Fort Myers Beach Christmas Boat Parade

This past weekend we sponsored a boat led by Mr. & Mrs. Santa Clause for the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce Boat Parade!

The festive night-time parade departed from Salty Sam's Marina on Fort Myers Beach and featured over 30 boats. "The excitement this event generated is always a special, joyful night many people always look forward to either watch or participate," said Andrew Cochrane, chairman of the board of directors for the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce.

More pictures to be posted soon.

Wonderful day of fishing!

Cruising out into the waters between Sanibel and Pine Island, Captain Noah and First Mate Dave set “Miss Paradise” at anchor for the morning Backwater Fishing Trip. It is a beautiful, sunny morning with no chop, however there is a cool breeze skimming across the waters!

We have mostly families on board today with a few little guys! The Stone family from Michigan has made this an annual event for many years. This year Mr. Stone introduced us to his young grandson, “Ethan” who is on his first salt water fishing trip. Ethan was able to fight, (just a little bit) and with some help pull in several ladyfish with Grandpa at his side. Dad pulled in a beautiful pompano and a jack. “There was never a dull moment and lots of action for us” exclaimed Mr. Stone. “The crew was great!”

We look forward to seeing Ethan and the Stone family for next year’s fishing trip! Thanks to everyone on board today, we all had lots of fun and enjoyed another beautiful morning in Paradise!

Captain Noah

Great Day for Fishing!

The weather was just right and it was a good time had by all!

Here at Adventures In Paradise we offer a lot of cool things to do, one of which is my favorite, the Backwater Fishing Cruise. As the naturalist on the boat today I was able to talk with all of the guests and found that everyone was from out of town, so no locals today, and that we had a group of 4 all the way from Scotland! I get to meet people from all over the world but today was the first time I met a group from Scotland.

Now on to the catch. With a cool breeze overhead the fishing in Pine Island Sound was pretty good. Our catch consisted of lots of trout, pinfish, blowfish, a catfish or two, and a very prized fish, a pompano.
Overall, the guests today had a wonderful morning!
Till next time,
Adios….. Max

Full day of fun!

The guests sure had a great time today as all of our adventures went out today!

The following has been written by Naturalist Andrew.

This morning we fished in San Carlos Bay located outside of Sanibel Island, where we saw several small sharks swim around the boat while we caught Spotted Sea Trout and Ladyfish. We also caught a large southern Puffer and a number of pinfish and grunts.

On the Sea life Excursion this afternoon we went to Picnic Island and caught dozens of Sea Horses and Pipefish in the dip nets, along with Kings Crown Shells, Shrimp, and several different kinds of crabs. In the deep net drag we caught a large pinfish, sugar trout, Striped Burr fish, and a baby Cowfish. On the way home we saw plenty of Dolphins playing in the channel by St. James City.

Until next time..

First Mate Andrew

Lots of Adventurers in for some fun today!

Sealife Encounter: Typical beautiful Day, very warm. Dip net fisherman let off at Picnic Island are busy collecting baby sea creatures. After this we searched and found several Dolphins which gave us a pretty good show. Deep water net drag (Otter Trawl), Mike Cohn the Naturalists talks about the sealife caught in the net..he is holding a small Striped Burrfish, one of the puffer fish. The kids, on board, all wet their hands and helped release our new friends, returning them to their watery home unharmed.

Sunset: A really nice evening with a very comfortable breeze out of the West. Probably the youngest Dolphin Watcher at 3 months old on board.

We had a really nice Sunset!

Another nice day.

Capt. Bob

Great day out!

Fishing: A good day, everybody caught fish. Lady very happy with her first fish..small Sea Trout.

Fish of the day a nice Florida Pompano.

Sealife Encounter: Naturalist Andrew Wooley explaining about Propagules from the Red Mangroves.

After a very entertaining show by our local Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins, we dip net fished at Picnic Island. Kids really enjoyed this.

Another favorite, everyone gathered around the Touch Tank as Andrew talks about the creatures caught in the Otter Trawl net.

Nice weather, nice trip.

Capt. Bob

Oh yeah, the fish are biting!

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

A very good day.

Capt. Bob

Howling winds while fishing today!

Well, at least 20 MPH out of the SW made it tough finding hiding places to fish, but we did pretty well. (Forgot the camera) A Bonnethead Shark was the first fish. The same young man caught a second Bonnethead. We tried a few locations catching a few Spotted Sea Trout until we finally found a nice protected spot yielding lots of fish: Keeper Trout, Sugar Trout, Mangrove Snapper, a Striped Burrfish, and Hardhead Catfish. A very productive fishing day.

Good Weather day this morning!

All passengers, except one, were family and everybody had a good time. We caught a few Catfish starting out and then it got better with a nice Bonnethead Shark.

We started getting some Spotted Sea Trout and a very nice keeper Trout.

Then the smallest of us caught his very first fish, a small Pinfish, which made him very happy!!

We caught a total of 32 fish (Shark, Trout, Ladyfish, Pinfish and Catfish). These folks are repeat customers and say they're looking forward to coming back again next year.

