Why it's better to be the Captain

Paul and I took a ride to get gas yesterday. We went to Sandy Point State Park and they gas place was closed so we motored over to Hemmingways which is on the other side of the bridge and that place was closed too! While coming out of Sandy Point, saw this barge (hee hee). So after stopping for some top water action and catching a few small blues, we headed back in.

When we pulled into the marina, we went and did a quick pump out and then as soon as we started to head to the slip it started raining pretty hard. It's at this point I decided it was better to be the Captain instead of the Co-Captain. Since I can't pull the boat into the slip, I'm in charge of the lines on the bow and getting us tied down. Hmmm.... Paul was nice and dry throughout this crazy drama. Paul was backing in pretty fast and he insisted that I bring my hook up front with me (which I don't normally do) and the scene that followed was very funny. I tied on one side and was trying to keep us from hitting one of the pylons (BTW all the while IT'S POURING) and I fell down and then BLOOP down when my hook into the water. Well, when all the dust settled we got into the slip and I looked like this:

Then of course, the Captain thought it was pretty funny to take a picture of my bum.

Searching for Spaniards

We set out early Saturday morning in search of the Spaniards (that's Spanish Mackerel for those of you "non" fishing folks). Here is Junebug motoring us down to the fishing hole south of the bridge down by Bloody Point.

So we got into the blues while we were there. I finally caught my first fish live lining. That's when you take a live bait fish and hook him in the back and let him swim around to get eaten up by the bigger fish (for you "non" fishing folks). I was pretty jazzed up since I had tried it a bunch of times with no luck. You have to be patient because you want the fish to take the little bugger for at least 5 seconds before you snap the line and sometimes, I get a little excited and can't wait and that costs the the fish.

On a side note, on one of the last fish I was reeling in, I had a little accident and my fishing rod went SNAP! omg my rod broke right in half but I got the fish!!! I had only had my pole for 10 months so I took a ride to AllTackle where Paul and I spent an ASSLOAD of cash gearing up the boat. I think the guy felt sorry for me so he just gave me a new rod! WOOT!!!

Brand spanking shiny new rod. It was a good day after all.

We never did find those Spaniards that day but boy did we have fun trying! Junebug and I were fishing off the bow and he caught a bunch of fish with the infamous bass assassins.

On Sunday while Paul and I were waiting for Jesse and friends, we went to catch some bait fish (spot) at our special spot spot. I reeled this fish above in. EEEEWWWWW. This thing is fugly. Yes, I said FUGLY. Some call it a "mother in law" because it's so ugly but the real name for this fish is a Oyster toadfish. Read up on this guy though, he's been to space!! LOL.

Kristen and Jesse come for a visit. They enjoyed the ride even though we didn't get into many fish.

Later that night, Paul worked hard to make us some beer bites with the blue fish that we had caught. 1/2 tempora and 1/2 bisquick mixed with beer (thanks Scott & Ann!). And I don't particularly like blue fish but fixing this way made it taste really good! Thanks to Laura for carting down the fryer (again).

Now who wouldn't like a bite of that?

Shortlidge Sunset Cruise....

At the end of our day we decided to go on a sunset cruise. The kids loved to go fast fast on the boat. We took a motor over to the horsefarm and then turned around just in time to watch the beautiful sunset.

Here is Swithin and Tate enjoying the view.

This is certainly the life. It doesn't get any better.

Oh yes, Ms. Yvonne! This is GREAT!

And at the end of the day, Swithin was very excited to come up with me on the bow! While we were up there, I had to put him to work!

Here he is learning how to coil up the lines on the front of the boat. He did a great job and was very helpful. The end of a perfect day!

Shortlidge Visit

The Shortlidge visit was a fun day. The weather was wonderful and little Swithin was very excited to be on the boat and to go fishing. While he wasn't into the "batman" fishing pole we had for him, he was all over holding my pole and reeling in the fish when we got them on the hook. He didn't touch any worms or any fish which was pretty funny. He's pretty cool with his sunglasses!

