Next to last day - Full time Kayaker

Picked up a couple dozen shrimp early this morning in case the latest invasion of scouts were to take them all before I got some -- then, dropped the bait bucket with the shrimp in the canal by the bridge along with a chum bag I had set up.  While getting those set and tied to the bridge, I met a kayaker who has been out since July paddling from Cincinnati, Ohio -- down the Ohio River and over to the Tennessee River, connecting to the Intracoastal waterway.  He had just paddled across the Florida Bay yesterday from Flamingo in the Everglades -- a 27 mile stretch of water, mosquitos and shallow water.  Certainly makes RVing look like the life of luxury by comparison.

My Gin and Tonic

I went looking for the kayaker at Sunset Point and to the Cantina afterwards to get his name and his blog information but, couldn't find him so will continue the search tomorrow morning -- hope I catch him before he heads to Key West (his next destination from what I learned while talking to him this morning).  He had stopped here to do laundry and get cleaned up -- think he took a swim in the pool too from what I could tell when I last saw him (as I attempted to catch more Snappers).

Couldn't resist trying to catch those more hard to find "keepers" as I had seen a small school of large ones under the bridge when I talked to the kayaker (name to come, I hope).  Came back for my fishing rod and immediately hooked a really nice keeper (compared to the numerous runts lately) but, he flopped off as soon as he hit the top of the rocks near the bridge before I could get my hands on him.  The commotion seemed to scare off the rest of the school and I left with only the vision of that 12 or 13 inch fish being so close.  Only thing I could catch after that were two ugly, large Puffers which at least were entertaining enough to watch when they puffed up to the size of a cantalope -- fun to throw them back in the water and watch them float upside down until they deflated themselves and swam back to the bottom.

More small Snappers completed my two trips to fish the canal -- between getting things ready for my departure from Fiesta Key on Monday morning.  Brushed the outdooor carpet, rolled it up and stowed it away, put away the small grille and a couple of the chairs, stowed my printer in the travel location and cleaned, straightened the mud flap I had to take off in Key Largo.  Now cooking a pot of brown rice with onions, peppers and tomatoes to go with one of the Snappers cooked last night.  More wine and just chilling out for the evening as I wait for the rice to finish cooking.  Cheers to you all and hope you have a great weekend -- I am for sure.


Threat of Thunderstorms tonight.


Threat of rain had me attempting to get outdoor things cleaned and stowed before they could get wet and require extra drying time or have to be put away wet.