Capt. Bob

Nice Sunset Cruise!

What Rain? We didn't see any, in spite of the forecast.

We had a nice evening. Plenty of Dolphins, many birds feeding on the mudflats with the very low tide, including a Roseat Spoonbill and were treated to a typically beautiful Sunset.

Capt. Bob

Full day of fun!

The rain came and went, and came again making it for a true fun adventure for the guests on the Backwater Fishing, Shelling & Lunch Cruise, and the Sealife Encounter!

The following has been written by First Mate Andrew.

Using live pilchards as bait on the fishing trip this morning we caught several different species of fish including a 22 inch trout, mackerel, ladyfish, and jacks. We saw plenty of dolphins and even a manatee!

Following the fishing trip, we left for the Sea-life excursion where we went to picnic island and found lots of small animals that live in the grass beds such as, pinfish, pipefish, sea horses, spider crabs, and striped burr fish( puffer fish). In the deeper water grass beds we dragged the large otter trawl net and caught a large mangrove snapper, larger pinfish, and a variety of different sized burr fish. On the way home we stopped and saw several dolphins.

I have no pictures to share but Matt, the guide on this mornings Canoe & Kayak Eco Tour, had this to share.

It's a curious manatee! There were several out this morning hanging out with the kayakers.

An overcast and rainy day but everyone genuinely still had a great time on our cruises today.

First Mate Andrew

Lots of happy faces!

On the Sealife Encounter there were lots of creatures scooped up at Picnic Island, even some Sea Horses! The deep water (about 4 feet deep) net drag revealed a lot of Pinfish, Sea Squirts, a Blue Crab, a baby Striped Burrfish Puffer, and MIke Cohns' (the Naturalist) favorite today, a Mangrove Snapper.

This next picture is what we love to see on our Sea Life trips..pure Joy!

Sunset: Well, we're pretty sure the Sun set somewhere tonight, but we didn't get to see it with an unusual overcast sky. No matter. A very low tide, displayed large numbers of wading Birds feeding among the exposed Sandbars.

Most of all, we enjoyed an excellent show of a single Dolphin jumping over and over and over again. No complaints on not seeing a Sunset, it was a good trip.

Captain Bob

Nice time on the fishing!

First fish today, caught by a young lady from Pittsburg, the Baby Black tip!

We had some rain before the trip but it dried up on time. An unusually overcast day with light winds out of the West. The fishing was not great but with 11 folks on board, we did catch 7 Spotted Sea Trout, 6 Crevalle Jacks, 6 Pin fish, and one baby Black Tip shark. We also missed catching some Spanish Mackerel who are expert at biting off the hooks. And Jack, from Florida, caught his VERY FIRST FISH today, a Pinfish, unfortunately we didn't a get a photo... This is Jack posing with another Jack (Crevalle) that his Dad caught.

Not as many fish today, but everyday is a good day to fish..we had a nice time.

Capt. Bob

Great trips this past week!

Several Fishing, Sealife, and Sunset trips in the past week. The weather has been very cooperative, all nice days and evenings. Here are a few of the pictures.

Good time had by all.

Capt. Bob

Nice evening for the Sunset Dolphin Cruise

Westerly breeze making for a very comfortable boat ride. We spotted a large ship in San Carlos Bay. This is an unusual sight in this area.

We traveled around the ship to check it out: "OCEAN" from Salt Lake Utah! Beautiful Sunset over Pine Island. Perfect timing, as we then were treated to an active pod of about a dozen Dolphins. They put on a good show for us. Great trip!

Capt. Bob

Great dolphin show!

On the Sealife Encounter we had a great dolphin show next to the boat.

A nice crowd around Andrew Wooley, today's Naturalist. He's talking about creatures found at Picnic Island and the Deep grass bed net drag.

The kids always intrigued by the creatures in the Touch Tank.

Fishing: Typical Nice Day. No Photos, but enough action to keep it interesting. Good variety: Mangrove Snapper, Spotted Trout, Ladyfish, Crevalle Jacks, Sugar Trout, Spanish Mackerel, Catfish.

Capt. Bob

Weather is great, East breeze made it very comfortable.

Good action with the fishing today.
First fish, a small Spotted Trout

nice Pompano

Lady very happy with her Spotted Trout.

A nice size Spanish Mackerel.

A keeper size Spotted Trout.

Besides many Spotted Trout, other fish caught were, Mangrove Snapper, Pigfish, Pinfish, and Catfish.

Sealife Encounter: Fishermen head out with dip nets at Picnic Island.

Lots of creatures caught in the grass including one of our favorites, Seahorses. After Picnic Island, we found a nice Pod of Dolphins near the boat, and lots of pictures were taken. Our deepwater net drag (about 4 feet) revealed a lot of fish and Blue crab and a small Burfish (puffer).

Capt. Bob

Fish for everyone, lots of Dolphin to see....

And creatures caught in our nets topped off by a uniquely beautiful Sunset.
Here are some photos from the Fishing, Sealife Encounter, and Sunset Trip. Windy but pleasant day. A nice Day.

Capt. Bob