We are both early risers. Watching the light come and a day begin never gets old. Our neighbor lady was already up, nourished, canoe loaded, and ready to shove off at first light. The weather radio predicted 10-15 mph eastern winds today. She had a good distance to cover and thought it wise to put many miles behind her before the wind showed up, a very wise choice. Her parting words as she shoved off were “There is no doubt you boys are having a great time. I truly enjoyed eves dropping last night as you recapped your journey. It’s hard to find two people these days that get along so well.” She soon vanished into the misty morning light in her solo canoe in search of her own tales.
We’ll finish our trip exploring more out of the way tidal creeks as we fish our way back to Chokoloskee. There will be a tail wind today so the seas will be behind us and traveling is going to be easy. We spent much of the day in the smaller water avoiding big bays whenever possible. Along one of the small creeks we came on to a calm, shallow bay that appeared perfect for sight fishing. We deployed the outriggers for stability, Steve hopped up on the front seat for better visibility, and we went into stealth mode. It didn’t take long before we spotted reds sneaking along the shallows. When the hunt was over Steve had landed a beautiful, fat, & happy red that didn’t see us coming. What a way to end a trip.
We arrived back in Chokoloskee before the sun set, loaded the gear in the buggy, fired up the phone to let our spouses know we survived and that all went well. On the drive home we began laying plans for our next trip into this wonderful place. We soon decided we need to stay longer plus we now know we can bring our flats boats instead of the canoe which translates into, we get to bring more stuff, perfect.
Here is the link to view the entire slide show
http://www.youtube.com/
