Spent the last two mornings and early afternoons surfing with the family. 

On Thursday afternoon, we drove up to Cocoa Beach.  Planned to spend about a week seeing Cindy’s family and attending a baby shower for her sister.

Up early on Friday due to the tantalizing surf forecast.  We hadn’t surfed since our trip to Costa Rica back in February.  Our boards were still unwaxed since that return flight.  Spent the first hour waxing up my board, then dressed and lathered up with sunscreen.  Had forgotten my surf hat in cape coral, so I wanted to make sure my face wouldn’t get scorched.  Conditions were quite nice with offshore winds and a 2-3 foot swell.  A number of people were already on the lineup by 830am and the tide was just starting to come in off the low.  Cindy joined me about an hour later and we both enjoyed some nice rides before the tide turned the waves into unrideable mush.  Scarfed down a huge lunch back at the house before driving over for our next activity of a round of golf with Cindy’s dad.  Great day to be out on the course and we all shot well!

Finished 18 just before sunset

Up early again on Saturday, even after a late-night airport run to pick up Cindy’s sister and brother-in-law.  Walked down to the beach at 730 for another surf session, but found it to be unrideable on the outgoing tide.  Walked back to the house to check on the other surfer’s status.  Matt and I walked back down around 9 and found the conditions had improved, so we paddled out.  Cindy joined us about 30 minutes later.  Once the tide filled in around 1030, we started catching some better waves.   Cindy and I surfed til about noon, then the rumbling stomachs needed some sustenance.  Back at the house, we grilled mahi sandwiches and enjoyed an afternoon of college football.  Great to be back in Cocoa Beach with the family and surfing again!!

Grocery run is done on the beach cruisers in CB

Up early again today and did a quick check out the front window for the weather conditions.  Looked much better as the wind had laid down after blowing strong the last couple days.  Dressed, packed, loaded the yak and headed back up to Matlacha.  Tides looked good as well, with the outgoing tide starting at 745am.  Peddled my way north up to the same area I had fished on Sunday.  Some bands of rain on the horizon with a mostly cloudy sky.  Threw top water again the entire trip since the clouds kept the fish up at the surface, whereas they normally head for deeper water or some type of shade when the sun gets more overhead.  Tough for a fish to be out in the direct sun when they don’t have eyelids nor sunglasses.

Tons of action the entire fishing trip from around 7am until 11am.  Started with a couple misses, assuming they were nice snook based on the sound they made striking the lure.  Next one was a real nice fish that hooked up for about 20 seconds but then maneuvered itself off the hooks.  Amazing considering there around 2 sets of treble hooks on these top water lures.  Snook do have paper-thin mouths though, so it makes it a bit tougher to keep them on.  Next fish was a keeper red!  Put him on the stringer and continued to a new area since a HUGE school of jacks showed up to destroy all the bait in the area..  

Found my way around to another side of the mangroves and noticed a fishy-looking tide rip and some fish feeding around the area.  Two major strikes by smallish tarpon, a ladyfish and then a beefy 27″ redfish.  Since you can only keep 1 redfish in this part of Florida, I swapped out the redfish to keep the bigger one, which is a benefit of keeping them alive on a stringer.  Next fish seemed like a decent snook, even jumping a few times.  But it eventually cut the line and took my lure on a jump near the yak.  Caught a few more undersize snook, but then things slowed down a bit on the paddle back to the boat ramp.  Looking forward to redfish dinner tonight in Cocoa Beach!

A good problem to have, deciding which redfish to keep..

New top water lure known as the Rave Weasel

September and October are definitely the low season for Florida, especially the southwest part of the state.  Took advantage yesterday with an amazing deal for a round of golf.  $10 per person with a cart to play a good course in good shape.  Saw maybe 4 other people playing the course the entire round and we had some good shots!  It’s really great when you can enjoy so many activities together with your spouse.

Cindy had found some unused gift cards while organizing some stuff we had packed away last year.  Amazing what can be stored in those suitcase purses.  After golf, we enjoyed a couple cold beverages and dinner at Outback then a movie at the nearby theater, using up a couple of the cards.  Hard to remember the last movie we saw at a theater.  We are still on the 90% pescatarian diet if you wonder, but Outback has surprisingly good shrimp and mahi dishes. I indulged in a tiny steak, but did notice a slight meat hangover this morning.  So a run and laps in the pool were needed this morning to clear it up.

Early rise for a run down to the cape coral yacht club beach

Both lost a couple balls on this water-laden par 3

Meat recovery is a plate of broccoli and kale for lunch

Enjoying boating (on the dinghy) in Cape Coral on a Monday in September, when nobody else is out here!

