LOBSTER NIGHTMARES

by Robin

I just know this guy is saying, "Get me outta here!"

Jack used one of the antenna to push the intestines & elimination through the upper, back tail part.  Then, we wrapped it in plastic wrap, followed by vacuum bags, and frozen.  Can't wait to eat these bad boys!

LOBSTA!!

by Robin

Well, the weekend after Snapper season, Jack got an invite to dive on a buddy's boat and borrow his diving equipment.  He already had his license but sold off his equipment a couple years ago. But, when a bunch of  friends are going diving, it's hard not to catch the diving bug too.

Here's Jack's friend, Chuck.  (I did not take any of the pictures, so I'm thankful for these forwards to me.)



Here's Jack with coworkers and "bugs".



Down center is Mike and Mabuhay is his boat.




Overall, they came back with 10 lobster.



I do have some more pictures of the lobster Jack brought back to me that night (3) but I will have to find them and edit them for the blog. I think they're in massive pixels.

I can share with you two of Jack's stories.

On his first dive, Chuck finds that massive lobster under a ledge but he can't get him out, even with a tickle stick.  So, Jack and Chuck are pulling and prodding this bug.  I wish I had had a camera to watch all of it.

On the last dive, Jack found this wonderful ledge and then dropped down with another buddy to go check it out for bugs.  Well, they passed through a thermocline (cloudy, cold water) and when he finally got the bottom in sight, he was no longer near the ledge.  He spent a lot of time looking around before he finally got back to it.  I think by then, the other guy had cleaned it out and Jack needed to go back up for air.  So, he begins his ascend.  If you know anything about diving, even from watching movies, you know they need to stop every so often to not get the bends (http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/water-sports/question101.htm) .  So, Jack gets to a location about 15 ft below the water and is waiting.  Meanwhile a school of mahi mahi swim up (10-12 lbers) and he wants to take a shot at one.  He stalks, waits, shoots and something fouls in his borrowed equipment.  Misses the fish and then sucks his last breath of air.  Grrrrr.  Time up and he swims to the surface.  Too bad he didn't get a mahi to bring home as well.

The good news is that he did bring mahi home the next weekend.  More on that story later.  Time to school my son.

Happy Fishing,
Robin

OPEN SNAPPER SEASON

by Robin

 I realize I'm like a month behind on posting this but it was a busy month. We had just come in from scalloping vacation and headed right into school on Monday. Big boy went to dual-enrollment classes.  He's a Senior now!


















My youngest is in various co-ops. Here are their first day of school pictures.

It was a fast week that flew by and my head was still spinning. But, we jumped back on the boat on Saturday and headed offshore to red snapper.





On the way out to the grounds, we saw numerous large pods of bait fish.  I love this because it usually means we'll have a good day of fishing.  Below, you can see something crashing through the bait, making them scatter in a line.

   

The camera does not like photographing things deep in the water but I tried.  You see the lighter color below is a school of bait.  We never did see what was attacking them.  We heard on the radio other folks say it was bonito.



We went to our first 2-3 spots we had in mind. They were loaded up with boats, boats and more boats.
Below is our "secret" vermillion snapper & porgy hole.  Not so secret, eh?
 

We were discouraged.  No lines in the water.  Storm clouds building.  No fish in the box except a porgy and a black sea bass.

We were so blessed when Jack's friend & coworker heard us when we hailed his boat's name.  We met him at a mid-point and he lead us to a wreck, which shall remain nameless here.  We had never heard of it before nor did we find it on the map.  Obviously, some of the good captains knew about it because we were not alone.  But, we were very thankful for the tip and then they left us.  They already had their limit and were continuing to look for Grouper now.



Like I said, we weren't alone.  Several of us were making the drift past broken up wreckage below.  I don't even know if we were on the wreck or slightly off, but my pole bowed over and nearly came out of my hands.  It was game-on.  Normally when this happens to me, the big fish rock up and I'm done, but not today.  I kept reeling.  At one point, my arms were so tired that I was afraid of losing everything.  I tried my son's trick from when he was a little guy pulling up these big fish.  I sat on the pole.  Now, it can be dangerous, so we use it as a last measure, but yeah, I put it there so my one hand could hold the pole (sometimes both) and the other could reel.  I'm just not strong enough to keep it tucked in under the arm like most men.

