BOATING ALONE

Captain Skip Bradeen is a local charter boat captain that has a radio show on twice a day here in Islamorada. His show is often broadcast from his boat while fishing. He gives us updates on weather and fishing. When Jimmy Johnson, the famous football coach is here fishing, he fishes by himself.  Captain Skip often comments about Jimmy fishing alone and wishing he would take someone with him or at least wear his life jacket.

I've never thought a lot about that until this trip. FF III and I had not been out since September. How is that even possible? After arriving this time (see previous post) I cleaned her up really good. I got the tackle squared away and fired up the engines to make sure she was ready to go. Now what? CJM was not here yet and it looked like there was one calm day in the next several. I had to prove to myself that I could do it. Just disconnecting all the lines and the power cord and getting her ready to go is quite an ordeal. Not to mention backing it into the slip and catching all the lines and getting her tied back up without banging into something. So, what the heck I decided to go for it. I decided to leave really early while it was still very calm.

The departure went without a hitch. I was soon running out into the blue water. Now for the first big test, setting the fishing tackle up. No big deal, just put her in autopilot going very slow and go down below and put the lines out :-) That's when it dawned on me....if I stumble going down the steps or if I slip when I'm leaning over to put out the lines on the riggers....it's over :-( Sailboaters that sail single handed use safety tethers to attach themselves to the boat anytime they move around. That is why sailboats have those cables that run pretty much around the perimeter of the boat, an easy place to attach your tether anytime you need to. Guess what, fishing boats don't have those. That's when I decided to get out a life jacket. I did not want to wear the old May West type around in case anybody saw me so I dug around in my ditch bag and found a wearable inflatable lifejacket.

Things were going very smooth and then I found a weed line, Oh boy:-)

I fished up one side and down the other side of this weed line and there were no fish :-( Only fish I did see was a huge shark. He was cruising the weed line probably eating the fish that I was hoping to catch. He was at least running them off. That's when I had the next revelation.... If I fall overboard and my trusty lifejacket inflates, I'm going to be bobbing around this weed line waiting for somebody to pick me up or for this shark to eat me. The fish weren't biting so I decided to reel up and head in. Not saying I won't do it again if the opportunity arises. I may have to rethink that tether idea though :-)

These pictures are for Karen Eubank. This is the life jacket you can wear if you ever become brave enough to climb on FF III. Not too obtrusive but will do the job. I have a spare cartridge so you can fall overboard a couple times :)

CTM

MY LITTLE DINGHY

Well our little dinghy was in need of some TLC and we needed to replace the motor on one of our pontoons at home, so Christmas Day, CJM and I headed out on a road trip to bring her home. Nothing is ever simple for us, so after picking up the boat, we then proceeded to bar hop our way from Islamorada to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl. We stopped at Bert's Bar in Matlacha, Florida to see Jim Morris.

Next stop the Florabama, the bar Jimmy Buffett sings about in Bama Breeze. Then on to Lulu's, Jimmy's sisters place in Gulf Shores.

And finally, we stumbled into the new Margaritaville Resort and Casino in Shreveport, Louisiana. Must be the best kept secret in Shreveport. The Cotton Bowl, of course, was one of the highlights of the trip as Mizzou proceeded to beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys 41 to 31:-)

We made it home and this is the first picture I got to take of TT FF III in Missouri.

I pulled the old engine, controls, steering cable, fuel lines and battery. We then flipped the boat over and proceeded to wax her bottom.

With a fresh bottom job, she had to be put back together. With Dave Schlicht's help, we got the new engine on and ready to go.

After packing the car with more than the legal limit of beer, and apple pie, and rat poison and figuring out how to bring a bicycle along, I was ready to head out.

I was making really good time until on the Florida turnpike as I was running along about 75 mph and talking to CJM on the phone, some people pulled along side and were waving their arms and pointing at the trailer. I looked in the mirror and the bike was gone. I yelled, "Oh s**t!", hung up on CJM and pulled over. The bike was still attached to the saddle it rides on, but the whole bracket had slipped off the rack and was laying on the tongue of the trailer. Thank goodness for all the bungees and cable locks or I might have caused a major traffic jam. Only thing damaged was the rear tire must have been dragging for a while as it was worn down and had a hole in the side. Other than sitting on the edge of my seat and stopping every hundred miles or so to check, the trip was uneventful the rest of the way.

After some clean up and a couple more bugs worked out I tried her out.

Happy Hour at Hog Heaven..... :)

Once CJM arrived we ran to Loralei for Happy Hour....about half as far as Hog Heaven.  Unfortunately we failed to notice that the wind had shifted and that everyone else in their dinghys were long gone.  I had to keep assuring CJM on the long wet ride home that "I might not have the biggest boat in the marina, but I've got a Whaler for a dinghy!".......she'll NEVER sink!

CTM