Taking the boat out of summertime storage

Fun-fighting jack crevalle while trolling the river

South Florida has had so much rain this year, they have been releasing large quantities of water from Lake Okeechobee since May. It’s really caused some major problems on the east and west coasts, since all the water now must drain out thru either Saint Lucie river or the Caloosahatchee river. The sugar farms and tamiami trail block the natural flow of drainage thru the Everglades. The water is almost black in color and loaded with immense amounts of nutrients from the farm runoff. Causing real havoc for water quality and fishing near each river. Some amazing photos taken on the east coast, where you can easily see this black river drainage polluting the clean blue ocean water.

So much fresh, nutrient-laden water here, that u have mass blooms of algae in stagnant canals

Up really early this morning to get on the water for some fishing action.  Days are still getting too hot for fish to be active, so early or late in the day is preferred.  Storms have been rolling through each day, but seem later than usual.  Loaded up the yak and said goodbye to Cindy for a solo adventure.  Appeared to be one of only a handful of people driving around at 5am on a Sunday.  Launched the yak at the same park that we visited on Friday.
Out into open water around 6am.  Still quite dark in the sky as the sun isn’t rising until around 7am.  Made my way north with additional light slowly building in the eastern sky.  Impressive stars to be seen with a clear sky and minimal light pollution from fort myers.  Paused for about 10 minutes once arriving near a previous fishing hotspot.  Could hear the mullet starting to awaken and something larger beginning to chase them around the oyster bars.  The outgoing tide was underway, so the oyster bars were just beginning to appear.
Stood up on the yak to start casting a top water plug.  Not much more exciting in fishing than seeing a fish thrash a top water lure in low light conditions.  On my second cast, kaboom!  Pulled in my first snook ever!  Had to maneuver a bit around the oysters, but got it in and released it successfully.  Snook season just opened up on 9/1, but it’s a very small range of sizes that can be kept.  Major freezes a few years ago killed a bunch of snook, so they had kept the season closed completely in southwest Florida until this year.

Ended the morning with 3 undersize snook and a hefty jack crevalle.  Missed something really big around 9am..likely a legal snook.  A great morning to be on the water.  I was heading home when most folks were just getting started around 10am.

Departed Jacksonville on Wednesday afternoon.  Stopped in Gainesville to see family and enjoy a delicious dinner.  Pulled into Cape Coral around 130am.  Slept in a bit on Thursday, then undertook our unpacking of the truck.  Amazing how much stuff we fit into it.  Felt good to be back “home” after 5 months on the road.

Dance party in gainesville

Baked some kale chips

Broccoli, potato and onion filling for tacos

Cindy’s brother drove up on Friday morning to join us for a kayak fishing trip near Matlacha.  Great day to be on the water.  Caught a selection of fish, saw dolphins chasing bait and tarpon feeding at the surface. 

Spent the late afternoon with a much needed dip in the pool then a biking bar tour of Cape Coral. Met a friendly German couple who taught us how to cheers in their native language.  Always an interesting crowd in this area.

Major downpour at our last stop, the infamous Tiki Hut

Spent the last couple mornings trying our luck fishing nearby on the Saint John’s River.  Good action on trout and a surprise flounder who joined us for dinner.  Joined some neighbors at Fort George on Sunday for a boat trip out to the sandbars. Ton of holiday boaters, but luckily found a quieter spot around the corner.  Felt great to be swimming in salt water again.  Need to invest in a new hat though, as my skin hasn’t seen this type of sun for awhile.  Cindy is already tanning back up.

Only things left to do is some kayaking and surfing, then we’ll be re-acclimated to our Florida lifestyles.

Nice to catch a fish bigger than the 12" rainbow trout

Ladies' fishing afternoon

After catching so many fish, time for a covered nap

Booked our last career break excursion today.  Spending two weeks in the Florida Keys at the end of September before we head back into the working world. The job searches are underway…

Enjoyed a long evening in Charleston on Thursday.  It’s a great town that reminds me of a larger St Augustine with great history, old architecture and a wide selection of bars and restaurants. Rode the city bus down from our hotel into downtown, then took a cab back home. Met some really nice folks while out on the town. Know that we are getting close to home, when you can just say we are from Jacksonville rather than Florida.

Palm trees remind us of home

You've arrived in the South when you see the world's largest sweet tea dispensers

Delicious seafood!

Nursed a bit of a hangover on Friday morning with some laps in the hotel pool. Back on the road around noon. Keeping Subway in business this week with a common theme of veggie subs for lunch. Made good time thru Georgia and into Florida, arriving in Jax around 4pm.

Ahhh, afternoon thunderstorms

When did a medium soda become 100 ounces?

Our good friends offered to have us stay for the long weekend in Jax. Feels good to be back!

Saturday morning haze with glassy conditions

Fishing here is still excellent!

An evening boat ride

No fish on this trip, but a beautiful sunset

A future bungee jumper practicing before bedtime

Pulled into Charleston, SC this afternoon.  Checked into our hotel and rode the bus downtown to see some sights.  Back to hot, humid and salty air!

View over the bay and USS Yorktown