The career break is coming to an end this week!  We have both been interviewing for jobs over the last month in preparation for returning to the workforce.  I successfully landed a job back in Jacksonville and it starts on October 14th, so we are preparing this week to move back and get started.

Recently went shopping at a mall for the first time since we left, as we both needed new business clothing.  My old work clothes had become unwearable after losing 20 pounds, so I donated it all.  I likely looked a bit unkept during the last couple months of employment in 2012.  Cindy just needed a new wardrobe after wearing them for a couple years and donating most of it.

A lot of folks have been asking if we are sad to be going back to work, but surprisingly not.  We are not happy about ending an exciting chapter in our lives, but we are both reinvigorated and looking forward to new challenges at work, settling down in one place and some positive cash flow 🙂

This experience has been amazing and even lasted a few extra months than we originally planned.  Our break lasted 16 months versus a year.  We plan on summarizing our thoughts, lessons learned and best-of lists in the next couple weeks, then shutting down this travel blog after we export it to a hard copy for reminiscing in the future.

The weather turned a bit windy the last few days of our trip here in Marathon.  Luckily the rain never appeared as forecasted, so we were still able to get out on the boat each day.  Spent Thursday checking out some nearshore gulf spots.  Ended up finding some decent spots and managed to pull out a handful of lobsters.  A large amount of small lobsters in these shallow spots, as compared to the deeper spots we visited earlier in the week.  Friday had similar windy conditions, so we took the opportunity to dive around the seven mile bridge at the noontime slack high tide.  Saw some beautiful ledges, but no lobster to be seen.  Came across an immense goliath grouper, which appeared to be at least 6′ long.  The outgoing tide started picking up around 1pm, so we consulted with the other group and decided to utilize our last day to the fullest and head back out deeper for big lobsters.  Ended the day with 16 nice ones before driving back towards the house.  Stopped at the other group’s house along the way, enjoying a Pina Colada, dip in the pool and the amazing view of the atlantic ocean at sunset.

Another spectacular Keys trip for us this year with great friends, an amazing amount of seafood and good weather.

Able to pull out 13 lobsters from shallow spots and windy conditions

Finally accomplished another goal of mine. Landing a tarpon at the boat. Had a few on the line over the last year, but never got one to the boat.

On Sunday, we had 6 adults with fishing and lobster licenses on the boat, so a total lobster limit of 36 was a possibility.  All things came together nicely and we were able to meet that goal.  We had perfect water clarity, light winds and discovered some new loaded lobster spots!  Brought in some of the biggest lobsters we have ever caught in our trips to the Keys.

The other group came by boat around 6pm to join us for dinner and drinks at the house.  They had been offshore fishing in the morning with some success on the tuna bite, then tried a bit of lobstering in the afternoon.

On a boat!

Lobster bicep curls

Group dinner of lobster, mahi and tuna

On Friday we took the first half of the day to relax. Been quite active each day since we arrived, so the group was in need of a break. Plus, Cindy and I had some phone calls to make for job opportunities!

Other friends from Jacksonville arrived around 1pm. They planned on arriving a day early, staying with us for a night then checking into their house on Saturday afternoon. Helped them with dropping their boat in the water and navigating back to our dock. 5 of us then loaded up the new boat and drove a few miles south to the reef for a shot at Yellowtail fishing. Spent a couple hours, but only caught a few undersized fish and some fresh ballyhoo for bait. Back at the house, we consumed some of the best frozen margaritas while relaxing in the pool. Enjoyed a delicious lobster mac and cheese for dinner.

Weather forecast for Saturday was looking optimal for an offshore fishing trip, so the 3 guys agreed on a 545am alarm. Conditions were great on our sunrise excursion on the dual console Key West boat. Arrived at the humps around 8am and began trolling immediately since we were the first boat. Lots of action to start, but only dinky black fin tuna giving us an arm workout. Something huge devoured one of the bite size tuna and almost spooled my reel when it dove deep. About an hour into our laps around and over the hump we had a double header of mahi. Around 1030 we finally had a good strike and pulled in a nice tuna. A second pass over the same area incurred another good strike, but the man in the grey suit (aka Shark) enjoyed a bite of it. Luckily still pulled into the whole mangled fish. Packed up and drove back to the house at mid-day.

Waking up the last couple mornings to beautiful weather here in Marathon, which can make for difficult group decisions.  Shall we fish the reef, fish offshore or lobster in the gulf??  Based on the upcoming weather forecast of northerly winds, we decided to spend a couple more days of lobstering while the conditions weren’t too rough in the gulf.

On Wednesday we explored some new areas east of us near the Long Key bridge.  This was based on some intel from friends back in Jacksonville who had lobstered back in August.  Arrived for the slack low tide, which is best when trying to snorkel around the bridges.  The ladies jumped in and drifted from the atlantic side back into the gulf.  They didn’t end up finding much other than some jellyfish stings, so we moved onto another area.  Located some historical spots on the GPS, but they didn’t turn out very many keeper lobsters.  Shot a couple lion fish for an appetizer.  A storm was starting to brew near us, so we ran back to the Atlantic side to try some scuba diving on the patch reefs in about 20 feet of water.  Beautiful water with plenty of fish and coral!  The storm kept getting closer, so we decided the safe choice would be to head home for a bit.  Unloaded the gear, then Michael and I headed back out for a sunset topwater fishing excursion.  Kinda slow for most of the time, but the last 20 minutes was action packed with jacks and a couple keeper mangrove snapper.  Missed a few bigger fish as well, likely either tarpon or snook.  Had a first in catching a snapper on a topwater lure.

