While here on vacation, we got a call from hubby's out-of-state brother, informing us that a former co-worker had passed away in his sleep on Tuesday. This guy was Larry's age, a DINK and a little (probably a lot) overworked. Really puts things into perspective. It made us appreciate the rest of the week much more, and it also solidified our retirement decision more than ever.
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Friday, July 27, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Fish On!
We woke at 2:30 am to prepare for our trek to Wanchese, where our whole-day deep sea fishing charter on the Doghouse awaited. Driving thru what we figured to be heat lightning, we arrived and set out on a 62 ft custom built Carolina with Capn. Britt and his first mate, Marc.
It wasn't long before we stopped and the Capn. scurried down the ladder from his post. We started pulling in amberjack...on average 20 lbs...until wet had hit our limit of 8. I should add here that one of the ones that got away was reeled in as half of a fish. The poor thing was eaten by a shark as it was being pulled in. Then we moved on to bigger fish...
Another short ride and we had ourselves a tuna. Yellowfin. Then another, bigger one...about 50 lbs. Finally the tuna run finished with a blackfin.
All the while, the skies were darkening and the wind was picking up. After 2 more fish (mahi mahi) were reeled in, we were told to head to the cabin..the weather was getting worse. We've fished on the ocean in some pretty bad stuff, but in the 20+ years I've been out, this was the worst. My mental rosary was clicking furiously as I tried not to panic. Everyone else in the cabin shared the same concerned look on their face, but no one dared to speak out. I kept telling myself that as long as Marc didn't donn a life vest, or didn't order us into ours, we were ok. Finally, after nearly 2 hours of being tossed about like a cork on what looked to be 10 ft waves and in between thunder claps and lightning on both sides of us, the storm moved on. There was even a rainbow to finalize the event.
We headed to shore, not sure we should laugh it off our or swear off the idea of deep sea fishing. I can say that we all were thankful to arrive back safely.
The day ended with us sharing a meal of tuna and avocado ceviche (click here for the yummy recipe!), followed by packing and freezing at least 100 lbs of fresh caught fish...over half of which was tuna. And then just decompressing and watching video of a couple of the tuna catches.
A good day.
It wasn't long before we stopped and the Capn. scurried down the ladder from his post. We started pulling in amberjack...on average 20 lbs...until wet had hit our limit of 8. I should add here that one of the ones that got away was reeled in as half of a fish. The poor thing was eaten by a shark as it was being pulled in. Then we moved on to bigger fish...
Another short ride and we had ourselves a tuna. Yellowfin. Then another, bigger one...about 50 lbs. Finally the tuna run finished with a blackfin.
All the while, the skies were darkening and the wind was picking up. After 2 more fish (mahi mahi) were reeled in, we were told to head to the cabin..the weather was getting worse. We've fished on the ocean in some pretty bad stuff, but in the 20+ years I've been out, this was the worst. My mental rosary was clicking furiously as I tried not to panic. Everyone else in the cabin shared the same concerned look on their face, but no one dared to speak out. I kept telling myself that as long as Marc didn't donn a life vest, or didn't order us into ours, we were ok. Finally, after nearly 2 hours of being tossed about like a cork on what looked to be 10 ft waves and in between thunder claps and lightning on both sides of us, the storm moved on. There was even a rainbow to finalize the event.
We headed to shore, not sure we should laugh it off our or swear off the idea of deep sea fishing. I can say that we all were thankful to arrive back safely.
The day ended with us sharing a meal of tuna and avocado ceviche (click here for the yummy recipe!), followed by packing and freezing at least 100 lbs of fresh caught fish...over half of which was tuna. And then just decompressing and watching video of a couple of the tuna catches.
A good day.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Vacation calls
Sitting on the deck, soundside, listening to the birds all around and to the family behind. We'll be headed off to church shortly.
The kids all decided they'd like to take a turn at dinners, so the crockpot is full of ribs that'll be bbqd later for us all, compliments of Kirstin and Chad.
We were on track yesterday to arrive at 4. Unfortunately the OBX traffic held us up for about 3 hours. :/ When we finally did arrive, Erin and Gary had picked up the key and got things under control enough that we just unloaded the van and headed to the grocery store.
Oh. Did I mention the rain? It was rain of biblical proportions that we spent the last 3 hours of our drive in. And it continued, along with an awesome lightning show well into the night.
After dining on supreme pizza and caesar salad and everyone's adult beverage of choice, the 8 of us settled around the table to play a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity. Such fun!
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