Ready for action !

We were out (relatively) bright and early this morning for a day of fishing in the gulf. My 2 youngest daughters were ready to pull a good catch of fish out of the waters. We joined a larger group on board and were assigned 3 spots near the rear port side of the ship. After sailing for 90 minutes we reached a spot that (to the captain) appeared promising. Down went all the lines and in short order we had landed 4 fish ! (don't ask what they were - other than hammerhead sharks and a few other species most fish in these waters remain nameless for me).

You can see from today's photo that elbow room was at a premium, however, the conditions also made for becoming good neighbours, especially when lines inevitably got tangled. We probably shouldn't have had our early luck because we were skunked the rest of the day. That seemed to be experience of most despite the captain's search for a number of other fishing holes (which all looked the same to me 20 miles out in the gulf). There were a couple of notable exceptions though - a few people did manage to fill their buckets with fish. What still leaves me scratching my head is how fish would choose those lines over the dozens of others that were dangling within a few feet of them, also offering tantalizing bits of squid.

However, the day was definitely a winner - nothing but sun and a warm sea breeze blowing in our faces. Oh, and 8 bite-size filets in our freezer !

(18-55mm  f13  1/400 sec  ISO200)

Down the hatch

This bird (a juvenile cormorant ?) put on a display of fishing prowess for us yesterday. It would disappear underwater in pursuit of fish for what seemed like minutes at a time. I captured it as it surfaced and proudly displayed its catch for us. Then it deftly manoeuvred the fish in its hooked beak and swallowed it.

(70-200mm  f11  1/400 sec  ISO200)

A fine feathered friend

We spent the last day with our guests at Sanibel Island. It was a glorious day in many ways - the weather was sunny, and warm once we moved to the lee side of the island, we saw dolphins cavorting just off shore, and a number of birds came by to entertain us. Among the feathered entertainers were a few snowy egrets, smaller cousins of the great egret. They weren't shy by any means, having likely grown quite accustomed to the many visitors. I was able to walk to within a few feet of one of them, and they seemed to mingle quite easily with other two-legged beings on the fishing pier.

(next 2 photos - 70-200mm  f11  1/500 sec  ISO200)

(70-200mm  f5.6  1/1250 sec  ISO200)

note my snowy egret friend mingling with the crowd on the pier waiting for a fishy morsel (this fish was released after the requisite photos were made)

(Day 212) The universe - unfolding as it should

We liked this place so much that we made a second visit early this evening. There's a nice beach and a long pier - great places to go for a stroll and watch people. There were children playing in the warm water, other people simply sitting on benches, soaking up the warm rays of the sun, and still others enjoying some late day fishing. Here was the creation, basking in the laughter of children at play and being enjoyed by those for whom the Creator made it. And every day was intended to be like this, from the beginning!

(18-55mm  f11  1/100 sec  ISO200)

(Day 211) The fishing lesson

We made an early morning trip to a beach that was listed in the tourism brochures as 'one of the best shelling beaches'. I think that the authors in their enthusiasm forgot to add 'after a major storm' because there were only small shells - albeit in the millions. So, with thoughts of finding a treasure trove of large beautiful shells put firmly in the back of our minds, we went to watch people fishing off a nearby pier.

There didn't seem to be a lot of action here either but my eye caught some birds (I believe they're egrets) near the water at the side of the pier. They seemed to be staring intently at the water, when they weren't defending their little piece of the beach from each other. We carefully made our way down there to watch. I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story.

(All photos were shot with a 70-200mm lens at f11, ISO200, at various shutter speeds.)

Ruffled feathers tell competitors to 'back off!'

Keeping his eyes on the prize:

Success!

And THAT folks, is how it's done!

(Day 27) Gone fishin'

The trawler in today's photo seems somewhat shrouded in mystery as it appears to head out of port on its mission to catch fish. We visited Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island a few years ago and saw some of these. This one, however, was sailing off into our kitchen.

(taken with 70-200mm 2.8L IS USM at f2.8 1/40 sec. ISO 800)

(note: I will not have access to a computer over the next few days, but will take daily pictures and will post as soon as I have access again - stay tuned)