Deep Sea Fishing

Yesterday a bunch of employees from my company all went on a deep sea fishing trip. We took a boat out of Clearwater. Friday at work I was told a sunhat and sunscreen were non-negotiables for the trip. Since I didn't own a sunhat I went out and bought your typical oversized Florida sunhat. I never thought I'd own one and now I love it :]

We had an hour long ride to get out to where the fishing is good. The first hour and a half I felt a little nauseous, but after that I adjusted and was good to go- not everyone was so fortunate. We were fishing in water about 150 feet deep in the gulf and the water was pretty calm that day. It wasn't like the cast style fishing I grew up with. All I had to do was put some squid on the hook as bait, pull up the lever on my rod- keeping my thumb on the wire so that it didn't unwind too quickly and let it drop down to the bottom. Then pull the lever back down and wait for a tug. The most difficult part was keeping the bait close to the rocky bottom without catching the hook on the bottom- which I did twice. The boat hands had to come help me get it free again. The boat was pretty crowded so we had our lines get tangled a couple times, but it wasn't anything that we couldn't get undone. (I like to say I caught some frozen squid)

One of my grunts

The most popular fish we caught were grunts which you can keep no matter what the size. There were a few groupers caught, but only one was kept because they have to be at least 20 inches. My total for the day was 10 grunts and one (undersized) grouper. It was a lot more exciting than I expected, probably because I've never caught so many fish in one trip or caught one as big as my grouper who was over a foot long.

One of the groupers

This odd guy is called a mother-in-law (for it's big mouth and ugliness according to our crew)

We were out on the boat for 8 hours in the sun so it was pretty exhausting, but quite the adventure. At the end of the trip they strung up all the fish on lines which were arranged by number and everyone collected their keepers for the day.

All in a day's work :]

Florida Sunsets

One of these days I will actually have my camera on me when I want it! I've taken to walking along the water around 8 at night and watching the sunset. There is a walking strip that has the best view of the horizon. It's a little different from what I'm used to with the sky scrapers, but it's beautiful all the same. Tonight's sky wasn't too colorful, but the sun was a bright glowing red. Just stunning. I sat on the bridge until it set to take it in.

I also experienced my first Florida storm. I compared it to natures very own disco. The lightning was so frequent and lit up the whole sky like a strobe light and the thunder was the booming bassline :]

I live right next to the Tampa Convention Center so I see many oddly themed groups of people around the area for different conventions. This includes old women with matching outfits and as of late, anime characters along with the main character from V for Vendetta. I looked up the event to see what it was for and apparently it's Florida's largest anime convention this weekend. Here's the website:

http://www.metroconventions.com/

I found a new favorite restaurant here. It is called La Creperia Cafe located in YBor. Although the decor isn't very French, the crêpes are amazing! They have both sweet and savory crêpes and both are just wonderful. My favorite is called La French Rivera with chicken, cheese and artichoke hearts. They also have Orangina which is the carbonated orange juice drink that I loved in France so much! I felt like I took a little trip back to France for some cuisine :] Here's their website:

http://www.lacreperiacafe.com/menu.html

Other than that I've been playing my ukulele and enjoying participating in the free classes at the gym, my favorite being zumba!

That's all for now folks!

Clearwater Beach

I finally got my Florida beach experience! My apartment-mate Bryan, his friend Jeff and I went to the beach in Clearwater. The sand was so fine and white compared to the beaches in Marquette! We only stayed three or four hours which was probably for the best since I got the worst sunburnt I've had since the last time I was in Florida! I used sunscreen, but learned that I should reapply it more often!

The water was nice and warm (Unlike Lake Superior) and I stayed in it a long time, although I only went under once because the water is just so salty. (Also unlike Lake Superior) The beach was pretty busy and the water was filled with so many people playing catch, it was hard to know who was involved in which game! No jellyfish or shark sightings although I saw a lot of small sand colored fish. The beach also had a long dock going out into the water so that people can fish at the end beyond the point where people are swimming. Also, seagulls seem even braver here...

Laying in the sun can just be so exhausting :]

Now I'm just sitting on my bed reapplying aloe every five minutes...