Fishing in Clearwater

I'm not trying to catch up. I'm not trying to show off what I've done. I'm just blogging. Here goes.

A few months ago, I was on one of my last business trips (with my then employer) in Florida. I had been there countless times since 2011, and I had never been deep sea fishing. Also, one of my "bucket list" items is to be on a boat and look around 360 degrees and not see land. So I guess I was due for a fishing trip.

A quick Google search helped me find Queen Deep Sea Fishing from Clearwater Beach. A red flag went up for a tourist trap, but I didn't care because I wasn't looking for the authentic deep sea fishing (and I was playing tourist). I just wanted to polish some items off of my list. There were 4 hour and 8 hour trips, the latter being far more deep sea than the former. However, I was with coworkers and they weren't up for a full day of fishing (or getting up at 5am to get to the boat for an 8am launch). So off we went. I GPS'd the adventure, even though they asked us not to. Rebel Canadians...

Pelicans from the docks at Clearwater Beach

I'll bet that this boat went pretty quick.

These lucky bums get to live right on the harbour!

Sailing always has appealed to me. Luckily, I don't have to go all the way to Florida to sail.

First catch, and it was a yellow tail, I think. I'm not a fishy guy.

We mostly caught grunts. They were good eating :-)

Easy fishing. Toss in a hook with some bait, pull out the fish. It restored my faith that you can actually catch fish in the water.

Mighty hunter can provide for his family now.

We were about 7 miles off shore, so....

....the coast was still visible. Bucket List item: Incomplete.

This bird's name was Furuno. I think...

Fishing trawlers off the gulf coast.

I thought it would be deathly hot and humid out, but it was a pleasant day. We had shade on our boat, which was really nice to keep from dehydrating.

The community fishing catch. There were about 90 people on board, and there were lots of fish caught, most of which NOT by me. Someone even caught a pufferfish!

The three of us caught about 12 or 14 fish! They fried up nicely.

This was my catch!

These were the fish that the 8 hour trips caught. Much bigger (and possible next time).

The crew from the boat cleaned all of the fish for us! That was really nice, but I would have liked to do it myself.

The next day, we had a fish fry.

The fish fried up really nicely with blackening spices. It was super tasty, made all the more tasty by the fact that I had caught the fish myself!

All in all, it was a fantastic experience with delicious results. I didn't knock the items off of my bucket list, I just whet my appetite even further. I'm always glad for new experiences, and I now believe that fishing and actually catching something is possible. It had been probably 15-20 years since I had last caught something...

:-)

And the Curtains Came Up!

Continuing our adventures in Florida, I thought I would post a few more photos of said adventures! I hope you all enjoy :-)

 The curtains come up on the Mermaid Show. At Weeki Wachee, it is okay for a grown man to be excited for the Little Mermaid!

Mermaids! It was so cool to finally see the show!

Some of these mermaids performed for almost 30 minutes under water. I say that is quite a feat! No pun intended.

 The Mermaids have been performing since 1947. I'm sure it has captivated many people over all of those years! I know it is something I will never forget.

 The waters of the Weeki Wachee river are crystal clear. It was amazing. I had never seen water like that before.

 And in the river there are manatees! Some of these sea cows get up to 1200 lbs. I want to swim with them, which you apparently can. Another item for the Lorne list of adventures.

 Playing with my son at Clearwater Beach. The water was not super warm, but we still had fun anyways. Beaches are an excellent way to spend a December afternoon.

 There were street performers at Clearwater Beach. It was a lot of fun watching them do their thing and entertaining. They reminded us all that this is how the entertainment industry started hundreds (or even thousands) of years ago. Street theatre is a dying art they said, and I couldn't agree more.

 The father-son duo did some impressive performances with juggling and entertaining. The final act was the son doing a Houdini-style escape from a straight jacket and padlocked chain. He had two audience members cinch it down super tight and managed to escape in less than 3 minutes. Impressive.

 Lounging by the pool at the house. The water was cold, but it was still fun to be there.

 My wife caught a brown anole and took some photos. These little guys are everywhere and it was fun chasing them down.

 A view of the back of the house from the golf course. Houses in Spring Hill are so much nicer than those in Calgary (and cheaper!). It was so nice to see green space between houses and not be able to jump from roof to roof as we can here in Calgary. Not that I do that, heh heh.

 We headed back to Weeki Wachee for Christmas lights! They had a petting zoo, and what better time to get acquainted with tomorrow's lunch.

 Looking out over Buccaneer Bay in Weeki Wachee (at night).

 It is so lush in Florida, and there are so many trees I do not recognize. I did learn that the Cypress tree sheds its needles in the winter season, the only coniferous tree to do so.

 We spend a day at Fort DeSoto park in St. Petersburg. It was a beautiful and remote park with stunning beaches, wind blown sand (gets in to everything) and warm, shallow waters. It was awesome to watch the waves come in and in those waves you could see schools of fish swimming and jumping.

A view from Fort DeSoto park's south beach looking towards the Sunshine Skyway. And yes, I really enjoyed watching the kiteboarder's do their thing. Another thing to add to my Lorne list of things to do. My wife approves of the sport, so long as she can take photos.

My next trip to Florida will hopefully involve the following:
1. Bringing my family
2. Swimming with manatees
3. Kayaking in a crystal clear river
4. Kiteboarding lessons
5. Running on the beach
6. Probably working, but oh well.

:-)

The Tampa Aquarium

While I do have many other things to blog about, I figure it would be best to blog about recent events. Nobody wants to hear about my road trip from Albany to Tampa that took place in February.

My wife, son and I are down in Florida for the holidays. It's nice to escape the winter of Cochrane and do some sunshine things. I've been to Tampa many many times these past two years, but that was usually on business. Now that I am here with family, we can do the tourist fun stuff! We decided to head into the big city to see the Tampa Aquarium

 Oh yes, well this is from the other day. I was a sexy mermaid.

 Overhead aquarium at the entrance of Tampa Aquarium

 The ever-so-playful river otters.

 Posing for the camera. These little dudes are so very cool. I wish I could swim like them.

 Turtle doing what turtles do best. Practicing the art of ninja.

 Grass eels thingymabobs. They sway in the current to look like grass.

 The aquarium was amazing! Artificial reefs that were modeled after a reef in Dry Tortugas National Park, west of Key West in the Carribean Sea.

 A beautiful lion fish. Apparently, these are an invasive species in this area and there are angling derby's held to control their population. They are supposedly really good to eat. I think they are too beautiful to eat.

 The artificial reefs were amazing and so huge.

 Tiger shark swimming in a gigantic 500,000,000 gallon tank.

 The 500,000,000 gallon tank. We sat there for a while and just enjoyed the show!

 Sea dragon. It looks like a plant, but is actually a fish.

 You can pay to go swim in the aquarium. I would totally do this. New life adventure item, accepted!

 Jellyfish. The most delicious of the english language compound words.

 Found him! Actually, my son was elated to find him!

 I can't remember what this one was called. I said it looked like a Christmas ornament.

And of course, the stingray petting zoo. Yes I pet them. Yes, they feel like mushy swimming erasers. Yes, they are odd, but ever so cool.

It was a great experience and a lot of fun to go to the aquarium. I had not been to one since I was probably 12 when I went to Undersea World in Victoria, BC. Now I want to go scuba diving, snorkeling, and swim with whales. Yes, you can do that last one.

Thank you GoPro for making my normal life seem mundane. I would totally rock that bikini.

:-)