Tuesdays adventures

4-28-09 11:11pm. We are both so tired the only thing we should be doing right now is going to bed but after the amazing day we had today I wanted to get some of this down for you all to read. We started out waking up to the sunrise over the Atlantic ocean. We had to get going early to meet with Captain James/pirate. I say that because as he was constantly jabbering he always referred to himself as Captain James slash pirate or just call me Matt. We met Damian and Anne at the crossroads in palmetto point, and they followed us down to Tarpum Bay and met Matt at D&D restaurant and bar. We headed out to where his boat was in Winding Bay. It was very nice and protected, and at the end of the day we even saw 2 sea turtles and a sting ray about the size of a saucer right where he tied the boat up. We got in his boat (15 footer Dad it was 15 foot and very similar to that boat you had back in the 70’s) and headed out to the opening of the bay into the Atlantic. It was high tide and very rough so we didn’t go out in the ocean. Since the weather wasn’t cooperating we went back to the car then drove to ½ Sound Bay. We got in the water here and I even snorkeled to look for conch. Didn’t see much other than a couple small grouper and a few wrasse and one bone fish. We did stop the car and see an osprey nest which was as huge as you can imagine.

We then headed to Crown point. It was absolutely beautiful. It was on the Atlantic and very rough to but Matt, Damian and I went in and swam the reef. It was amazing!! Parrot fish, butterfly fish, Damsels, Wrasse, grouper, turtles, many others and lots of beautiful coral. We took a Hawaiian Sling to spear fish but, the water was so rough we didn’t get a chance to hit much. Kristi saw a parrot fish that was about the size of a 5 gallon bucket from the beach but that was the biggest one we all saw. We did get somewhat trapped out there because of the current we couldn’t find a good place to cross the reef and get back to the beach. Luckily the girls were still on the beach, and they climbed up a dune to find a place for us.

4-29-09 8.15am Next we went back out to the boat and had an amazing time! We went back out to the mouth of Winding Bay. It was still rough but Captain James/ pirate led us to Staghorn reef which is indescribable…but I’ll give it a shot. We first went to Staghorn Reef. That reef provided a break a nice wave break for the second reef we went to which was Stingray reef, but it was really cloudy from the Atlantic waves kicking up the sand. We did see some great coral and fish here but not like the next one. We pulled anchor and went to stingray reef and all hopped in. It was absolutely awesome!! We went in and Cpt James / Matt led us through the reef, unfortunately we didn’t have the dive camera. There was this incredible crisscrossing coral (staghorn) that resembled telephone poles evenly spaced with about 6 inch gaps between, which of course the fish hid under and in between. We saw many varieties of parrotfish, trumpet fish, a very large barracuda, a 3-4 foot reef SHARK, southern stingrays, yellow stingrays, bonefish, snapper, Nassau grouper (the Cpt speared him for dinner), yellowfin grouper,yellowtail snapper, Bermuda chub, butterfly fish, blue angelfish, queen angelfish, yellowhead wrasse, bluehead wrasse, yellowhead damselfish, threespot damselfish, many gobies, gueen triggerfish, blue and yellow tangs, spotted trunkfish, trunkfish puffers, turtles, and many others.

The best parts of the dive for me were spear fishing, conch hunting, and the reef shark. We had been throught the reef with Matt guiding us and we came up on a juvenile reef shark under a shelf asleep. Matt gathered use all together and at the top he explained it was harmless etc. He then said he was going to pull its tail. No kidding, he went down grabbed its tail and pulled it back. It came flying out of the reef and went within about six inches of the bottom of my fins when it swam under me looking for a place to hide again. Exhilirating! On the way back to the boat I found a grouper about 20 feet down and headed down with the spear, which wasn’t very sharp. I got down within about 4 feet of it and shot. I hit him directly between the eyes, and the spear bounced right off his head! I came up and Damian spent about another 20 minutes chasing it in, out, over, under and around the reef. No luck. But Matt did get that one and you wouldn’t have believed how much fried grouper was on that plate, when Diane cooked it. After this we only had the one grouper so we drift dived letting the current take the boat and us into the bay looking for conch. All in all I got 3 good size ones Damian got 3 and Matt got 2. On the way back we saw 2 turtles and a stingray.

When we got to D&D the owners Donivan and Diane prepared our catch with us and we all ate very well! We had conch salad, which was raw conch cut into tiny pieces with diced tomato’s, red peppers, and onions for an appetizer. Then we all had conch fritters and fries which was just as good as the first time. Last they brought out a huge plate of grouper fingers we just put in the middle of the table and all ate.

As you can tell it was a great day! Grant I cant wait to get home and tell you all about everything. I’ll see you Saturday. I love you buddy.

Daddy/Scott

4-29-09 9:32 am (from Kristi) We are getting tan (no sunburns, which has been great). We found the cutest little bakery in town that apparently sells out of everything rather quickly. We hit it just at the right time and were able to get some fresh bread, a cinnamon roll, one cheese danish and a coconut danish. It was all delicious!

The guy that took us out in the boat yesterday offered to take us again today and only wanted $15 for gas! He figured out that Scott & Damian (the guy we met from NY) were good with the Hawaiian Slings / spears and they might be able to help him get some "summer crabs" (that’s what they call lobsters here when it’s not lobster season). He said he would split the money with us at then end of the day. We are still deciding if we are going to go out with him later. Either way we would need to wait until low tide, which is around 2pm. I think I am ready to try using the Hawiaan sling too. Dad - I know I can do this at the lake in Arkansas now. The dock at Crystal springs rents scuba tanks and spears. Just as long as what ever I bring up on the spear you will remove!! I’ll shoot them, I just still don’t want to touch them!! Well, we are heading to the library now to make this update to the blog. Then either to the beach or out on the boat again. The wind is still strong coming off of the atlantic so we will have to wait until Thursday to get some diving in. We will talk to you soon!

Kristi

PS - I am guessing that we have taken nearly 300-400 picutres . .. So get ready to see LOTS when we get home! HA!!!