Al Caught a Shark

 

Ohio Key, Florida at Sunshine Key Rv Resort  (high 88, low 78)

 

It seems like summer here and it’s hard to believe some people are still dealing with snow and ice.  We’ve had a few days where it was particularly hot and muggy, but for the most part it hasn’t been too hot yet.  However, being out on the water is always much cooler than on shore.

We did decide to stay here a few days longer.  We are now planning on leaving Monday.  That gives us 28 days here, which is about 28 days too short.

We took the boat out again yesterday (what a surprise) and did a little fishing and snorkeling.  The visibility was pretty bad yesterday again, so it was more of a fishing day.  I found a book I’m enjoying, so I spent my time reading.

Al had a pretty good day fishing.  He bought some frozen squid and had good luck with that.  I hate for him to use squid because it’s messy and leaves a lot of goo on the boat.  Plus it smells very fishy.

We saw this beautiful iridescent Portuguese man o war floating on top of the water.

Later on, Al noticed a clump of sea grass with this pretty little creature on it.   We have no idea what it was, but it seemed to be riding the currents on the sea grass.

We fished right outside the channel by the Sunshine Key Marina for part of the day, then moved around to the other side of the island.  This is another shot of some waterfront sites at the campground. 

The water was a pretty blue color, but it was murky.

On the other side of the island, there is a channel cut out with some shallow grassy areas on both sides of the channel.  We’ve snorkeled there before, so we know there is a little undercut on the grassy areas which is a good place for fish to hide.   Al decided to try his luck fishing there.

He caught his first ever shark.

It was only about 2 feet long.

It turned out to be a Bonnethead shark, and I don’t recall ever seeing one before.

It’s a member of the hammerhead family, and I have definitely seen them before….many times.  In fact one time when we were looking for a spot to dive, a large hammerhead shark came to the surface and laid on the surface of the water right next to our boat!  It was so  cool.  I stood in the boat taking picture after picture of it.  I really need to pull out some of my old diving pictures.

The Bonnethead shark likes warm waters and swims in groups of 5-15 individuals, but sometimes there can be hundreds!   Wow!  How cool would that be to see hundreds of them!   They are smaller sharks that grow to between 3 and 5 feet long and are not dangerous to man (or woman).

The thing that we both hate about fishing, is that sometimes the fish swallow the hook.  That is what happened with the shark.  Al didn’t want to risk losing a finger by trying to get the hook out, so he had to cut the line.  They say the hooks dissolve and the fish will be fine.  I sure hope so.  That’s why we prefer spearfishing.  You target the fish you want, and shoot it.  Unless it gets off the spear, you have the fish you want.

Sometime near 6pm, we reluctantly drug ourselves back to shore and loaded the boat up on the trailer.  It’s sure nice only having to trailer the boat a block home!

We were exhausted when we got home last night.  I don’t know what it is about being out in a boat or on the water, but it’s very tiring. If we weren’t leaving Monday, we would probably take the day off today and relax.

We are planning on taking the boat out today and launching at Bahia Honda.  They are having some sort of nature festival today, so we need to get there early before there are no more parking spaces.    Boy, do I wish I could lounge around a little this morning, but Al is nagging at me to get moving!!!

Snorkeling, Fishing and Spearfishing in the Keys

 

Ohio Key, Florida (Sunshine Key Rv Resort)  high 86, low 78

 

We took the little boat out yesterday, for what was supposed to the last time for this trip.

As the day progressed and we started thinking about packing up and leaving, we started talking about extending our trip….just a little longer.  We may extend our stay 2 more days.    Al still has a few pest control customers and they are due, which is the only reason we’re not staying through May.     Very soon, those customers will be gone and we won’t be on such a tight schedule.  Very soon.

Anyway, we had a good day, despite strong winds, currents and murky water.  For some reason the past two days the normally clear water has gotten very murky.

We paid our $12 and launched at the marina at Sunshine Key.  They keep a chain across the ramp to prevent people from launching without paying.  We explained we would probably return late and confirmed they would not lock the gate on us.  We were assured the chain wouldn’t be locked.   (It was)

We headed out of the marina into the channel and noticed it was choppy and windy, so we didn’t go too far. As long as we can get out of the wind and into some calm water, we’re happy.

There are some mangroves around and we’d seen fish in that area.  Al had his mind set on catching a mangrove snapper for dinner, so that is where we anchored.

He fished a while and got no bites, so he decided to snorkel a while and see what was down there.

He found a nice spot while snorkeling and saw a bunch of mangrove snapper, lobsters, lion fish, anemone, parrotfish, mutton snapper, angel fish, lettuce slugs, and much more.

I always send Al out as the scout.  If he finds a good spot, then I go in.   After he came back and told me all that he saw, I decided to snorkel it as well.  We decided to have lunch first, and by the time we finished lunch, the tide had changed and the visibility was gone.  I have done a lot of diving in low vis, but the older I get, the more particular I get, so I didn’t get in.   We were hoping for the visibility to improve as the tide started coming back in.  It didn’t.

We moved the boat a few times, he snorkeled several times and fished in between the snorkeling.  

He caught another little yellow fish with a black spot.  We’re not sure what kind of fish it is.  It wasn’t a keeper.

While he was fishing and snorkeling, I spent my time reading and photographing the wildlife.

This cormorant spent a good 5 minutes splashing around taking a bath.  I don’t understand why they need baths when they live in the ocean!

This yacht came by with his “toad.”

This guy spent the afternoon kite boarding on the other side of the bridge. 

This is Al snorkeling looking for the “honey hole.”

 

Leaning pelicans

 

 

After moving the boat closer to where he had seen all the fish, and still not catching anything, he decided to take matters into his own hands and go spear fishing. 

The black thing he is holding is a spear gun for all of you non-divers.

Al has spear fished using a scuba tank, but I don’t remember him ever doing it while snorkeling.   When you are underwater, you’re not bothered as much by current, the choppy water or winds.

Spear fishing while snorkeling proved a lot more difficult than he expected. While he was aiming the gun, he would be drifting away. 

Needless to say, he came back empty handed and we had frozen pizza for dinner….instead of snapper.

Sometime after 5pm, we decided to call it a day.

The chain was across the launch ramp and fortunately Dewey (employee of the campground) was there with a key. 

Dewey told us a sad story.   Wednesday night, there was a fatal accident on the Seven Mile bridge.  It’s the longest bridge in the Keys and the last bridge before arriving here at Sunshine Key.  It turns it the fatality was a 79 year old man that had been a winter resident here.  His wife was seriously injured as well.  It really hit home, when we realized they were our neighbors.   This couple obviously was enjoying a nice life and wintered here for the past few years.   Very sad.

After cleaning the boat and showering, we took a walk around the park for some sunset photos.

These are two of the brand new rental trailers that are on the waterfront.  They are real nice and brand new. The two bedroom ones can be rented for $220 a night (plus taxes), $1320 a week or $3960 a week.

Life in paradise ain’t cheap!

  

But, oh what a view!