Strange things on the open seas

On our way to Equador the other day, an announcement came over the PA in our cabin. Very rarely do we get announcements in our cabin, so you know it had to be something going on. At first I thought perhaps we had crossed the equator and we were getting the 'official' announcement of our location. I was wrong.

'This is your Captain speaking, Captain Dimitris from the bridge....' We were told that off the side of the ship, just over a mile away, there was a small craft which was giving a signal that they may be in trouble. So as the announcement ended, the ship halted and started to manouver towards the boat. Looking out our wee port hole, you could see a small fishing boat which was bobbing in the waves with what appeared to be 3 men. One man was standing near the shelter on the boat with his arms extended over his head holding something about a meter long.

We approached the boat, words were exchanged and the boat then appeared to be on it's way. It would seem that the folks in the boat, who were over 150 miles from shore were not in fact in distress, but rather folks who were looking to sell us some fish. Cost of the fish ~ $10. Cost to the vessel for turning around ~ $3,000. Can you imagine, would we really purchase just one fish to a cruise ship that holds 2200 passengers and 1000 crew???