Happy times!

I haven't posted in a while because we've been so busy! Our daughter and son-in-law and the two grand kids are still here. They came in from Chicago on Saturday, the 20th. They spent the week, mostly in the pool and then went up to Disney World for three days this past weekend. They came back on Monday and are still here. While they were up at Disney we had a great visit with couple of really good friends, Mike and Lori, from Chicago. We went to Bert's in Matlacha for some great grouper and a really nice evening. Unfortunately, the Yard Dogs weren't playing that evening. I would have liked for them to have seen the Yard Dogs. Maybe next time.

Have gone out on the Paddleski a few times and took the kids out on a power pontoon boat yesterday, Tuesday. They loved it, but, unfortunately, no jumping dolphins, only a few fin sitings.

Have been fishing, I mean casting, off the dock most days. The other day I almost got my first fish. Had one on the hook and he was jumping real good. But as I got him near the dock, he managed to free himself. I think maybe he was just snagged. It looked to be about 6-8 inches and lighter in color. Not sure what kind of fish it was, but it didn't count because I never got it onto the dock. Meantime, I bought a new fishing pole and reel. A 7ft Ugly stick, medium, with 8 line guides. The reel is a nice Cardinal with lots of bearings! I noticed they rated reels by the number of bearings they have, so I bought one with, I think, 7 bearings. All I know, it's real smooth, and the anti-reverse is immediate. Only problem was, I used a small floating lure, without any weight, and it was hard to get a good cast, and then I ended up getting knots in the line. Need to add weight or put a different lure on. After I cut the knot off.

The grand kids have been spending their whole days in the pool. I think they'd rather do that than anything else. The good thing is, they've both learned how to swim now. Not great but no more fear of the water. I'm afraid when their parents get them back home in cold Chicago, they're going to be begging to come back to Nana's house.

Now this is the way to travel! Suck a beer while the son-in-law does all the paddling!

Grand kids had a great day at Fort Myers beach.

Had to let them drive the boat!
She was a better driver than I was!

They loved going fast.

But it was the pool they loved! It took a while before they started jumping in.

But pretty soon all fear was gone! This is one fearless 3 year old!
Then it's crash time!

I know this was supposed to be about fishing and boating and it will be. Especially when I start catching living breathing fish!

More Dock Casting

Saturday was a great day! Some good friends of ours, CL and Shannon, came down from Wisconsin and we went to the Twisted Conch in Cape Coral and saw the Yard Dogs. We were lucky enough to get a table right near the band. What a great party we had! I have to pick up their new CD. You gotta love songs like "Assholes Don't Sing Love Songs" and "I Pulled My Drinking Arm Muscle". We all had some fish plates, grouper and shrimp, and I have to say it was very good. We had way too many beers, but the bill was very reasonable. The atmosphere is casual and laid back. My kind of place! CL and Shannon loved the band as much as we do.

Earlier in the day I did some dock casting. I'm not calling it fishing anymore. At least not until I actually start catching fish! But I'm beginning to appreciate the peace and calm of fishing, I mean casting. It really is enjoyable. Been doing that every day. Trying different types of lures, with bobbers and without. Much better luck seeing fish by throwing some bread into the water.

Sunday was a super day! Our daughter, son-in-law, and two grand kids came in from Illinois and will be here for two weeks. We've really been looking forward to their arrival. They immediately insisted on going in the pool. Thank God it's heated! Going to be a fun couple of weeks with them. We're sending them all up to Disney for three days this coming weekend and we have some other friends coming in next Saturday. Damn, its nice to see family and friends from back in Illinois (and Wisconsin)!

Jocelyn is watching some kids program. She's got televitis! That's not going to last while she's here!

Anthony, the three year old, is the most energetic kid I've ever seen. He's non stop fun. And he cracks us up with some of the things he says and does. The girls are going to have to watch out when he gets older!

He decides he wants to sleep in the cat's favorite box! See what I mean? What a devil!

