drinking and cooking, he had bought another ten or so jugs and put them in the galley.

The freshwater converted from seawater was drinkable, but he was psychologically averse to it. He couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t completely clean, even after conversion.

A short while later, the person delivering the bait arrived.

Crates of sardines were moved into the refrigerated hold, and Gu Nan also bought some live bait to put in the baitwell.

Once everything was taken care of, Yi Chen returned to the docks in a pickup truck. Xu Zhina and Jin Enfei got out of the truck with her.

"Ah Nan, come help!"

"Coming, coming!"

The women had gone shopping early in the morning for ingredients, snacks, and fruit for the trip.

Hearing his girl’s call, Gu Nan quickly waved An Jun and the others over to help move the goods.

When they got to the pickup, the three men were stunned to see the truck bed piled high with supplies.

There was a large rack of pork ribs, four pig’s feet, some large intestines, half a lamb, and a massive slab of snowflake beef weighing around twenty-two pounds, its marble-like texture a testament to its quality.

There were four boxes filled with various fruits and vegetables, plus three more boxes of snacks.

"We’re only going out for three or four days. Is all this really necessary?" Gu Nan asked with a wry smile, picking up the half lamb.

’They’d definitely be catching all sorts of seafood, too. There was no way they could eat all this food.’

"Nana and Enfei bought it all. I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t," Yi Chen said with a helpless shrug.

Jin Enfei smiled. "Nana and I felt we couldn’t just freeload on your boat, so we took care of the food."

Xu Zhina waved her hand dismissively. "We’ve been friends for so many years, why fuss over this stuff! Besides, we didn’t mean to buy so much. We just got a little carried away."

Gu Nan shook his head. ’At least they were going to eat well on this trip.’

’If it were up to him, he wouldn’t have prepared such a wide variety. But the amount of snacks made it clear the women were mainly along for the fun.’

By the time they finished moving everything onto the boat and stowing it away, it was almost noon. It would be difficult to reach their destination today.

But it wasn’t a big deal. They had planned for three or four days, but staying an extra day or two wouldn’t be a problem.

BWOOM—

With a long blast of its horn, the Nanchen slowly pulled away from the docks and began heading southeast.

The direction indicated that he wasn’t planning to visit the same spots as his previous trips, but had chosen a new fishing ground instead.

Gu Nan had spent three days researching this trip. About two hundred and thirty nautical miles to the southeast, there was a decent chance of encountering bluefin tuna.

Bluefin tuna frequented that area every autumn and winter. Although the chances weren’t that high and large schools had never been spotted, even catching one or two would be no worse than catching ten or so large yellowfin.

To find schools of bluefin tuna numbering in the hundreds or thousands in domestic waters, you’d have to go to the southern seas. Such spectacular sights were usually only seen abroad.

This wasn’t due to overfishing in the country, but mainly because of geography and the tuna’s migratory routes.

Gu Nan could also head one hundred and sixty nautical miles due east for a chance at bluefin, but the probability was too low.

So many fishermen using longlines or nets rarely caught bluefin tuna, and he didn’t expect his luck to be that good every time.

Gu Nan was steering the boat manually. Seeing the others chatting and eating sunflower seeds in the lounge behind him, he asked, "The weather’s great today. Anyone up for some diving this afternoon?"

"Around three, maybe three-thirty this afternoon, we’ll be near a deserted island. We can dive for seafood or do some spearfishing."

Probably because of him, Ye Jing and the others had all signed up for regular memberships at the club, learned to dive and spearfish, and had even brought their gear today.

An Jun had even gotten his boat license, which he’d just received. This meant Gu Nan wouldn’t be stuck at the helm the entire trip; he now had two people who could take over for him.

"Let’s go! A dive would be a good way to relax. Driving for over ten hours straight is too exhausting," Yi Chen was the first to agree. She had been practicing her aim at the club, and this was a perfect chance to try it out for real.

An Jun and the others readily agreed. It wasn’t too cold this time of year. In fact, the afternoon temperature could reach about twenty-eight degrees Celsius, perfect for a dive.