old VW bug towing a new one...paradoxical?

Drove up to jacksonville this morning from crescent beach. Cindy had a doctor appointment, can check on the rental house and visit some friends. Don’t miss the horrendous traffic on 95! Headin over to michael and vicki’s later today. Loading up the boat and gear for the upcoming Keys trip. House is all booked and can’t wait to get down there on saturday to enjoy 6 weeks of fishing, diving, kayaking, lobstering and exploring. Plus our bodies are quite fatigued from surfing the last 8 out of 10 days, so a change in activity is welcomed.

Been about a week since the last post, unsure what our regular readers have been doing every morning without a fresh update on our happenings 🙂

Weather has been fantastic here in Cocoa Beach for  the last week and some nice surf swell rolled in starting earlier this week so we took advantage and have been surfing just about every day for 3-5 hours each day.  Cindy and I are definitely in great shape between surfing, kayaking and still maintaining our pescatarian diets.

Cindy’s brothers were in town this past weekend for Labor Day and we had some nice afternoon surf sessions.  The bigger waves rolled in starting on Tuesday, but the wind was still onshore making it pretty rough.  Cindy and I launched the kayaks into the 1000 islands again on Tuesday, then I took a yak out early on Wednesday morning for some topwater action since Cindy was taking the day to talk to her mom’s classes at Cocoa Beach High School.  Thursday and Friday were optimal days for surfing with offshore winds and we got two great sessions.

Been wrapping up most days with frosty session beer(s) and cooking up something tasty in the kitchen.

Cocoa Beach Surfing Redux from Chris Schaul on Vimeo.

Some people have asked if we have been bored while in Cocoa Beach the past few weeks, heck no!  Let me consider a list of our activities the past few weeks:

• Surprise Birthday Party
• Spending quality time with family
• Surfing
• Kayak Fishing
• Riding around on beach cruisers
• Golf
• Home cooking

Not sure there’s many things in our lives we would rather be doing!

Waves were blown out yesterday, so we decided on another kayak fishing trip for the day. Had trouble finding bait early on, so we paddled around for a couple hours. Found some really clear water on the southwest end of the 10000 islands. Never seen such clear water in the banana river, but i would attribute it to the recent southerly winds blowing clean ocean water up from Sebastian inlet. We were able to see a bunch of fish, but didn’t bring the right bait for Sheepshead which seemed the most plentiful.
Ended up being slower than Tuesday, but that was an unusually productive day of catching.

We were able to get out of the house today since the storm moved further west overnight. Loaded up the kayaks and headed over to ramp road in cocoa beach. Water was quite high and turbid from all the recent rain and wind, so expected to be catching a trash can slam. (trash can slam is catching 3 inedible fish species such as catfish, ladyfish, bluefish or jacks)

Bait was quite plentiful once we got out onto the sandy flats of the 10,000 islands area.  Cast netted a nice selection of small pogies (menhaden) and continued heading west to find a spot that looked shallow enough to wade.  Chose a point near the open water of the Banana River yet still protected from the southerly winds and past where a canoe fisherman had stopped to fish.

First trout of the day

Ended up being non-stop action for a good couple hours, even with a couple dolphin lurking nearby feeding on something.  Finished the day with 5 trout and 2 quality redfish and surprisingly no trash fish!  They were the first quality reds I have caught in the Banana River after numerous years of coming down here to fish when visiting Cindy’s parents.  The bite turned off after the last big red, so we decided to head back in before the thunderstorms so we could finish today’s chore of mowing the lawn.

First big red, going to be blackened with a side of cool dill sauce tonight!

3rd or 4th trout of the day, Cindy reeled in this nice one

2nd big red of day, definitely oversized and about a 30 minute fight on our light inshore gear

So far I’ve been 2 for 2 on the fishing trips since we arrived over a week ago in Cocoa Beach.  Looking forward to some calm ocean water to get back out for another chance at a tarpon or snook!

August 26, 2012- Having a little bit of bad weather from the outskirts of Isaac, so we were looking for some indoor activities today. We decided to hit up Publix for some groceries and spend the afternoon in the kitchen. Sticking to our “flexitarian” diet, Chris found some good recipes online for a vegetarian chili and spinach enchiladas. Looks like we will be eating beans for a while!

Wednesday evening glassed off nicely after storms earlier in the day, so Cindy and I headed out before dinner for some tasty waves.  Caught some nice ones and spent about an hour and a half, then finished the day off with a home-made dinner and a couple rum on the rocks.

