We live in an inland town – if we drove to any coastline, the minimum time would be about 24 hours of straight driving. Unfortunate for a family who loves seafood. My husband, Roger, is a fan of cioppino with all these shellfish in it. For myself I prefer fresh caught seafood, tuna, or marlin just caught that day and lightly cooked on the grill. What a delight! Grocery market fish is good and nutritious, but the fresh caught is heaven! Last year we decided to indulge these tastes and try the Florida Keys we’d been hearing so much about, for our annual seafood run. We would find tropical accommodations for our family and our in-laws and rent a 225 horsepower Yamaha 4-stroke motor fishing boat for our fishing excursions.
The Florida Keys accommodations we found were truly delectable – I couldn’t get enough of the palms and evergreen trees and the ferns! What a delight to my winter weary soul! You could just walk out and sit on the beach and stare at the waves, or go swimming. And the sunsets! The colors! But I’m getting off the track – I was going to tell you about the fishing. The people we rented the Florida Keys accomodations from told us they would have a 21-foot guest boat for us all ready when we arrived, and they did. Roger and Grandpa decided to go out right away and check out the boat and the water. The boat was kindly gassed up for us, and it had fishing rods and tackle and an ice chest – all just waiting for the first catch of the day. Our oldest son Tuck, just turned nine, was determined to go with them, and Grandpa volunteered to keep him in his sights, so off they went – high as kites, not on beer, but on the sheer joy of gliding over the water, smelling the slightly fishy tang of the salt water, with Tuck hanging over the side of the boat gazing into the crystal clear depths.
For our first Florida Keys dinner we had fresh tuna – you have no idea how delicious it is on the day it is caught! And have you ever enjoyed tropical fruits in their own homeland – bananas, papayas, mangos – we had stocked up on these delights. They were ripe and luscious.
The next day, the guys decided to go a little farther afield (or should I say awater?). Grandma and I were anxious, but we really didn’t want to spoil their fun. Fortunately we had thought to provide ourselves with a hand held GPS that would help them keep tabs on their location. Grandpa was a mining prospector and so understood the coordinates without a learning curve. They cruised the shallow waters for a while, then ventured out into deeper waters. The fishing boat had a depth fishfinder and they were looking for the more exotic fish. Tuck was the first to see the dolphin. He screamed with delight and could hardly bear the excitement as other dolphins surfaced and swam alongside the boat, diving and cavorting in the water..
So sorry you guys couldn’t be with us on this one! For consolation, we’re sending you a two-hour video so you can see all the things we did and saw. Wanna join us next year?