1st Solo

Today was our first solo on the power pontoon boat we rented. Another beautiful day. Unfortunately, the tide was going out when we left and by the time we were heading back in the water was really shallow in the Estero Bay neighborhood. Somehow I got a bit off course and ended up in 2 ft of water and nearly aground on a sand bar. Had to trim the motor up, have Susie move to the front seat and slowly ease my way off the sand bar. Whew! Pretty exciting for a first solo. But now I know how to get out of trouble and I think I'm going to stick to high tide boating! Other than that little mishap, the trip went great. Susie got some great pictures of some dolphins jumping in our wake, using our new camera. I think they are publishable. We were out for about 4 hours in the pontoon boat (150 hp) and only burned 4 1/2 gallons of gas! What a deal.

This afternoon I went fishing off the dock and ended up with a bunch of tangled mono-filament. Got it fixed using the sharp knife method. After many casts, caught nothing. Then Susie came down to the dock, looked into the water, and exclaimed, "Look at all the fish down there in the water!" We saw a bunch of small, what I think were striped bass. We saw one about 8 inches long or so and then we saw a lighter colored big fish, a foot or more in length. Not sure what that was. Didn't get a good enough look to identify it. Probably some folks familiar with these fresh water canals would know what it was. Then we ended up feeding the fish and a couple of turtles, some bread. I think I may take a little hook, bait it with some bread, drop it off the side of the dock, and see what I can catch. One of these days I'll get my first fish.... One of these days...

All in all, a great day!! Life is sooooo good!!

Fishing.... again

Went out fishing on the dock again today. I think this is my 4th or 5th time out. I'm trying a rubber swimming fish with a bobber. I cast it out and slowly bring it back. No bites. Had some interest from a local turtle, but sure didn't want to catch him! Lot's of casts. No fish. Again. One of these days.... I think I'll have to change tactics. Also, the water in the canal is still a bit cold for the bass. I might have better luck in the spring when it warms up a some. Not giving up. Going to catch that record bass yet!

We got our new waterproof camera. Decided on the Pentax Optio W60. Needed a waterproof camera for the times we go on our Paddleski adventures. Don't want to ruin the Nikon. Took a few pictures with it. One below. But most were not in very good focus. Probably my fault. At least I hope so. Will try some more shots tomorrow.

Today we went out on a 20ft pontoon boat with a captain. Weather started out cool but warmed up as the day went on. It was my first time handling a larger power boat - I know it's not that big, but bigger than anything I've ever driven. We took a captain along as the instructor. Had a blast. The tide was very low and the amount of dangerously shallow areas is amazing. Really have to be careful. Went from Ft. Myers beach down past Estero and explored some of the inner waterways. Saw a couple of Bald Eagles and had some dolphins playing in our wake. They are amazingly fast. We tried to get some pictures during the trip but our camera failed us. We've got a new one coming today so we should start getting some good pictures again.

I did some docking practice. A little tricky, but manageable. We'll be going out again, on our own, later this week. My first solo. Looking forward to being able to take visitors on boat rides.

First time out on the Paddleski

We really wanted to get the Paddleski out on the water today. It seemed a bit windy most of the day, but by late afternoon the wind seemed to subside a bit, and we put it in the water. It was a bit tricky getting it through the door in the pool screen, but we managed and into the water it went. We loaded the seats and all the rest of the paraphernalia, including our emergency rope ladder and personal floatation devices, and we were off.

