for real?!

AIS was 9:00am for a fishing trip with Kenny, Donnie, Mamaw, and yours truly.  Willis was not invited. Making our way through the canals we spotted some iguanas in the morning sun.  I now loathe iguanas.  They ate my garden.

Kenny landed a nice triggerfish, he put up quite a fight.

Look at that yellowtail!  Kenny put on a fishing clinic today.  He had all the keepers except one, which Donnie caught.  I had two big ones on the line, but one bit through the line and the other was lost to a Donnie knot.  Then Kenny gave Donnie a clinic on knot tying!

By 3pm, Donnie was giving Kenny a clinic in boat mechanics.  Unfortunately, he ran out of options of things to check, tighten, try and beat on with a wrench.  It's never a good sign when the cowling comes off the engine.

Forty five minutes later, and no better luck, the distress signal flag went up, and a call was made to the Coast Guard.  Kenny was not having any luck raising Tow Boat US on the radio.  The USCG finally made contact with them for us.  Meanwhile, they announced a plane would be on sight within five minutes!  What the what?  Rescue swimmers?  Baskets?  Helicopters?  That was a bit of overkill, don't ya' think?!  We just needed a tow in to the boatyard.  Must have been a slow day at the Marathon Coast Guard Station- we even heard Key West Coast Guard Station chime in- geesh!

It's safe to say we were still having a good time.  It is not safe to say that other mariners will see your distress flag and respond appropriately...not safe to say that at all.

Look, Mom, no worries!!!!

What's a boy to do while he waits for a tow?  Why fish, of course!  While Big Jim was wrastling a monster fish, Marlin Perkins was safely in the boat, holding the net, and bringing you a message from our sponsor, Mutual of Omaha. (If you have no idea what this is in reference to, you are much younger than us, lol)  Sadly, this big one cut the line and got away.

Mamaw wasn't catching any keepers, but she was still smiling :)

After seven hours without a potty break, I finally had to go hang my hoot in the chum line.  Now I was worried!

Nearly an hour and a half after the first call, Tow Boat US finally showed up as the sun was setting.  Hooray!  I will say the USCG radioed back twice to check on us to make sure everyone was ok.  It's comforting to know they are but a call away.

Those of you who recognize the area, if you look closely, Sombrero Light was about a mile to the west of us.

I played with my camera while we got hooked up.  I like this one :)

This setting was called 'magic'.

This setting was called 'pinhole'.

Lastly, this setting was aptly called 'fish eye'.

All hooked up and heading for home.  It was a good thing, too.  The wind had picked up, and it was starting to whitecap in the last hour or so.  We also have weather coming in.  It's only supposed to be 72 tomorrow and chance of rain.  Which still sounds a whole lot better than single digits with a wind chill below zero!  By the time we got in, it was hard dark and I had fingers and toes out and my teeth were chattering.  A bowl of chili and a hot shower never tasted and felt so good!

It still was a beautiful day to be on the water :)  Thanks, Kenny, for the adventure!