After spending almost two weeks in Breckenridge indulging in all it has to offer, we packed up and headed to the airport before the sun had even risen on the first day of 2016. A short flight later (yes, 4 hours is considered a short flight to us these days) we were in sunny Florida to spend the final week of our stateside vacation.
We went from this...
to this...
and couldn't have been happier.
It is not lost on any of us how lucky we are that my parents have decided to retire in two ridiculously beautiful locations. Locations that allow us to indulge in some of our favorite activities with some of our favorite people. And we even get to try out some new ones...like ocean fishing.
Now, fishing is not a new activity for me. I have been doing it since before I can really remember. But I have never been fishing in the ocean. And when my brother Spike asked if I wanted to come along, it didn't take me long to say yes. (We left B and the girls at home this time - I don't think they are quite ready to spend 4 hours on the water doing nothing but casting lines).
We headed out early on a nippy Sunday morning. We met up with Mike, our captain (who looked just like a young Michael Keaton) and motored out to our first fishing spot - a shallow enclave on the south side of the island. Capt. Mike baited all of our hooks with live shrimp (he even bit the tails off of them and chewed on them like sunflower seeds!) and cast our lines close to the shore line. And we waited for that first nibble...
which took all of about 10 seconds...
I was the lucky one to pull in the first fish, a sheepshead that cutely matched my sweater...
but I was only seconds ahead of S, who pulled in the second catch of the day...
And our veteran pulled in more than a few...
We were in quite the spot!
Most of us pulled in a few sheepshead; all except the one person that really desperately wanted to catch a fish, J - the youngest of us, so we headed on to our second spot...
And his brother promptly pulled in our biggest catch of the day...
We were having a great time, and loved seeing all the different things we were catching (and releasing. We only kept the things we could eat). We got a few stingrays...
a fish with wings...
and (at the final location) hammerhead sharks...
Someone was pulling a fish into the boat every few seconds, but J still hadn't caught one, and we had to remedy that and fast. And remedy it we did. He was so excited to pull in his very first fish just a few minutes after hitting our next location -
We reeled in and picked up once again to head out to our final spot - just past the bridge and into deeper waters. Along the way, we encountered a trio of dolphins that were ready to play. It was so incredible to watch them splash and dive and jump along in our wake.
Amazing, right?
Our final location proved to be just as fruitful as our last few but the difference this time was that we were catching baby sharks. Each of us caught at least one and it never got old being able to hold them for a second and then release them back into their home. They really were adorable and I never thought, in a million years, that I would ever get to hold a hammerhead!
After 4 hours on the water, we were all ready to head back and clean our dinner. And warm up.
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| Our cooler. Each one of us had caught a keeper. |
Mike did all of our cleaning and filleting, thank goodness. As much as I like fishing, I do not love the cleaning and have done enough of it to last me a lifetime. J, on the other hand, was eager to watch and help where he could.
What fun we had. And I hear they were tasty. Since I don't eat fish, I will just have to take their word for it.
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