When we woke up this morning, all of the boats in the anchorage except us and another named Dahlin had already departed. Our friends had left early to head to Steinhatchee and the other 2 boats were faster boats and were doing the Gulf crossing during the daylight hours today so they left at sunrise. In theory, we should have waited to leave until around noon (departure timed to arrive in Tarpon Springs around 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday), but Gerry was restless and didn’t want to wait. He suggested starting out and going slow so he could fish (plus we’d have to stop when he caught one to reel it in … yah, right). Anyway, the other boat still in the anchorage felt more or less the same way and so we headed out together around 9:30 a.m.
The weather was cloudy, but the seas were only about 1 ft. so we had a pretty easy time of it. We were traveling around 5 knots while Gerry trolled.
By around 12:00 the winds and seas had picked up considerably. We pretty much had 2-3 ft. waves. Gerry still hadn’t caught anything. The buddy boat we were with was a “local” and the guy had grown up boating and fishing the area. He told Gerry he should troll at around 7 knots ….. so we increased our speed. At around 12:15 Gerry had fish on both lines he had out. We slowed the boat down to almost idle while Gerry worked at reeling the fish in. Linda got out the net and helped get them on the boat. That whole process probably took close to an hour.
Gerry continued fishing, but the seas were building and stopping the boat to reel in the lines became quite uncomfortable. He got a couple of more bites (one he caught and released) and the other one …. the BIG one …. got away. After that, with a strong suggestion from Linda, his fishing was over for the day.
We continued on. Not much to see … just water …. Everywhere. We listened to Sirrus radio and the new Jimmy Buffet album. Linda read, Gerry drove. Linda drove, Gerry fiddled with stuff and so on for several hours. As we were now taking the waves abeam, we decided to change course a little and head closer to shore to reduce the affects of the wind and waves. At around 8:00 we noticed the winds had definitely died down and we starting correcting our course until we were back on track. However, we had to diligently watch for crab pots … not an easy thing to do at night. There was about a 1/2 moon and the skies were clear enough that we could spot them … anyway most of them. The night drug on until at the end of the day (12 midnight) we found ourselves at 28.43.914N and 083.11.102W … which is somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico.
The weather was cloudy, but the seas were only about 1 ft. so we had a pretty easy time of it. We were traveling around 5 knots while Gerry trolled.
By around 12:00 the winds and seas had picked up considerably. We pretty much had 2-3 ft. waves. Gerry still hadn’t caught anything. The buddy boat we were with was a “local” and the guy had grown up boating and fishing the area. He told Gerry he should troll at around 7 knots ….. so we increased our speed. At around 12:15 Gerry had fish on both lines he had out. We slowed the boat down to almost idle while Gerry worked at reeling the fish in. Linda got out the net and helped get them on the boat. That whole process probably took close to an hour.
Gerry continued fishing, but the seas were building and stopping the boat to reel in the lines became quite uncomfortable. He got a couple of more bites (one he caught and released) and the other one …. the BIG one …. got away. After that, with a strong suggestion from Linda, his fishing was over for the day.
We continued on. Not much to see … just water …. Everywhere. We listened to Sirrus radio and the new Jimmy Buffet album. Linda read, Gerry drove. Linda drove, Gerry fiddled with stuff and so on for several hours. As we were now taking the waves abeam, we decided to change course a little and head closer to shore to reduce the affects of the wind and waves. At around 8:00 we noticed the winds had definitely died down and we starting correcting our course until we were back on track. However, we had to diligently watch for crab pots … not an easy thing to do at night. There was about a 1/2 moon and the skies were clear enough that we could spot them … anyway most of them. The night drug on until at the end of the day (12 midnight) we found ourselves at 28.43.914N and 083.11.102W … which is somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico.
When we woke up this morning, there was a Marine Research crew hauling in nets
Here's a shot of our buddy boat, Dahlin. We would spend the next 24+ hours together.
This is Gerry shortly after departure. Doesn't he look happy and chipper. All systems GO !!!!
Our Santa windsock, and Gerry's fishing polls, were ready too..JPG)
Here's our buddy boat, Dahlin, behind us
This was our view for most of the trip. The only difference was that sometimes it was dark and we couldn't see it. But it was still there .... nothing but water.
Here's Gerry at noon. Still happy in spite of not catching any fish (yet)
Here's Gerry and his catch. Now, are they really that heavy?? (notice strained look on face)
Gerry ... still happy ..... at 4:00 p.m.
.... and Linda at 4:00 p.m. Relaxing and reading her book. Very humid ... notice curly hair.
Here's buddy boat, Dahlin, beside us as it started to get dark
Gerry at 8:00 p.m. Is that smile frozen on his face. He couldn't actually be that happy after almost 12 hours of this.
Well, Linda looks pretty happy too. Perhaps it was because the wind and waves had calmed down and we were having a great ride. Yipppeee !!!!!
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