Carrabelle...I mean...St. Marks 07-15-2006
Posted: July 16th, 2006, 2:44 pm
The day started off like most days. Met Joe and Andre at Joe's house. Back my truck up to the boat and hook up. Loaded the boat and we departed about 6:15.
Made our way almost to Lanark when I heard a noise and looked in the rear view mirror. Smoke was pouring out from the tires. I was thinking we slung a bearing but it was worse, or better, depending on how you look at it. Both the leafsprings on the front axle broke and caused the fenders to rest on the tires. As we were surveying the damage Andre tried to balance himself on the fender and burnt the crap out of his hand on it.
Luckily I had some tools and we were able to take the fenders off and tie up the spring hangers. We were able to get turned around and headed back towards Coastal Trailer. On the way we saw a bear and 3 cubs crossing the road at St. Theresa. We were less than a mile from Coastal when I notice one of the tires is slinging pieces. Stop on the road and notice one of the fender braces we left on had fallen forward and gouged the front tire.
We tied it up and limped up to costal and dropped off the boat and loaded all the gear into my truck.
Andre keeps his boat at Jerry's so we figured we would go there and use his boat instead. It was only about 9 at this point. Then Andre remembered his keys are back in his truck at Joe's house in Tally!
We made the treck back to tally, got the keys and headed back south again. We arrived at Shields and got the boat in the water at the crack of ELEVEN!
Good thing was the seas were very light and we made it to Marker 24 in no time. Hit the first spot in 32 feet and I proceed to miss my first 4 shots at the school of gags surrounding me. Finally got one to the stringer along with a big trigger. The vis here was top to bottom and at least 50 feet horizontal. Joe went trecking off and came back with a nice hog.
Andre dove it solo and got a nice hog and trigger.
Next stop was a bunch of rocks in 28 feet. Current was now ripping and the vis dropped to a hazy 20 feet. Lots of life here as these pics and movies will show.
Movie One
Movie Two
Andre and I both shot borderline but short gags and I had one small hog on my stringer. I was cruising around a rock when I met a 6 foot bull face to face.
We both startled each other and he booked it the other way. I came back and gave Andre the shark sign and I took a few pics.
I was just about to call the dive when I looked up and see a wall of cobia. Probably 20 to 30 fish all keepers with some that looked 50 + in the bunch. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Just as I started to rig my line shaft I noticed a very big tail amongst the cobia. As I got closer I saw a big bull. Probably 8-9 foot. "Ok, no problem, just shoot one cobe and hightail it out." About that time the school turns right and I see the rest of the sharks. 5 bulls from 6 to 8 feet long. They are diving underneath and around the rocks and are in a frenzy. Probably after the short gags Andre and I left on the bottom. Once I got my wits about me and figured out what was going on, (everything was in slow motion), I turned and was out of there. Luckily I only had to ascend about 15 feet to the surface because I imagine I looked like the scene from "Hunt for Red October" as I breached the surface. I yelled to Joe to get me out of the water. Andre of course is already back on the boat. He left after I gave the shark sign.
That was an adrenaline filled 45 seconds that I will not soon forget.
The rest of the days dives were pretty uneventful. We dove some pretty spots but no more fish came aboard. Headed back in about 5:00 and it was a bumpy one as the sea breeze had built up.
We were back at Joe's at 7:30. 14 hours after my day had begun. 230 miles on the trip meter in the truck.
Made our way almost to Lanark when I heard a noise and looked in the rear view mirror. Smoke was pouring out from the tires. I was thinking we slung a bearing but it was worse, or better, depending on how you look at it. Both the leafsprings on the front axle broke and caused the fenders to rest on the tires. As we were surveying the damage Andre tried to balance himself on the fender and burnt the crap out of his hand on it.
Luckily I had some tools and we were able to take the fenders off and tie up the spring hangers. We were able to get turned around and headed back towards Coastal Trailer. On the way we saw a bear and 3 cubs crossing the road at St. Theresa. We were less than a mile from Coastal when I notice one of the tires is slinging pieces. Stop on the road and notice one of the fender braces we left on had fallen forward and gouged the front tire.
We tied it up and limped up to costal and dropped off the boat and loaded all the gear into my truck.
Andre keeps his boat at Jerry's so we figured we would go there and use his boat instead. It was only about 9 at this point. Then Andre remembered his keys are back in his truck at Joe's house in Tally!
We made the treck back to tally, got the keys and headed back south again. We arrived at Shields and got the boat in the water at the crack of ELEVEN!
Good thing was the seas were very light and we made it to Marker 24 in no time. Hit the first spot in 32 feet and I proceed to miss my first 4 shots at the school of gags surrounding me. Finally got one to the stringer along with a big trigger. The vis here was top to bottom and at least 50 feet horizontal. Joe went trecking off and came back with a nice hog.
Andre dove it solo and got a nice hog and trigger.
Next stop was a bunch of rocks in 28 feet. Current was now ripping and the vis dropped to a hazy 20 feet. Lots of life here as these pics and movies will show.
Movie One
Movie Two
Andre and I both shot borderline but short gags and I had one small hog on my stringer. I was cruising around a rock when I met a 6 foot bull face to face.
We both startled each other and he booked it the other way. I came back and gave Andre the shark sign and I took a few pics.
I was just about to call the dive when I looked up and see a wall of cobia. Probably 20 to 30 fish all keepers with some that looked 50 + in the bunch. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Just as I started to rig my line shaft I noticed a very big tail amongst the cobia. As I got closer I saw a big bull. Probably 8-9 foot. "Ok, no problem, just shoot one cobe and hightail it out." About that time the school turns right and I see the rest of the sharks. 5 bulls from 6 to 8 feet long. They are diving underneath and around the rocks and are in a frenzy. Probably after the short gags Andre and I left on the bottom. Once I got my wits about me and figured out what was going on, (everything was in slow motion), I turned and was out of there. Luckily I only had to ascend about 15 feet to the surface because I imagine I looked like the scene from "Hunt for Red October" as I breached the surface. I yelled to Joe to get me out of the water. Andre of course is already back on the boat. He left after I gave the shark sign.
That was an adrenaline filled 45 seconds that I will not soon forget.
The rest of the days dives were pretty uneventful. We dove some pretty spots but no more fish came aboard. Headed back in about 5:00 and it was a bumpy one as the sea breeze had built up.
We were back at Joe's at 7:30. 14 hours after my day had begun. 230 miles on the trip meter in the truck.
