8/1/2012 SHARK!

(Fenwick Island, DE)

Bob and I packed a cooler, gathered everything we would need for a day on the beach and headed down to Diane and KK’s vacation house to go surf fishing with them and their brother-in-law, Willie.

It was supposed to be a nice sunny day today but the skies just weren’t showing that. No matter, we were going to the beach!

Diane had the surf tag on her truck so we all piled in and headed to Fenwick Island to access the beach. There were very few trucks on the beach due to the cloudy skies but we weren’t going to let that deter us. Especially me since I don’t have a fishing license and was content to sit in the truck and read my book this cloudy day.

View looking south…



It was time to get some serious fishing started.



When fishing, it is never too early for a beer and there must always be one open according to KK.

The sky really got dark on us for awhile.

Bob getting his fishing line ready.

This was the first time Willie had ever been surf fishing and he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

It didn’t take long and Diane brought in a fish. A king fish I think.

Clouds came and went all day long. Sometimes we’d have a real quick shower and sometimes all five us sat in the truck for 15 – 20 minutes waiting for the sudden rain burst to pass. As long as we didn’t see lightning we were okay.



Bob was just as happy as he could be to be surf fishing. Since we have a truck with dual wheels on the back we can no longer go on this soft sand as we’d bury ourselves faster than you can say, “You gotta a fish on your line!”

It is possible for him to park our truck on one of the crossover areas and walk over the dune but you have to walk so far to get to an open area to fish from that its just not worth it. On a day when the temps hover around 90 degrees or above, and you have a bunch of stuff to carry, walking a distance in the sand can be just too much. The problem is that there are way too many who want to drive their trucks on the beach and using the fisherman’s beaches as their swimming beaches. The rules say that one must be “actively” fishing but there are a whole lot of families on the beach who cast out a line and then stick the pole in a sand spike and call it fishing. It comes down to money to tell you the truth. The state likes selling those surf tags as they bring in a pretty penny and the bureaucrats in Dover don’t care that the buyers aren’t playing by the rules. As you can imagine, this is a real sore spot with true fisherman.

Now I don’t quite understand the stance Diane has taken in this next picture.

As you can see by the dark sky, we were getting ready for another downpour.



Bob casting.

After awhile Bob had one on.

It gave a good fight and took Bob about 15 minutes or so to bring this one in.







Willie had a hard time carrying it out of the water.

Look at the teeth on this thresher shark!

Bob was quite happy with his catch.

…..and the skies turned dark again.



None of us could believe what happened next! Can you figure it out from this picture? (I have no clue why this picture is in black and white)

Maybe this one will help you figure it out.

Ok, I’ll tell you. Diane, KK and I were standing by the truck, Bob and Willie were standing by their poles nearby. Diane’s fishing pole is in a sand spike about fifteen feet away from the truck. Something bit real good on her bait and took off with it. The pole came out of the sand spike and was being dragged down the beach, hence the line where the the pole was being dragged. We all noticed it at the same time and Diane started to go after it but it was just too fast. KK and I are yelling, “Run Diane run!” The guys now take notice and they stand there dumbfounded watching this pole slide into the ocean. Afterwards we all just looked at each other because even though it only took seconds it seemed to have happened in slow motion and we couldn’t believe what we just saw. Luckily, Bob was quick thinking and reeled his line in as fast as he could and cast it back out again across the area where Diane’s pole went in and started reeling in. He caught her pole! Just as we couldn’t believe the fish took it to begin with we couldn’t believe Bob got it back because it couldn’t be seen anymore from the shoreline. Oh wait, it gets better! Fifteen minutes later, Bob is at the truck cutting more bait or getting a beer, whatever, and darn if a fish didn’t take his bait and take off with it too. Sure enough, there goes Bob’s pole into the water. Fortunately, Bob saw it before it disappeared and was able to run after it and grab it before it was out of sight. This was an exciting 20 minutes as you can imagine.

The clouds parted a bit and the sun came out for awhile and all was right with our world. Seems as though that fish came back for more of Diane’s bait but this time she was ready for it.

Yep, another shark!



I think Bob was just a tickled as she was!

GOOD FRIENDS, GOOD FISHING, GOOD TIMES!

7/31/2012 Another Shrimp Boil !!

This summer is just flying by!

Our friends Diane and KK invited us for dinner tonight to the beach house they are renting this week. It was going to be something like hamburgers or chicken or something along those lines. Bob had another idea.

He called them and said, you supply the space and we’ll bring everything needed to make a shrimp boil. So we went shopping and he bought everything needed and loaded up our turkey fryer and off we went.

I didn’t stick around for the prep work because I went to McDonald’s to upload some of these posts. With us being out of bandwidth for the billing cycle I had to go use free WIFI somewhere. Mickey D’s was close….and free.

I wasn’t really interested in the shrimp boil anyway and while at the store I bought a loaf of pumpernickel bread and we stopped at a roadside stand where I bought my first real tomatoes of the season. I feasted on tomato sandwiches.

The beach house has a canal in the backyard just off the deck.

Sitting on the deck, enjoying the company.

I took my turn trying to catch fish from the canal. They were jumping all over the place so how hard could it be?

I cast that line out a hundred times if I did it once. The fish jumped all around my line, swam right passed it like it wasn’t there. It was frustrating to say the least. I’d have enough and put the pole away but the fish jumping just taunted me so I’d get it back out again more determined than to ever pull one out of there. Of course I don’t know what I would have done with it if I had because I don’t touch fish! Turns out, I needn’t have worried about that anyway since I got nary a bite!

Bob and Diane reminisced about past crabbing trips while we sat around the table. These two are such great friends. Can you believe how tan Bob is?

It was peaceful sitting on the deck, listening to the fish jump and then watching the water ripple, listening to the low hum of slow going motor boats as they plied through the canals to go home and dock for the night. Watching the tall sea grass sway in the ever so slight breeze.

It was a very nice evening spent with friends.

7/26/2012 A First For Me

The marina wasn’t all that busy today, at least not for my shift. The high tide fell within Bob’s time at the marina so of course he got real busy two hours prior.

I did something this afternoon I’ve never, ever done before. I got a pedicure.

I would never do this because I thought it would tickle. It didn’t. I cannot believe I have gone all these years and not done this. Turns out….I loved it!

The occasion that brought this on? A beach wedding tomorrow. Since we’re all supposed to wear shorts and tops and flip flops or sandals I thought it was time.

So my friend Cindy and I went together to get mani/pedi’s. The color? OPI’s - I Eat Maine-ly Lobster.

When Bob got home from the marina we hightailed it over to the local VFW club. This is where the wedding will take place tomorrow and we went to help decorate and set up as much as we could.

As it turned out we couldn’t do too much because a dinner was being held and the lodge had plans of doing the floors in the morning. They assured the happy couple that they would take care of linens, the placing of centerpieces, and everything else that would need to be done.

We did get the centerpieces made at least.

Our dear and close friends Diane and KK (Kathy) are being joined in a Civil Union tomorrow.

Keeping with the beach theme, we made centerpieces with large glass bowls, sand, tea candles, seashells and colored starfish.

Those helping with this each had a bag of something that they added to the bowl.

The room where everyone will eat, drink and be merry tomorrow.

The beach where the ceremony will take place tomorrow.

Since we couldn’t do nearly as much as we wanted to we went out to the deck to watch the sunset.

We never did eat dinner tonight. We thought the VFW had “bar food” but it turns out they don’t. By the time we left there it was way too late to eat a big meal. It’s a good thing the festivities are taking place at 12:30 tomorrow, we won’t have to wait that long to eat.