Ready for a dive

Doing our part with lion fish removal

Lobster gymnastics

Thursday was another great day on the gulf side, trying our best for a limit of lobsters.  Ended back out in some deeper water and marked a bunch of new spots with the great water clarity.  Quite windy for the entire day, but everyone contributed to our success of a limit of 24 lobsters and 2 red groupers!  First fish shot with my grandfather’s speargun, rather than the pole spear.  The speargun worked immensely better than the pole spear.

Definitely the best lobstering and fishing success yet since our Keys trips began in 2007.

Had an amazing couple of days on Monday and Tuesday. The weather started a bit windy but then calmed down nicely each afternoon with no thunderstorms in the vicinity. Hit up some of our existing spots on Monday and limited out with 24 lobsters. Tuesday, we decided to head further out into the gulf to some deeper spots we found in 2012. Never did make it to those spots, as we discovered some great new lobster holes. Limited out again after only 3 hours of effort. Rounded out our catch each day with a speared red grouper. Cooked at home on Monday night with lobster bites and baked cheesy grouper. Tuesday night we took our varied catch of tuna, mahi, grouper and lobster tails to Lazy Days restaurant.

Chef’s creation at Lazy Days

What a catch!

Monday’s salad and entree

Buckets o’ Bugs

Our wayward umbrella

It’s been an unbelievable start to our Keys trip this year with fantastic weather, fishing and lobstering!

Out for a run this morning, needing to run off our libations and incredible cheesy grouper and lobster bites dinner from last night.

We spent 6 weeks in Marathon last year, but planned for a usual 2 week trip this year.  We had chosen a rental home a few weeks earlier along with our friends from Jacksonville.  This house ended up being right across the street from our home last year.  Also coordinated dates with some other friends who plan on spending a week at another rental home nearby.

Packed up the truck on Saturday morning and set a meeting time near Miami with our friends so we could caravan down US1.  Stopped at a dive shop in Key Largo for a few miscellaneous items, then enjoyed a delicious Cuban sandwich for a late lunch.  Pulled into Marathon around 5pm, unloaded our gear into the house and launched the boat just before sunset.  Found the house interior to be an interesting mix of 1980s appliances, nicely remodeled bathrooms and unrelated accents found from an array of flea market vendors, which is about the norm for budget priced rental homes in the Keys.

So excited that she’s snorkeling in the truck

Checked the weather forecast before bed and it looked really nice for a half-day offshore fishing trip.  Planned on an early rise..

Up at 530am on Sunday, excited about catching some big fish!  Weather conditions were looking optimal, so Michael and I loaded the boat and said our goodbyes to the ladies.  A key feature at houses in the Keys if you like to fish is a commercial ice maker.  Gonna take full advantage of that appliance during our stay.  We were met with a beautiful sunrise on our journey southeast to the Maratha Humps.  It’s a well known fishing spot about 27 miles away in the middle of the Gulf Stream.  Arrived at the spot around 8 and starting trolling immediately.  Only about 20 minutes into the fishing, we had our first strike!  Pulled in a nice football sized Blackfin Tuna.  I had never caught a blackfin before, so another fish crossed off my species-catch list.  Spent the next couple hours trolling around the humps, ending the morning with 4 tunas.  Should have been 5, but I let one off the hook.

Started our drive back to the house, as we planned on just a few hours for the trip so we could take the entire group out for lobstering in the afternoon.  Along the way, we spotted a fishy-looking rip with patchy weeds.  Decided to troll for a bit and see if any mahi were around.  Rerigged the trolling rods with ballyhoo’d skirts and dropped them in.  Only took about 10 minutes for the first strike, which was a peanut dolphin.  Felt like a good spot to fish, so we kept at it for another couple hours.  Turned out to be a great spot, catching 7 mahi in total.  Had a couple nice schools come up to the boat and also seeing the fish greyhound out from under the weed patch top snatch our baits.

Ended up arriving back at the house later than expected, but figured a boat load of fish would help alleviate the concerns about our tardiness.  Decided on a quick changeover to lobstering gear, so we teamed up to clean the boat, fillet the fish and reload the gear.  Departed for our second excursion around 2pm, headed for some lobster spots north of the 7-mile bridge.  Spent a couple hours exploring a dozen spots, ending the quick trip with 11 lobsters!

Quite an amazing day of excellent fishing, optimal weather and a half limit of lobsters!  All in our first day here!

After last week’s fishing bonanza, I was excited to get back out to Matlacha to try it again.  Cindy and I got an early start on Thursday, then my sister and I tried the same trip on Friday morning.  She was in town on a work trip and our timing worked out in meeting up at the house in cape coral for a couple days.  We were met with great weather conditions but the worst fishing results possible, as in catching nothing.  So the hottest fishing last week in the same area had turned a 180 and became the slowest fishing possible.  Even so, great to be out on the water enjoying the wildlife, including some friendly manatees.

An early departure

So peaceful on a midweek sunrise

An undercover bird makes sure folks are following the rules

Friendly manatees

Another early departure with a full moon

Golfing buddies