I reeled and reeled.  It kept taking line and Jack was coaching me with the drag setting.  Tighten it.  Now loosen it.  Don't lose the fish.  Do you want me to take the pole.  "NO!!"  Finally, I guess s/he could no longer fight the pressure changes and settled down long enough for me to get it to the boat.  I was so happy I could not contain my big mouth.  Hooting.  Hollering.  Once I had it in my hands, I raised it up over my head and all the boats around me who had been watching the battle shouted with me.  Victory.



In the end, SAFMC said she was only about 13 lbs but it sure did fight more like 20!  Total length was 28" and we donated the ear bones to research.

So, continuing on, now all the boats were over where we were and so fishing became more tricky.  Plus, storm clouds were connecting into huge fronts and heading right for us with lightening to boot.  Jack managed to pull in a small but legal red grouper.  Awesome.  Now we had 4 species in the ice box.  (I did take a picture but my camera only recorded part of the pic and so the fish part is missing. Boo.)  


We put another porgy and blk sea bass in the boat.  Sharks found us.  One after another.  Then had to start running in.

The line at the docks was crazy.  People cutting past me.  A wife abandoned her hubby's truck when she could not back it down the ramp straight.  Abandoned.  I wanted to jump over and fix it but another man beat me to it.  In the end, we were all loaded and done with the research part when we got in the truck and the storm finally caught up with us.  Perfect timing.  Freshwater rinse for the drive home.

I'm really sad my guys didn't get to share in the experience with their own red snappers but I was thrilled that I finally had my big fish for the year.  I don't get many opportunities for it.

Happy Fishing & hope everyone had a productive Red Snapper Season.
Robin

POST-VACATION catch-up

by Robin

Oh boy!! Am I far behind in blogging!   We took a week of vacation, then jumped immediately into school two days later.  From there, we went into our 3-day open Red Snapper Season and then back-to-school colds, lobster diving and so on.....

So, here it goes.  Trying to put it into some order, although slightly imperfect order.... with little commentary between pics.

We arrived 8/11/13 to Crystal River, staying at the Plantation Inn.  Our first destination after settling in our rooms was to head for Three Sister Springs.

M & E


E's parents, who joined us the first 3 days of vacation.



Underwater view of a fallen tree in the springs.



Lil' M warming up on the side of the Springs.  Thankfully, we didn't see a water moccasin until we were on the other side of the springs.
 

Next, we had a birthday party for my son. His sweetie homemade this delicious strawberry cake for him.



This was the first sunset, Sunday night. So peaceful. I did get up at 3 am to look for the meteor shower that was suppose to happen. Somebody lied.
 

Next day, we scalloped! Jack... in one of the more grassier areas.  I think we didn't like this stop.



We hit our limit of 10 gallons of scallops for our boat.



Then, exhaustion set in and we needed a pool day.

We also needed to address the ever-growing smell issue we had in our room. Somebody must have cleaned scallops right on the carpet floors, so we were kindly moved into a golfing villa.

The dogs really appreciated the upgrade. It's their vacation too. Who wouldn't want 18 holes of greenery to pee & poop on.
 

That night, we went out to eat. Last night with our friends, so we ate at Crackers. Jack had blackened shrimp on a taco salad.  I had the same but with scallops.



We took some pictures hoping to make Senior Pictures out of them.  Not bad.




 We had a beautiful sunset both evenings and bonus rainbows.
 

The 4th morning, we had breakfast with them, said our good-byes and then headed back offshore to make quick

work of scalloping.

 

 Top bag of the day.

Got our limit, again.
 

Another beautiful night.