Mr. Tate was pretty tired midway through the fishing cruise and was zonked out. When we got back to the marina, he really got comfortable.

Now doesn't that look great? Froggy and Tate took a much needed snooze aboard Reel it in Panaroy.

Motoring...

Here is Laura, Faron and Junebug in route to the Hyatt in their beautiful boat.

Cambridge Hyatt

After we left Tilghman, we started our motor to the Hyatt in Cambridge. Here I am at the wheel! It's a little nerve wracking to drive the boat but I did okay. You can see Faron in the background.

Here is a picture of the Hyatt taken from the marina. It was a good motor and we were in our slip and off to the pool in no time. What a beautiful and relaxing place.

We did take one night and go to a wonderful dinner at a place on the water called Bobby's. Paul, Laura, Faron and I went (Junebug ditched us for the night). It was Faron's birthday so we all got dressed up and had a wonderful time.

Breakfast on the boat is always fun. Here is Paul making our most favorite "Bunny Holes" right on the grill. YUMMIE!!
The pool at the Hyatt was a wonderful way to keep cool.
This is the infinity pool. You feel like you are right on the water. You have a great view of the marina from there as well.
Here we are again, Laura is up above, Paul and Faron with dueling fishing poles were busy catching and releasing some monster catfish. Bait? Who needs bait when you have leftover chicken, bratts, hotdogs and shrimp!
Now I didn't actually catch this one but I was helping Paul!

We had a wonderful time and returned one day late because we just couldn't go home yet. We relaxed, Paul went golfling, I went to the spa and had my nails done and it was all worth it. Can't wait to go again. Maybe we will in September.

Tilghman Island

Our first day of travel brough us to Tilghman Island. We had to travel under this bridge you see here. Faron and crew are ahead leading the way with Salacia.

We parked our boats for the night at Tilghman on the Chesapeake.

This was a quaint marina that had a floating dock (which I LOVE!). We basically had the run of the joint because there was no one there!

As soon as we pulled in, it was time to hit the pool and cool off. Here is Faron (we were having a little fun with him). It was, after all, his birthday weekend!

Here is Paul having some fun with his "sword". It was probably a good thing there wasn't anyone around since we caused quite the ruckus as you can see.

Our first "real" trip

As the beautiful sunrise appears over the Maryland horizon, I think of how lucky I am. Last Sunday Paul and I had left the marina early to bring Dennis, Kay and Ian back to town. In the afternoon, a wicked storm blew through and we received the following email from our friend Faron:

"You missed the nasty storms that hit yesterday around the 2pm tmeframe. When the storm hit it had heavy wind and rain that was coming from the ENE right into the marina. We had at least 4' - 5' rollers with no visibility. Both storms lasted about 2+ hours. We stayed on the boat and halfway through the first storm I notced everyone in the clubhouse looking out the windows toward Baltimore Light. Charlie (marina manager) was monitoring channel 16 when he heard the "Mayday" call. There was a 45' trawler that gave the Mayday and fourtunately a SeaRay was close enought to take the 3 persons off the boat before it sank! According to Charlie, after they took the 3 people off the boat, it sank in about 3 minutes. It went down somewhere close to the drop off between SandyPoint and Baltimore Light in 30' of water".

Yesterday I had lunch with a good friend at work. She started to tell me that she received an email from a friend of hers. They live on their boat and on Sunday, it sank! OMG. After a quick discussion, we realize that her friend was the same person that sunk off the coast of our marina on Sunday. Their 12 year old son was the one that called in the mayday and saved their lives. They lost everything they owned that day including 4 cats but they are alive.

I think of how lucky I am.

We had a guest on board the Reel It In Panaroy for the night as JuneBug took the ride with us to the marina since his parents won't be arriving until later this morning. We'll be motoring out soon so more later.