Fort Lauderdale...ALL Day
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2007
1
4
10
Trip End
Jul 26, 2007
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Friday, July 20, 2007
[EDIT]
Around 7:45 am we drug ourselves into the eating area of the hotel. We enjoyed a decent continental breakfast with some hot food as well. By about 8:30 we were loading up and heading out to Holiday Park-Everglades. There we took about an hour airboat tour of the Everglades. We were the first tour of the day and the boat was only about half full which gave us the ability to move a bit and see out of both sides. The highlights were the alligators! We got close enough to reach out of the boat and touch them...but didn't. We missed that experience but we have all of our appendages!! There were about 7 that we saw and they were anywhere from 2 feet to 6 feet long. We also stopped alongside Vulture Island where around 1000 vultures spend the night, but not the day. There were a number there to see though. After the tour was a brief alligator encounter where a worker showed us the intricacies of the alligator and its head area. No tricks, just information.
A little after 11:00 we split up and the four women headed for Sawgrass Mills, the largest Outlet mall in America...and possibly the largest mall in America. There they shopped 'till they dropped and their 'guys' were the beneficiaries with some 'real deals'! Grandma wasn't into it as much and was frequently found sitting on benches outside of stores watching people.
The guys headed for the ocean. The girls found places to eat in the mall and the guys ended up at The Floridian, or The Flo as it is called locally. It was a hole-in-the-wall place that has a reputation as a gathering spot for some fairly 'unique' individuals about 4:00am. The food was good and we finished up and headed for the fishing boat. As we got to the boat it was just pulling in from its morning trip and we watched in amazement as they pulled a 6-6.5 foot bull shark onto shore. It belonged to a wealthy horse rancher from Arkansas and he was going to send it to the taxidermist for a mere $2300. Since we had voluntarily changed our trip from morning to afternoon, we thought about the fight we could have been a part of catching that fish. Instead we watched and wondered and waited. About 1:00pm we loaded up our drinks and bodies on the ship and headed out to sea. The younger members lost their shirts and added suntan lotion and we enjoyed the ride. On our way out we saw an aircraft carrier with planes on deck anchored offshore. JJ, our guide, informed us it came in that morning and chased his first group out of that area for security purposes. We had also seen a couple of Destroyers in dock as we headed out.
During the afternoon we watched the storm clouds gather over land and then watched it rain and lightning. The girls said it stormed pretty good for a couple of hours at the mall!
Most of the afternoon we had 3 main lines in the water. As we got the first two out we had fish almost immediately. Quite the beginning to the afternoon as we ended up with about two dozen fish when all was said and done. A little over half of what we caught were Bonitas (one was a full grown adult and bigger than the rest) which are bait fish. We also got a number of Kingfish (one was a 20 pound Kingfish and the normal catch is around 6-8 pounds) which are borderline eaters. They are one of those 'black and white' fish where either you like them or you don't. There was also a black fin tuna and the most exciting was the Barracudas. Casey brought in the first Barracuda which was what the guides called a 'trophy fish'. They claimed it was one of the bigger 'cudas they had brought in and informed him it would cost a measly $700 to put on the wall. He wanted to, but decided it wasn't worth it. A while later Jordan brought in another one a about the same size. This one was a bit more active and while the guide was holding it up, it gave him a one inch cut on the top of his ring finger. His buddy cleaned him up, wrapped some gauze around it and then duct taped it on...
The most exciting catch of the day was the last Barracuda that came on board. Doug was doing a two-handed stroke because it was so hard and close to the boat it got easier. As the guide pulled in the rest of the line, he saw a Kingfish on the hook (missing some of his tail area) and another fish following. Realizing it was another 'Cuda and wanting some 'revenge' he dangled the Kingfish in the water and we watched the 'Cuda attack it several times until he got it next to the boat and put a gaf into it. He brought it into the boat and exacted his revenge. It was similar in size to the others. With the excitement done, we cleaned up and headed into shore.
By 7:00 pm everyone was together again, clean and headed for the beach are to find a Mediterranean restaurant called the Cassablanca Grill. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and walked the beach for a bit afterwards. We attempted a stop at the Cheesecake Factory, but the area was hopping and there was no place to park. We decided we'd get our share of dessert on the cruise ship!
It was a great day and in the end a lot of us agreed we were ready to go hang out on a cruise ship for a few days!!!
Comments
Great Times
Looks like your family is having a great time! Since you all have your luggage, you've already beat the odds! Happy shopping and fishing today!
Randy and Karla
GREAT pictures!
WOW! You got some awesome pictures. Thanks for sharing. Looks like you're having fun. Joel, those fish are a 'little' bigger than the ones you caught at Grandpa's pond.
A & J