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No Sweat & Lance: California Cave. Photos by Howard Farris

2/21/2015

California Cave is one of the most extensive cave systems in Estill County, Kentucky. It is a very tough cave to locate; situated in a limestone outcropping along a very steep cliff in Alexander Hollow. I first began exploring the cave when I was around 9 years old, going solo into a remote area deep within the cave called "SOAPSTONE PIT." SS is a grand hallway where you can take out time to relax and marvel at nature's secrets. This series of photos is of me and my grandson, Lance; Lance at the time was 5 years old and I took him all the way back to SS; I highly suspect that he will forever own the honor of the youngest person ever to go that far back into that dangerous area; I watched over him like a hawk. I was 55 years old at the time. I am now 63 years of age and will be 64 on August 24. Lance is now one of the very best swimmers in Kentucky, and one of the top swimmers in the nation for a 13 yr. old; he swims on 4 teams and is a very fine person and a dedicated athlete. He happens to be quite a reptile person and has some 20 aquariums scattered throughout our home housing primarily different kinds of snakes.
California Cave is the most special cave of all the caves I have ever explored. I've discovered several passages in it that I named after myself. And in my first novel, THESE PRECIOUS DAYS, the first chapter takes place inside this cave.
The cave derives its name from the strange narrow entrance-way that it owns which happens to be in the shape of California; if you attempt to go into this passage you must turn your body sideways and squeeze your body in as you also lean downwards for some 30 feet or so. From there it is a wild cave with all kinds of tight squeezes and rough crawling.

Recipe: Grilled Lobster Tails

2/21/2015

What better way to impress your grilling friends than to serve up grilled lobster tails. Don’t tell them, but grilling lobster tails is pretty easy to do! And delicious. The hardest part of this recipe is deciding which guests are worthy of this awesome treat. Add a nice steak to the menu and you will have friends for life! Follow these easy steps for grilling lobster tails.

Ingredients :
2 8oz to 10oz lobster tails
4 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove
1 lemon
salt and pepper

First things first
If the lobster tails are frozen, start by thawing them to room temperature by placing them in a plastic bag and then submerge them in a warm bowl of water.

Prepare Basting Sauce
Next create a basting sauce. Melt the butter in a small dish in the microwave, or warm in a small pan and remove from heat. Mince the garlic or use a garlic press to mince the garlic and add to warm butter. Add one tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice and stir.

Halve the tail
Lay the tails bottom side up on a cutting board. Using a large knife, cut the tails in half length-wise. Use kitchen scissors to get all the way through the shell if you need to. Using a brush, thoroughly baste the flesh side of the tails with the butter mixture.

Prep the grill
Clean and oil the grate to prevent sticking. Using a gas grill, turn the grill to medium-high heat. For charcoal, distribute the coals so there is an even heat.

Grilling lobster tails
Once the grill is hot, give the lobster tails one last baste, add a bit of salt and pepper and place them flesh side down on the hot grill. Be careful of flare-ups from the dripping butter. Cook flesh side down for 4 to 5 minutes until light grill marks show. Flip the lobster tails to shell side down.

Baste with the butter mixture several times during the next 3 to 6 minutes until the lobster meat is firm and opaque.

Finally…
Tie on your lobster bibs, heat some butter, and dig in.
Or, better yet, add a few fillets to the grill, and you have a beautiful Surf and Turf.

Red River Gorge, Kentucky

2/21/2015

This cabin belongs to my lifelong friend, Howard Farris; Howard and I have been hiking the woods together all our lives. Howard built this cabin totally himself from logs he hand hewn, etc. His cabin has been featured in several magazines.

Dear Charlie...

2/21/2015

Charlie,

My tribe is all staying at the BREAKERS for he next few days, we had dinner and supper there yesterday, The east wind is coming across the ocean and there are whitecaps as far as you can see. In near shore constant 5 ft. waves rolling in for well over 200 yards out. Still, Barry, Matt and Mike wanted me to take them diving on The Breakers Reef. Also, Lance. Hard and against my better judgment said OK, I had guessed and hoped it would clear up some once we got out far enough which is about 600 to 700 yards straight out. Everyone got geared up and after fighting through the waves we made it out about 300 yards only to find ourselves in huge swells about 6 feet or more, many breaking on top of us.

