Gone diving

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful, once again.  I cannot believe it has been a solid month of 77-82 degree weather with hardly a cloud in sight.  It has been absolutely picture perfect- everyday.  Lloyd (from South Africa), Bryan, Dean, and Donnie decided to go diving today...in search of some 'holes' to go spearfishing.  It still was quite breezy, perfect for sailing, but I was afraid of the wave action for Willis and me, so we scooted on over to Mamaw and Paps for some sun and fun of our own.  I finished my book, and when my inlaws got home from church, I convinced Paps to bring out the bait for some fishing of our own.  The fish had been jumping like crazy all morning...there was something big in the canal chasing 'em to the surface!

Mamaw and I had our poles out and caught our fair share of mangrove snappers and grunts.  I had a nice sized yellowtail (about 15 inches), that I no sooner got it to break the surface than I LOST it! I was yelling for Paps like crazy to come help me and bring the net, but we kept him hopping indoors working on our gear (changing hooks, adding weight, taking off weight, changing lures, untangling lines....poor Paps, he only got to cast his line once!)

Willis provided the laugh of the day, though...poor kitty.  I thought cats like fish; not ours.  Mamaw caught a mangrove snapper, and it swallowed the hook and all.  Paps worked on him quite some time to get it out (meanwhile Mamaw is telling him to just cut his head off and slice him open- ewww).  By the time he got into the bucket, he looked as good as dead.  Since Paps had left the sliding screen door open to come out and help, Willis saw it as an opportunity to make a great escape.  After the commotion of removing the hook and getting a bucket of water, I looked up to see him already over at the neighbors trying to slink away.  I caught him and was carrying him back to the house, when I thought my little boy might like to see a fish up close in the bucket.  We were squatted down together, peering into the bucket, when this fish took his last gasp of breath and made an effort to splash his way out of the bucket.  I screamed, the cat went BOZO, and tried to climb up my legs and out of my arms...scratched me all to pieces, even though he only has rear claws.  Poor Willis took off like a shot for the house.  It's a good thing the screen door was left open, or he would have busted right through it :)  That fish had teeth, and Willis thought he was a goner for sure!  He hid under the bed, panting, for the next few hours.  What was even funnier then my welts, wounds, and thousand cat hairs all over me was Paps, doubled over, laughing so hard he squealed like a little girl!  Oh my gosh, it was hysterical :)  I've never heard Paps belly laugh like that...for a good 15 minutes!

The boys made a day of their trip, diving out beyond the reef in 40-60 ft. of water.  Three guys diving, off a sailboat, in 3 ft. waves, made for quite a chore.  Glad I wasn't aboard.

Getting ready to go

Dean's looking pretty relaxed....before he got to feeling sick :(



Looks like Agnes is doing the driving; the boat is heeling pretty good.



Lloyd popped the fish of the day, a yellow jack- nice!

 This video will give you a look at the 'challenges' of diving off a sailboat in a pretty good chop!  No thanks:)