Thursday morning continued with glassy conditions and a remaining small swell, so Matt, Cindy and I walked down to the 4th street beach walkover and paddled out.  Took the gopro camera and caught some decent footage, but have some work to do on capturing better angles, avoiding direct sunlight and wiping off the lens prior to recording.

Cocoa Beach Surfing from Chris Schaul on Vimeo.

Storm is approaching, so we paddled out this morning to catch some of the increasing swell before the onshore winds really kick up.  Looks like we won’t be out surfing until the storm passes around Tuesday or Wednesday..

Took advantage of the continuing good weather to make a trip down to Sebastian Inlet for some snorkeling with Mike, Laura, Matt and Cindy.  Loaded up the Tacoma and headed down around noon since the high slack tide was supposed to occur around 1:30.  Tides are strange in that inlet, where the slack tide is usually about 2-3 hours after the high tide time.

Heading down the walkway to the beach for our snorkeling trip

Started out on the beach side and snorkeled around the north jetty inside the inlet.  Saw all sorts of life, including an immense about of snook, a few manatees, sheepshead, goliath grouper and other such fishes.  Tide started ripping out once we were about a quarter of the way into the inlet.  Ended up choosing to turn back around and go back around the north jetty to the beach side for an exit.

SEA COW!

A happy crew after swimming into the ripping current and back around to our starting place

We had a great time, but it would have been even better if we had made it down there about an hour earlier to fully experience a ride thru the inlet.

Snorkeling Sebastian Inlet from Chris Schaul on Vimeo.

After the workout, we did a $2 Taco Tuesday Taste Test at a couple spots on the way home.  Taco City in Cocoa Beach was the winner!

Headed out on the kayaks yesterday with Michael (aka Jimmy Buffett Jr. or Moustache #2).  Surf was not looking good for surfing, so kayaks were the better option.  Loaded up some basic fishing gear and headed out around noon.  Immediately found some pogie pods near the beach and snagged a choice bait to hook on the big rod, a new Shimano Baitrunner 8000d.

About 5 minutes into the slow trolling we noticed a large tarpon cruising around our yaks, which ended up being the fight of my life for next hour and a half.  Tarpon gulped the pogie and slowly took off towards the deep, I picked up the rod and started reeling up the slack… FISH ON!  Must have jumped at least 5 times clearing the water completely.  Could hear some folks in the water or on the beach yelling about the jumping fish.  Wish I had the GoPro camera on board, but that’s usually how it goes when fishing:   bring the camera, no fish caught, but don’t bring a camera and the fish are biting.

Tarpon started taking off out to sea, so I asked Mike to head back and grab Cindy’s iphone to try to snap pics for evidence of this behemoth.   Cruised out into the deep blue and a Moustachio cameraman followed capturing footage.   Never got to see the tarpon again, other than a few rises to gulp some air.  After about an hour into it, decided to lock down the drag and try to horse the fish towards the boat.  Ended up breaking the line after it tried to sound for about the 20th time…

Snapshot of the beast during a gasp for air

Tarpon Fishing Cocoa Beach from Chris Schaul on Vimeo.

Drove back into Florida yesterday. Stopped in jax to see some friends and have dinner, then continued onto crescent beach for the night. Continuing on to cocoa beach this afternoon and plan on spending a few weeks around the area. Looking forward to fishing, surfing, kayaking, etc… As much as we liked some of the other states, it’s hard to beat Florida for the things we love to do. Covering about 3000 miles the last 2 weeks is quite tiresome, so looking forward to some relaxation as well.

Our next destination will be the Florida Keys for part of September and all of October.

Pulled in yesterday around 6pm to the morrow mountain state park near albemarle, nc. It’s a nice campground with only a couple other campers, so plenty of spots to choose from. Friendly couple are the campground hosts and got us checked in. Quite a few friendly deer around this park.
Thunderstorms cleared off so we decided to go for a trail run down to the river. Sitting in the car for an entire day requires some outdoor exercise at some point.
Started the campfire when we returned and cooked up a nice veggie rice concoction with side of warm cornbread. Raccoons were out late last night and broke into the garbage can nearby, but better than getting into our stuff!
Woke up today to a deer grazing just outside our camping space, then woke up Cindy to head out on another longer trail run. Today is gonna be at least an 8 hour drive as we are trying to make it to crescent beach for the night. It was quite a run today with steep inclines and at least 7 miles total.
A healthy trail run, sun is shining, packing up the camping stuff, eating an oatmeal breakfast with some coffee/tea, jalapeño is going for a walk.. Can’t think of a better start to a day!