momma caught a fish :)

Before we get to today, we practiced making fire with our flint last night :)

Willis wanted nothing to do with fire-making...he was staking claim
on his sleeping spot on our Vberth. Dern cat.  Still, I wouldn't
 sell him for a million dollars, let alone $12.99!
How can you not love a Willis, seriously?!

Donnie got up early this morning and waxed the hull for a couple of hours,
but it was getting too hot, and the Gulf was flat calm.  He called his Mom
to go fishing, but got turned down, so I gladly obliged!  I pedal,
pedal, pedalled my clownbike to town to buy bait (chicken gizzards)
and chum for the chum bag.  I made some sandwiches, and off we went!
I look like my mother here in my floppy hat from Carissa :)

Well, the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.  Like father, like son. 
Poor Donnie was going through fishing tackle like salts through
a widder woman!  He lost gear, changed hooks, and changed
weights no less than six times...Meanwhile I was catching fish!

We started out at the seven mile bridge, but after a small jack of some
sort and two puffer fish (a shout out to Ellie's pet Tyson!) we
decided to weigh anchor and go over to the jetty rocks where
Donnie has been known to catch lobster.  He's seen mangrove
snapper down there before that were of legal size.
Do you remember what these water fowl are called?

Sure enough, I caught about a 13" one- he's
a keeper!  Sadly, Donnie only caught bait :(

We then decided to pull in further and dink around
Faro Blanco.  At one time this was a bustling marina
with a restaurant, dive shop, fishing charters, etc.
It got taken out in 2006 by Hurricane Wilma.

Now it looks like a haunted marina, with the busted up docks,
broken windows & docklights, and such. Kind of creepy, actually.

Back in its hey day, you can see where they used to
hang up the catch of the day...I can just imagine
a big marlin hanging up there.

What was really creepy was the fact that the broken docks were
overrun with these huge iguanas!  This bad boy was about
four feet long, and bright orange-red.  ewwww.....

He was bobbing his head up and down and shaking the huge
waddle under his chin trying to scare us off.  Double ewww.....

Look at the claws on his feet- yikes!  He needs a pedi- BAD.

See the busted up docks?  There were fish all around them.
Donnie's not very happy because the sand perch kept stealing his bait.

THIS is the Florida Keys...a seagull, an iguana, and a
pelican all in the same picture.  Only a manatee was missing.

Then this big feller flew in for a landing.

I was intrigued by him.  Do you know what it is?!  I do.

He kind of reminded me of Paps- must be the legs.

Speaking of Paps, he got this awesome gift made by
Kenny.  It's a barbershop pole, made out of
Kenny's crab pot floats.  How cool is that?!
We're so glad Kenny and Fran are here- our
good friends from Hatteras Island, NC.

Since the manrogve snapper was the only real keeper
of the bunch, he was quickly fileted and put in the
freezer for another time.  Donnie grilled some
amazing New York strip steaks- Yum!!

We ate high on the hog tonight- steak, salad, and grilled vegetables
seasoned with some fresh rosemary from my herb garden.

After dinner we walked over to Matt and Karie's boat to trade stories of today's events, then we discussed our wish lists and shopping lists for the boats.  Matt and Karie are heading up to a huge nautical flea market in Dania Beach for the weekend. We had to hit the money mover tonight to try and cover it all.  Lazy jacks, a 12 gauge flare gun, hand held epirb, and sail ties- I think those are the main things, if he can find them all.  We're also looking for better charts for the Bahamas like

Danny has on his boat.  I think tomorrow Donnie and I will head to the flea market in Big Pine Key.  He needs some stainless screws and other items, and I love to go to the farmer's market.  The produce is SO GOOD down here.  I'm getting spoiled by it all.  If it rains tomorrow (and they're calling for a 60% chance) we'll drive on down to Key West.  I am in desperate need of some new Kino's sandals.  I'll get you some pics of the sandal factory, and I'll go in search of some little

Key Deer- they are so cute! 

Because we had sat all afternoon in a boat, and ate such a good meal, we decided to walk over to Bryan and Polly's house (next door to Dave and Diane, Donnie's sister and brother-in-law, and across the street from Mac and Jean's, his parents) to say hello to Kenny and Fran.  It was good to get a quick visit in.  We left there are 9:45pm, and hot footed it back to Banana Bay.  It was two miles each way, and we walked it at a 14 minute/mile pace.  It was so humid and still tonight, that we were a sweaty mess by the time we got home.  After showers and some honey tangerines, it was time for bed- whew!  G'nite, all :)   

Willis says G'nite, too. He was passed out on the chart table when
we got back from our showers.  I noticed this blog pretty much
started and ended with Willis sleeping.  It's tough work
being a Willis, isn't it?!  lol  Ok, G'nite, for real this time!