It gazes down with a chilling eye as black as onyx, the broad shoulders and tapered body conjuring up an aura of strength and invincibility. It's one thing seeing pictures and videos of a marlin weighing more than 500 kilograms, but eyeballing a three dimensional representation is another.
Is this what could conceivably be on the end of my line in a few hours, I thought, as I gazed up at the 524kg Pacific blue marlin which majestically looks down upon visitors at the Guam International Airport as they impatiently wait for their baggage to roll by.
If an angler needed any more incentive than simply being in Guam for three days of game fishing, this world record catch from the waters off this speck in the Pacific Ocean certainly provided it.
Guam's far-flung location makes it a mecca for a wide range of pelagic fish and over the next three days I hoped to tangle with the best of them.
The sun was just edging over the horizon as we left the denizen of the deep to continue his steely gaze over new arrivals and headed for the Hilton Hotel and a quick nap before the first round of piscatorial action.
Mother nature was clearly in a huff as I gazed out from my fourth floor balcony. Ranks of foam-crested breakers crashed upon the shore, whipped up by a steady 20-knot breeze.
Ten Club Charter operator Masao Tenbata, an effusive Japanese with a ready smile and an easy-going disposition, greeted us in the lobby like long lost relatives and then dismissed the wind as a minor hindrance.