The water was warm and though they couldn't know it I knew we were in a strong north current. We kept swimming out and I kept screaming at Lance to stay close to me. At least a dozen serious waves collapsed on him and each time he came through them like a trooper. I was honestly amazed at his ability considering that he is 8 years old. Once we were out about 700 yards or so and still in swells I could see it was over 30 ft. deep and we had lost the reef I wanted to be on, at least 400 or more yards north and going strong in the current. I was glad to see nobody panicking and I kept us together as best as anyone could. The water was bad stirred up and visibility was about zero. I saw a guy on a red jet ski and motioned to him and he said we were nearly a half mile out and had better get our ass in. Nothing I didn't already know. I told the group to stay with me and to begin our swim in. I kept on telling everyone to just take it easy and that we would make it. I didn't want anyone getting scared or cramping up. And I was watching Lance like a hawk. Still amazed at how the child was handling the ocean in what was actually a very mature and somewhat desperate situation.

I swam a good deal on my back and made certain that our direction held steady towards shore as it was easy to get off track. After a half hour or so we made it into the crashing waves and then onto shore, still on Palm Beach, but on the north end, close to the Kennedy home. Chesteen was watching all of us from shore and she said she knew we were in a bad situation. I was very relieved to get Lance into shore but really, he handled himself throughout the entire exploit and I never once really did a single thing to help him other than to keep him near. So many times his little face popped up to stare at me for a new command. A real trooper and I know in my heart a real diver in the making. Water is totally second nature for him. Chesteen's brother had motion sickness when we got in and vomited. He remained sick for two hours afterwards and continued throwing up or trying to. He was embarrassed but I assured him that what he had done was nothing to be embarrassed about. It had been a wild dive in the swirling warm ocean. The one thing I kept in the back of my mind was the shark population and how we were sitting ducks and in a perfect situation for them. But I never mentioned it to anyone as it was the last thing I wanted on their minds. Still, I knew the presence was here and It was one of the main reasons I kept us together and my swimming the way I was doing. The whole dive was a total wipe out and I should have never allowed myself to let them talk me into going. I think part of it was due to the fact that I dove the reef this time last year and remembered how beautiful it was. But this new wind coming across the ocean has it all different. I'm seeing very damn few boats, actually none at the moment as I lookout onto the Gulfstream. I'm just very thankful we had no incident out of the dive and I learned more about Lance on that adventure than you might ever dream. He is something else.

Your Most Humble And Obedient Servant,
E. Lowell "Robbie" / " No Sweat " Robbins, Jr.

Lobster Scouting Big Pine Key, Charlie & No Sweat

2/20/2015

Crawl Key, Deep Rocky Channel - Lobstering - No Sweat

2/20/2015

Lobster Hunting--No Sweat--Florida Keys

2/20/2015

Today we got off a little late but was soon back out on flat seas back in the bay area of the Gulf. We were some six miles out from Charlie's home in his Mako. At one point while diving I had a large tiger shark come in on me in fairly shallow water over the grasses. Charlie spotted him from the boat and told me to get in as I was shooting snappers and not thinking much about sharks in 6' deep water. Charlie took a photo of him as he came over the place where I had been snorkeling. From there we went on and I kept getting into lobsters a few at a time and we were all but getting ready to come in as Charlie's son is suppose to come down here sometime this afternoon. Charlie decided that he would pull me behind the boat over some shallow spots he had marked and if I saw anything then I would signal. It wasn't long before I let go of the rope and yelled to him to throw out a marker which is something we use all the time in the current.

