Seattle Guest.

We had a wonderful weekend visitor a few weeks ago. How lame of me not to get up this post. Kevin was here from Seattle! We were so missing Mandy though and hope that they can make it back to DC in the spring to enjoy the boat with us. Kevin and I were up early to catch the rising sun. Being that he is already an early riser, it seemed easy for him but I still couldn't help to think that it was really only 3am his time but damn (as usual), it was worth it.

I find that seeing that sunrise makes it all worth it. While I don't get up for it every weekend, I try to. It is really one of God's true gifts. People that know me, know that I don't but anything on my fridge at home. No magnets, no cartoon cutouts etc (it's a clutter thing - thanks Pete). But for the past few months, I've had one picture on that fridge. A picture of the sunrise over the Chesapeake Bay.

Later, we went for a cruise. (It was very windy in the morning so fishing was out.) We had seen this crazy huge sailboat from off in the distance so we went exploring to see it close up. I think Kevin enjoyed our cruise even though it was kinda short. We did get really close up to that sailboat and boy was it magnificent.

After we got back, it was the day of the annual crab feast at the marina. Kevin was happy to join in with us and eat all the crabs we could clean and drink and be merry. It was so great to catch up with him. The sun was shining and we talked about everything under the sun. He had to head out that day and see other friends before heading back to Seattle so we said so long and see you soon!

We had wished that Kevin was able to stay with us one more day because OF COURSE, the next day was a great day for fishing. The sun was shining and phew, it got even a little hot. Paul was getting his line chomped in this picture. Not much bait left is there?

Rain rain go away...

We went out to the boat on Saturday. Boy did we get some rain. I was hiding in the boat. Paul and Faron thought they would be able to hide under the hatch of the truck until the rain started going sideways. Later that day, the sun came out and we took a quick trip out and caught some bait for Sunday.

Sunday was quite miserable. We headed out anyway on Faron's boat. The cloud cover made it seem much darker than it really was. There were a few lone fisherman out there (and us).

We stopped for a fuel run. Here is Paul getting the lines tied up to go.

All in all, we only caught 2 fish but we had a quiet day of fishing fun.

Crazy Fish

There aren't any cute pictures of us holding up any fish this week. Why? Because the fish were so crazy, they were basically jumping in the boat. We were too busy catching fish to take pictures. Let me tell you this... there was more blood on that boat than I have ever seen. It was a long cleaning day.

The day after...

The day after Hanna proved to be a glorious day on the Chesapeake. It was as if she never existed. The sun was shining and the boys were smiling!

The fishing "lords" were with us this fine day as Junebug pulled in a 20" flounder. She was a beauty! I pulled in a couple of small ones but those had to go back because they were too small. They are tough to catch but boy are they yummie.

Did you know that flounder have some pretty sharp teeth?

We got into the blues pretty good (caught around 20) and then all of a sudden there she was.... Paul had caught our very first SPANIARD (that's Spanish Mackerel for you non fishing folks). We were very exicited. This fish is very beautiful. She was also very good to eat! YUMMIE!

Around the time that we were hooking up all those blues, we started to see sting rays. Thousands and thousands of sting rays. These are just some beautifully dangerous creatures. The way they glide in the water and these were funny because they were in huge packs all around where the fish were. I tried hard to get a picture but I was just so excited, it was pretty hard. I did (by accident) take this very very short video but you can see what I'm taking about here.

To end our glorious day, we had the smoothest water we've seen in quite awhile. Smooth like a babys bottom.

Well Stimpy.... dis is the life.

Tropical Storm Hanna!

We spent the day at the marina keeping our eye on Reel it in Panaroy ensuring she was okay.

The fruits of our LABOR...

This is why we work, welcome to our Labor Day weekend.

Friday was a washout so we left Saturday and headed to Great Oak Marina in Fairlee Creek. It has quite the tricky entrance/exit which is hard to explain. Boats hug the shoreline on the right and make a 90 degree right hand turn to get into the creek. While you make that turn there is quite the current that can, often times, scoop up control over the boats and take them away. There are a crowd of people watching all the boats maneuver this turn that give you a scoring system depending on how well (or not so well you do). I think we got an 8 but I was very busy checking things out.

Below is a sailboat that just couldn't make it. He got stuck in the middle of the very small channel and blocked it up for hours. They had to call the tow boat for help.

Looking around for the perfect spot. There were raft ups everywhere.

Morning sunrise from the back of the boat. Does it get any better? It's certainly quiet at 6:15 in the am.

Midmorning nap. Phew it's so much work out here. All this fun and sun!

Hey! Wanna go for a ride?

How about a slow ride with the Kunert's - we're heading off to the beach.

Ahhhh, finally some knitting time.

Danny, Faron and Junebug head out to make a trash run! What do you think we do with the trash we make?

Our raft up! Reel It In Panaroy, Double Duty, Salacia, Final Touch, & Fun n Sun.

Oh what a weekend!!!

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.