In the western part of the southwest sea, there’s an island surrounded by a minefield. The island is Molida Island, and it seems to be home to a sailor who eventually found his way to Link’s next destination, the Isle of Gust. His son’s kind of peeved about him chasing adventure and abandoning his family, but eventually tells Link to look in the cave where his father used as a “hideaway.” The hideaways filled with monsters – mostly red ChuChus, but there’s a Geozard miniboss to get by. The Geozard needs to be stunned by being hit from behind with the boomerang before Link can attack it and move on.
In a room blocked by a bombable wall, Link finds the Wayfarer’s journal, which indicates that he had a second hiding spot, hidden underground at the place where the lines between the stone tablets he left on the island intersect. There’s also a shovel in a treasure chest, so all those places where something’s obviously buried can be dug up. The lines intersect under a palm tree near the Wayfarer’s house, and when Link digs there, he finds a hole leading to the true hideaway. The Wayfarer’s left a letter of apology to his son for abandoning him. More importantly, he’s left a map showing the way through the ghost ship’s fog. There’s also a locked door with a sun symbol that Ciela notes Link should remember for later.
Before following the path, there are two things to check out in the southwest quadrant. First, Link can board a traveler’s ship to find it overrun with Miniblins and the traveler laying facedown in the middle. When Link gets rid of the (other) boarders and checks on the traveler, he finds the traveler’s alive but playing dead. When he eventually realizes his guest is not hostile, he gets up and introduces himself as Nyave of the Maritime Defense Force and gives Link a treasure as a reward. Second, a unmarked island lies in the middle of a triangle of rocks. On the island, Link finds a shrine whose spirit explains the use for the various gems he’s been collecting: they power up the spirits who are helping him. But Link’s only got one spirit, and two gems for that spirit, and it takes ten to power up a spirit, so this will have to wait until later.
The Wayfarer’s path works, and Link guides Linebeck’s ship through the fog and to the rest of the northwest quadrant. There are two islands here, so Link starts with the one where the temple isn’t, Bannan Island. The Wayfarer has resettled here and calls it the Wayfaring Island. He’s come to the island looking for a mermaid, intending to capture her and keep her in a small pool in his hut. After learning of the mermaid, Link can see her in the water near the island. She’ll swim away if he gets to close, but he can thwack her with the boomerang to prevent that. She’s reasonably annoyed at being thwacked with a boomerang and demands an apology from Link – revealing in the process she’s a human who likes dressing as a mermaid [1] and going for swims. Heh. When she learns about the Wayfarer, she thinks it would be interesting to hang with him and listen to his stories – but she finds Linebeck first and mistakes him for the Wayfarer. Double heh. She eventually finds her way to the actual Wayfarer, who give Link a fishing rod as a reward for his role in helping him meet the mermaid.
Fishing in Phantom Hourglass is the most fun incarnation yet. The controls are simple and intuitive – hold at the bottom of the touchscreen in the opposite direction the fish is trying to swim away, make circles to reel it in, and lift off the screen when the fish jumps. Link first catches a small Skippyjack, then returns to the Wayfarer, who tells him there are bigger fish out there. Link catches two bigger types, Toona and Loovar, and the Wayfarer rewards him for his catches with a Big Catch Lure. This lets him catch Rusty Swordfish, and the Wayfarer tells him about the ultimate big fish: Neptoona. Now, a bigger fish shadow sometimes appears in the overworld, and it usually has a Rusty Swordfish, but after trying long enough, Link can catch Neptoona and return it to the Wayfarer for a heart container [2].
Nyave mentioned a heroic brother to the north, and Link can find his boat sailing the waters in the northwest quadrant. You can tell he’s a hero, because his clothes are basically Link’s with a few alterations. And his ship is called the Prince of Red Lions. He takes Link as an apprentice, and teaches him swordfighting, culminating in a challenge reminiscent of Orca’s from Wind Waker: hit him as many times as possible before getting hit three times. (He doesn’t actually fight with a sword, but… some kind of pitchfork/trident thing.) Getting over a hundred hits gets another heart container as a reward.
Next: Braving the winds.
[1] She says “mythical creature” referring to mermaids, which struck me as weird, but the only other merfolk in the series thus far are the one from Link’s Awakening and Link wearing the mermaid suit in Oracle of Ages. (And there are Zoras, who are certainly mermish.)
[2] A full container, not just a piece. I guess Phantom Hourglass is simplifying.
