Our Family Bouquet: April 2011

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Nikolai's 17th birthday!

11:16 AM |

Posted by Missy | Edit Post

Several years ago, we went shark fishing on Nikolai's birthday. It was a night trip, and unfortunately, he wore a tank top. He froze, was seasick and was the only one onboard that did not catch a shark. Poor kid! Trying to make up for that disaster, I (Reese did not go this time) took him on another fishing trip for his birthday - this time, a day trip, fishing for deep sea fish! Our boat left out of Port Canaveral, the same place where the cruise ships are, and it was fun to see 3 of them lined up, and we even got to watch a HUGE Carnival ship leaving as we were coming back after our trip. A guy from another building next door to our dock shouted, "HEY!!!" at the passengers on the ship, and it was SO COOL, hearing all of the waves of "HEY!!!" in response! What fun! It was kinda like the show "Love Boat", when they left port, only no one threw confetti. They just shouted. (lol)

Here we are, ready to board!!

The empty dock, as we left.

Here's Nik, waiting with the other passengers. It didn't take long for almost everyone to go either inside, or up on the top deck, leaving us with the place almost to ourselves!

I don't know why this did not crop in closer, but it is the fin of a dolphin. We saw quite a few dolphins, who enjoyed swimming alongside our boat. :o)

We hung out at the front of the boat, for the most part.

There were lots of nice folks on board with us, and one of them took this nice picture of Nikolai and me.

Still heading out. It took about 10 min. to leave the inland waterway. After that, it was another hour and a half to get to the fishing spot! Today the water was particularly bumpy and the ride was exciting!! UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, sea spray all over us, ...and yes, lots of barfing from many of the passengers...

The only fish I was allowed to keep, and one of only FOUR on the whole boat!! The fishing was terrible!! The deck hands said they didn't know why, but for the past 3 or 4 days, fishing had been horrible, and this time of year it should be excellent!! This is a "pig fish", that audibly grunts!!

This is a better one, but I had to throw it back. It was a black sea bass, and until May 1, we couldn't keep any of them. (I noticed several were caught, but of course, they had to be thrown back.)

(This one should have gone up higher in the list of photos.) I love watching pelicans, and this guy was checking out the fish below, getting ready to dive!