 

Thursday morning, Jack and I woke up early and followed all the tour boats out, hoping to find manatees. We did find them but then other tour boats would cut in front of us. The one big opportunity I had to jump in and swim over to a mom and calf, I found myself paralyzed by fear. I jumped in. Looked twice under the water. I had 3 ft visibility, green surrounding me, didn't know my depth, didn't know what all predators would be around (i.e. gators). I swam right back onto the swim platform. But, I do have this lovely photo to prove that I tried.

 

We went back to the room, had breakfast, grabbed the boys and went back out for scalloping the final day because weather was moving in Friday & Saturday.
 

Family success!! Got our limit again!
 

So, that was the bulk of the pictures that were already downsized. Here are 3 videos in no particular order. I took the first one of the young mangrove snapper. My eldest took the other 2 videos of himself.

 
Mangrove Snapper on Rock from Robins Reports on Vimeo.

Big M Scalloping from Robins Reports on Vimeo.

DSCN0499BigMSuccessScallop from Robins Reports on Vimeo.

Short Clip of grabbing a scallop from Robins Reports on Vimeo.

God bless and Happy Fishing!!
Robin

NOW WE'RE COOKING WITH PEANUT OIL!!

by Robin

I've been working towards two goals this week.  Trying to make certain that all my ducks are in a row for school starting the week after vacation AND trying to get on vacation.  Not an easy feat, nor one I will do again to myself any time soon.  That was a little too much put into one month!

Anyhow, here are just a few of the things I did to check off some things on the list to get out the door.

* shop in bulk for snacks and drinks
* dremmel dog toenails and give them flea meds
* hair cuts for all, pedicure for me, color hair (because there is nothing worse than seeing gray roots in all my pictures!
* laundry, dishes, yard cutting, ironing, more laundry
* packing suit cases (Technically, the boys did their own.)
* make sure pool chemicals are right & pool treated before we go
* have various critter sitters lined up, folks to watch house, take in mail, etc.
* clear off all cameras, charge all rechargeables, find cords to charge things
* make more lists
* gather together salt, pepper, dish towels, soaps, meds, shampoos, griddle, blender, etc.
* get papers to the printing services for Civics class, buy books, give books to friends, etc.
* more laundry, pack bathing suits, sunblock, bug spray, first aid
* sort snorkel gear and make sure everyone has their individual grab bags marked & ready to load on boat
* garbage out!

And so the list goes....    Jack has his own lists pertaining to boat, truck, tires, engines, batteries, coolers, ice, etc.

BUT, here is a going away picture I leave you with.

I'm so in love with this area.



Happy Scalloping,
Robin

by Robin

In a few days, I'm going to be paddling my way through this inlet to get to Three Sister Springs.




There is nothing like being in freezing spring water and looking down 30 ft at the opening.




Then, diving down to it and feeling the pressure in your ears squeeze your brains.  LOL.



There is nothing like it.

Boy, am I thankful that I bought an underwater camera.  Oh, that reminds me....  today, I need to clear off all the cameras & bloggie and charge up all the batteries.

Happy Snorkeling!
Robin

DOGS!

by Robin

 

I can't forget they need their own towels & battery-powered AC.  C'mon... they're lap dogs on vacation.  LOL.

INVENTORY AND CHORES DAY!

by Robin

We're down to crunch time and making final purchases before we head off on vacation.

This is certainly not everything but we're tackling
- snorkeling gear
- running boat & refill oil
- tire condition & pressure

(Who remembers last year's trip??  God blessed us with tires that made it back and then revealed they were shredding & losing air.  A miracle for certain!)




- grease wheel bearings
- shop for cases of water, soda, chips, canned fruit





Hotel reservations are confirmed and we put in our order for a certain room with good access to water & dog accommodations.  Dogs love vacations too.




Of course, we need plenty of coolers for these gems.



We also bought a shop-vac to vacuum all the guts out and leave the meat for easy removal.

It won't be long now!
Happy Scalloping
Robin

Happy Birthday Son!!

by Robin




We're definitely on a birthday roll.  And we're not done yet!!

God bless this young man who has such a heart for God.  Love him!