When I got back to the boat I told Charlie that I had spotted three ledges absolutely loaded with lobsters, and that many of them were very large. We anchored up and I put on a tank in the 7' deep water I began to methodically "herd" out the individuals with a tickle stick and then net them and them place them in another dive bag that I carry. I took several pictures of the lobsters that you can see in this grouping and Charlie took some photos of me as I was catching the lobsters and coming back on the boat. After I had caught my limit Charlie said he wanted to quit and save this spot for his son in the morning so that we would have a great place to bring him to right on the get go. I agreed but added there was the good chance that all of them might decide to move away from their positions during the night as often lobsters once molested will decided to move out and find some place they feel is safer. All fingers are crossed that they will be there when we go back out tomorrow.

Charlie and I pulled their tails and de-veined them and have them all back in the deep freezers--and I added the fillets of three more red snappers. I think we will be eating snapper, grouper and lobster tonight (again) and that's what we will likely have for breakfast and lunch tomorrow---although Charlie is likely to add country ham to the list as I brought him down three nice sugar cured hams and 2 gallons of moonshine--That's my poor toe that got destroyed during today's lobster assault.

LOBSTER DIVING--NO NAME KEY--NO SWEAT

2/20/2015

Today the water was again calm and visibility good. We went back to the place where we quit yesterday and got more lobsters off the one spot. After that we came back to Charlie's and fixed some sandwiches and then went back out. Most of the new places we went to looked like they had already been "hit" by other lobster hunters as the pickings were slim. But we did get a few more before calling it a day, bringing us up to our lobster limit for the day. Charlie's son, Mark was with us and you can see him in the photos. He and I worked as a team in getting all the lobsters. I did manage to take a few underwater photos of some fish; queen angel, scorpion fish, and a red grouper that kept hanging around me as I was pulling lobsters out of one hole. That's my scratched up arm you see in one photo, results of reaching back into holes to pull out lobsters. We had another shark come up on us today, a hammerhead. I never did see it but Mark complained that it came in very close on him while he was carrying the bag full of lobsters. I was too busy diving to pay any attention to some old shark. Four of us ate lobster until we hurt last night and for desert we had snapper. Later on, Charlie fixed us a real Key Lime pie using real Key Limes which are NOT green. I made a comment about the pie not being green and that was what he said he expected from an ignorant Kentuckian. Later, he confessed that he and Carol had once bought a home in Boca and that they kept getting their limes off the tree against the house and squeezing them and using them in their alcholic drinks. Some time later he learned that those big green limes were actually unripe oranges.
Blessings. .

CUTO KEY--LOBSTER HUNTING---NO SWEAT

2/20/2015

Today Charlie and I got a late start as he had to go into Key West this morning to see if he had been selected to be on a jury---fortunately he got out of it. We hit the water around 1 PM and went about 8 miles out to a place called CUTO Key, a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. In due time as Charlie was dragging me behind the boat with a rope. I spotted a good place that I thought held lobsters. After finding a few there Charlie located another place not far away and within another 2 hours I caught a few more, a couple being 2 ponds each. While I was diving alone I had two different sharks come at me as I was catching lobsters, one being a small hammerhead and the other a black tip. I saw another shark earlier and we saw several turtles in the water today. I continued concentrating on catching lobsters as the sharks swam around me and I kept wondering f they were around then sooner or later bigger sharks would appear. But none ever did. Charlie and I have finally pulled the tails off this last bunch and now have all of them in the freezer---a very large deep freezer that is now completely full of nothing but lobster tails.

SNAPPERS & LOBSTERS, BIG PINE KEY, 2013 NO SWEAT & CHARLIE CHAPPEL

2/20/2015

A photo of the snappers we caught last night and cleaned this morning. Also, we went out scouting for lobsters today and here are some of the photos I took. Weather holding excellent, flat seas and decent visibility--although the water is quite warm on the Gulf Side. The Coast Guard wound up with the bail of marijuana that was recovered. They estimated a $100,000 street value. It was a bail that was wrapped tight and sealed in plastic and tape--had been afloat for some time with barnacles--guessed to be part of an old air drop. When the bail was cut open the marijuana was in excellent condition.

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