Great Day for a Boat Ride! And a Sea Life Encounter..adventure!

Folks from Rhode Island, Michigan, and Florida were with us. The air was a bit cool (about 71 degrees with a slight breeze out of the SW), water temp is about 65 degrees. The air was clear with a beautiful deep Blue Sky. Passing by Connie Mack Island we observed quite a few water birds: Cormorants, a Yellow Crown Night Heron, an Anhinga, Brown Pelicans, and took a look at the nesting Osprey at the end of our Channel (we'll get a picture next time). Not long after turning on to the Gulf ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway), we encountered several of our wild Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin. Always a joy to see. We stopped at Picnic Island to fish with Dip Nets in the shallows.

A nice variety of creatures: Shrimp, crabs, Pipe fish, several variety of small fish and several small sea horses and interestingly a scorpion fish (haven't seen them for years). Our big net drag in the deeper grass bed turned up some fascinating creatures as well: A Southern Puffer, a small Striped Burr Fish (puffer)and a small fish we we could not identify and several other fish and crabs.

Capt. Bob

A full day of adventure!

What a beautiful day in the dead of Winter! Temps in the 70s and a few scattered clouds against a clear blue sky. Fishing was slow, we did manage to catch a few spotted Seatrout, a few Southern Flounder and a Ladyfish. But it was just nice being out here on the water today. At the end of the trip, a Lady confessed that she had a banana on board..could it be true that bananas will cause a poor day of fishing? :) Here is a photo of the peaceful and scenic cove where we fished for awhile!

This afternoon's Sea Life Encounter had lots of little adventurers on board! They helped Mike the naturalist collect a lot of creatures (fish, pipefish, crabs, and shrimp) from the shallow grass bed. The highlight of the trip aside from the many dolphins we saw, was the huge Striped Burfish (puffer) that we caught in our net on the deeper grass net drag.

This photo does not show how huge he was, but we caught the kids grinning about it and if you look closely, you will also see the puffer grinning as well!

Capt. Bob

Beautiful Sunset Cruise!

A brisk but beautiful evening. A slight breeze out of the Northwest, the sky clear. Shortly after entering San Carlos Bay, the Dolphins found us and spent a great deal of time swimming around and under "Miss Paradise"! They sure got a good look at all of us and at the Sunset and then went on their way. Gentleman on board got some excellent pictures of Dolphins so keep posted for that update!

Capt. Bob

Fishing, Oh Bananas!

A full boat today!

Water temperature is up and breeze out of the West with a very low tide. It was a bit slow for us, even though we did catch some trout (I have to blame it on the banana), It was kind of interesting though because Sean of Ft. Myers caught a fish I hadn't seen before (see picture). And we had a couple of squid come on board hanging onto the shrimp..immediatley squirting out their black ink on the deck.

IMPORTANT: No bananas aboard the boat please. It is a very common superstition among fishermen and the guests on the boat will no longer be friends with you. There are many theories on why people believe bananas are bad luck for a boat. The origin of this belief dates back to the Caribbean trade of the 1700s. The wooden sailing boats of that time had to move quickly to deliver bananas before they spoiled, and fishermen had a hard time trolling for fish on such fast-moving boats, which is how the superstition came about.

Capt. Bob

Great evening out on the water!

A very nice group on board! There were guests from Canada, Virginia, Indiana, North Carolina, Arizona and New York.

A little cool even though the slight breeze was out of the Southeast and changed to the Southwest, everyone was prepared with sweaters and windbreakers. (We Floridians aren't use to this weather!)We circled around Black Skimmer Island and headed toward Texas via the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) directly into the Sun. We could not find any Dolphins, but enjoyed a beautiful Sunset from off Picnic Island. Just as I was beginning to become fearful that there might be a mutiny on board, for not finding Dolphins, Dolphins suddenly appeared on our return in the ICW! Everyone got a good look and lots of pictures of our incredible Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins!

Capt. Bob

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!

We had quite the group fishing with us on this first day of the New Year! They were from St. Louis, Sanibel, Tennesee and Louisiana. Mike, a graduate of Miami University and helping out during the Holidays, was born and raised on Sanibel Island, and was our First Mate today.

The weather was great as we fished near a couple of mangrove islands .. upper 70s with a a clear blue sky and a slight breeze out of the South East. We caught mostly spotted sea trout, whiting, a grunt, a flounder, and even a blue crab grabbed onto a line, which gave us a little chuckle.
On the way back to the Marina, we watched several dolphins swimming about, providing an entertaining and pleasant end to our trip.

Capt. Bob