It worked as advertised. Susie and I were able to paddle it with little effort and it surprised me a little on the speed we were able to attain. Definitely faster than a fast walk. We did a little S-turning as Susie was learning to steer from the front seat. She started to get the hang of it by the time we finished. We paddled for about an hour. We explored our local canal and then paddled out to one of the "Shamrock" lakes. We had to turn around and head back to make sure we were back before it got dark. We probably paddled about a mile or two in total. All in all it was great to get out onto the water and I know we're going to have a blast exploring all the rivers and streams in the area. And eventually I'll have to figure out how to rig some fishing gear so I can fish for bass in the canals and lakes. I hear they've got some kind of bass fishing tournament coming up. Just because I haven't caught my first fish yet doesn't mean I can't win the tournament! Okay, maybe it does, but it might be fun. Just have to ask Brian what kind of bait and tackle to use, and maybe how to land a bass, and I'll be a shoe-in! Oh, and maybe I should take a look at some bass pictures so I'll recognize Mr. Bass when I catch him. Just a thought.

Did a little fishing off the dock this morning. Used a small fish lure with a bobber. Did a good job casting and caught, uh, nothing. But it was fun anyway. I'm learning all the things that don't catch fish! After I eliminate all the wrong things, then only the right things will be left! Watch out Bass tournament - you're about to see some records broken!

No pictures today. Should have been, but I left the damn camera behind. So dumb. I'll try not to do that again.

Life is SOOOO good!

Reboarding practice in the pool

We couldn't practice our reboarding procedures yesterday. It was too cold! We had lots of problems trying to get back on the other day, so we went and bought a rope ladder that we could attach to the D-rings on the pontoon. We put the boat back in the pool and hooked up the ladder. We discovered the ladder didn't make it much easier to get back on. Susie suggested it would be easier if we hooked it up to the back of the boat so we wouldn't have to hoist ourselves over the pontoon. I had my doubts but when the trophy wife makes a suggestion, one must listen. Sure enough, she was right again. (She usually is, damn it!) We were able to reboard from the back. Not easy, but we both managed it. It will work in an emergency. We both need to work on our upper body strength to make this task a bit easier. Susie took a couple of pictures of me climbing back in - for proof.

So now we're ready to take it out in the canal and see how the paddling will go. Should be fun.

Went and saw the Brian, our new fishing friend, and the Yard Dogs on Sunday. If you've not seen or heard them play, you need to find out where they are and go see them! They have a unique brand of music, sort of Jimmy Buffet, Arlo Guthrie, country cajun. Hard to explain, but you'll like it. We plan on seeing them whenever we get a chance. And Brian is my fishing guru now. Knows everything there is to know about fishing. May get to go shark fishing with him one day - off the beach at night. Sounds exciting. And I think it involves some beer drinking. So it's got to be good. Go to their web site to get the dates and places for their shows.

Just go ahead and jump in!

I'm going to use this blog to record the exciting adventures of Bill and Susan and their transformation from Chicago "flat lander" workaholics to Florida retirees about to learn a completely new and foreign lifestyle - in spite of their advancing years. Bill, 62, and Susie, my trophy wife, have decided to jump right in. Never fished, never boated. So we bought our first fishing rod, $20, and it even came with some tackle! Learned how to cast this morning, after I figured out how the spinner reel worked and how to tie the little rubber wormy thing to the line. Actually, I didn't do too bad. Only got the line tangled a couple of times and managed to catch lots of seaweed. But I finished fishing without losing the lure, so I figure that's pretty good. Maybe one day I'll actually get a fish on the hook.

We picked up an inflatable kayak/pontoon/catamaran type boat to take up and down the canals behind our house and maybe take out to the local river and streams. We both love nature, so we're looking forward to that. We bought this model, the Sea Eagle Paddleski, because it will accommodate a small motor, which we also picked up, just in case we get tired of paddling, or we want to cross a larger body of water. So we received the boat and the first thing I wanted to do was put it into the pool and see how hard it would be to re-board it if either of us accidentally fell off. Should have had a video of that. Found out its not easy at all to climb back in over those pontoons. So we went and bought a small rope kind of ladder and we'll try that tomorrow in the pool. Sure glad we tried that in the pool before we went out on the big water. Now we know what to expect. I guess my years as an Army Safety Officer have made me somewhat cautious. I hate to see us kill ourselves on our first voyage.