Fishing expedition!

Went fishing today. This is important because, (1), I’ve never actually been fishing before, and (2), I’ve never been out to sea on a small boat. When I say ‘out to sea’, I mean we got on a boat and went 90 mins out from Port Canaveral, Florida. A bit choppy on the way out, we began wreck fishing and I got a crash course in trying to stand upright whilst not dropping an expensive rod over the side. Not an easy thing to do when the boat is tipping you up so you’re looking down 60 degrees at the water one second, then trying not to skid backwards as it tips you back the other way the next. Anyway, kind of got the hang of staying on my feet and throwing the bait over the side a bit. The fact that we were using fish about six inches long for bait should have alerted me to the fact that we were about to bring up sea monsters.

We were not disappointed.

The first thing we encountered, via my lucky line, was an Atlantic Sharpnose shark. It was about two feet long, I suppose, and it actually had eyes like a cat. We took photos, it gave me one last nasty look, and we tossed it back overboard. A while later I snagged a grouper (called ‘garoupa’ round Asia, I think) and it took a mate to hold onto the rod just so I could turn the bloody handle to reel it in. Heavy and very unimpressed, it was not eager to get into the boat and a short battle was necessary to get it on the deck and then into the hold on its bed of ice. It was pretty big though, and I was pleased that I wasn’t completely useless. Mind you, our Captain and fishing guide had set me up in the best spot, so it was largely down to him.

Later on we dragged out two more groupers and a snapper, but the snapper was out of season so we weren’t allowed to keep it. I thought it was a giant red goldfish, but hey-ho. The sea was still a little rough, the motion having an adverse effect on my sister, and we headed in for shallower (and hopefully calmer) waters.

We sailed past Cape Canaveral’s private beach, so a quick few snaps of that made me happy. It was a sunny, funny day out and I think we all enjoyed it. Even though it’s not something I’d normally do, it was all the better because of it. I now have lovely bruises developing on my legs and hands where I fought with fish - but that just means I have war wounds! Excellent.


Having woken up at 3:45am and leaping out of bed like my arse was on fire, and then fishing for best part of 6 hours, once we reached dry land and some Subway refreshments the day really started to catch up with me. Inadvertent naps in the back of the hire car on the way home kept me going, but I was out like a light for 90 mins before dinner. Which, by the way, was great - a Boston Lobster Feast place with really good food.

And so to evening. A dip in the pool in our villa eschewed for the comfy bed and chance to get some of this down (because I know I’ll have forgotten it all once jetlag has faded), it’s been nice to reflect on my big fishing trip and decide that it’s been incredible, massively enjoyable, and a brilliant start to the holiday.


I’ll leave you with a shot of the promo vehicle for the restaurant - a giant lobster on top of a Beetle. Class.

Peach and lube, people!