Today was opening day of lobster season. At daybreak we went head on into a horrible storm out at sea . Visibility where I dove was nil--less than 3 feet and for a large part of the day I was diving in very hot water with lots of green algae in he water and all over the reefs. We had to work extra hard today to get lobsters. Reports from other divers are that the numbers are down and so is the size. Last year's lobster harvest in Florida was an all time record low. The sun came out at about 10:00 AM and the diving went well after that. We moved out of the algae area and got back in better water later in the day.Chesteen and Lance are flying in on Friday. Also, Mark's son and his son are driving down here on the same day. On Sunday, Chesteen, Lance and I will be going out through the Dry Tortugas, some 70 - that is 70 miles south of Key West out in the ocean and also now a national underwater park and also where a civil war fort is located where Dr. Mudd, the Doctor that assisted John Wilkes Booth, was imprisoned. We cleaned all the lobsters this afternoon and are calling it a day as both of us are worn completely out.
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We got out a little late this morning. Dove mostly in shallow waters out back in the Gulf. Of the first lobsters I caught this morning I had to throw every one of them back as they were just barely illegal in size--a real heart breaker. But we got the limit and I got one lobster that was really nice weighing about 2 and one half ponds which is big for the Keys. I swam over a big turtle under one coral head and at another coral head I found 7 queen angel fish of all sizes playing around with each other. You'll see in one photo where Charlie's pet iguana is saying good bye to us at the ck in front of his home--on the canal. I have a "trap line" going right now to catch some iguanas when Lance gets here--baiting it with cantaloupe. The lobster hunting thus far has been much tougher than last year as I am having to work hard to find lobsters that are legal size. There appears to be less boats out looking for lobsters but there also appears to be many more traps that have been set than I have ever seen in my life. We are planning to eat a bite just now and will be back out on the ocean possibly Th's afternoon. You can see in one photo what the sunset looked like last eve--I took that photo from the apex of the SEVEN MILE BRIDGE that runs between Marathon and Big Pine. I found one spot today that looked to be holding some lobsters of which possibly a few were legal in size--but only marked the spot with Charlie's GPS as we intend to go back to it when the kids get here--hopefully the lobsters will not move from there or any other diver finds it during the time period. Photo of my grandson and I lobster hunting in Big Pine Key. Photos of Chesteen, Lance and I almost 100 miles below Key West at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas where Sam Mudd--the MD that helped John Wilkes BOOTH's hurt leg--note the fancy brickwork in one photo--that was actually the very cell where he was kept. We snorkeled around the old fort as you can see. Other photos of us today in Key West at Hemingway's House and pool--with his 6 toed cats, etc Some photos in Hemingway's bedroom----my grandson, Lance, with a 6 toe sleeping on the bed. Today we got the limit in lobsters and I shot 3 cudas and 3 mangrove snappers---which we are fixing for supper---the cuda meat actually looks better than the snapper meat. The wind is still holding steady but the water cleared up a little today. It was a good day as very few divers are out due to the wind, basically the die hards. We may retire to the NO NAME PUB after the cuda meal. Pictures of us eating cuda last night which was absolutely delicious. Also showing some of the lobsters I caught this morning, many big ones in the pile. And also I shot a 25" red grouper which is in some of the photos--beautiful meat. And also, "SCREECH" which is Charlie's main live in, his conure that is much of Charlie's life. The wind is still up but the visibility was remarkably clear today. I could have shot a lot of hogfish today but passed them up to catch lobsters. Very few boats were out today. We saw the Coast Guard plane buzz low over us several times looking for a diver that got lost yesterday. There's a chance we will be gearing back up for tonight to snapper fish the reef some 5 miles out. |
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