Skip's Harrowing Vacation

[5th Tuition]

Skip’s Harrowing Vacation;

As you recall, several of us have noticed that Skip had not posted for quite some time, and we were wondering what was up. A couple people had left messages for him and were anxiously awaiting his reply. I received this information second hand so all the details may not be correct, but as you can see, Skip had an interesting vacation.

It seems that Skip and his family decided to take a vacation to the Florida Keys; Key Largo to be exact. Skip hoped to get a little fishing and diving in while also spending time with the family on the beach. Skip was watching the weather channel one morning and saw that the next day called for “light and variable” winds. He contacted a charter captain out of Miami and set up a half day trip to the Gulf Stream the next morning.

The following morning was chilly by Miami standards, so Skip showed up in his “Arundel Insulation” sweatshirt. The mate cast off the lines and soon they were underway. The Gulf Stream runs pretty close to the Miami coastline and even though it was not to be a long trip, Skip brought some loud head banger AC/DC music to pass the time.

As they approached the “stream”, the temperature rose ten degrees and Skip had to come out of the sweatshirt. Skip helped the mate deploy the 17 rod spread, and soon they were fishing for anything that swims. The day started slowly with a few mahi mahi being picked up off of the floating grass beds and even a lost piece of board produced a big bull.

Skip’s eyes were always searching the horizon and soon he noticed some bird activity to the port side. He called this to the attention of the captain, and they swiftly turned the boat in that direction. As they drew near to the birds, they noticed several boats working the perimeter and picking up a few fish. The birds numbered into the thousands!!!! It was the largest “beehive” Skip had ever seen. Skip convinced the captain to head directly into the birds and suddenly all 17 rods went down at once. The captain put the boat into autopilot and quickly descended the ladder to help Skip and the mate bring all the rods (and fish) to the boat in record time. Because they had been using heavy gear (for marlin), the 16 false albacore were quickly boat side and released while in the water to fight another day. One fish however was deeply hooked and bleeding badly. Skip picked up the fish and bit deeply into it, showing the captain and mate his “Chesapeake Bay” version of how to eat cervechi. The captain was so impressed; he took a picture of Skip with a bloody face to post on the Miami fishing blog.

Now that things were back to “normal”. Skip looked around and didn’t see another boat. The captain went back to the bridge and noticed all of his instruments were acting “funny”. The compass slowly spun in circles. The gps unit wouldn’t lock onto any satellites and the radio was working but “scratchy”.

The captain had a general idea of where he was, so he turned around using his wake as a reference to make hopefully a 180 degree turn. Skip noticed some ships off in the distance. As they approached, they appeared to be a flotilla of “tall ships” all headed in the same direction. These 18th and 19th century sloops, schooners, and even skipjacks appeared to be without a crew. Not one person was seen on deck. Skip’s ears soon heard the sound of planes approaching from the east. As he looked up, he saw six or seven single engine navy planes flying in formation. They “tipped” their wings in recognition of Skip’s charter. This was not looking good!!!

As darkness approached, all the ships and the planes turned into the setting sun. If the natural world was still functioning, this should be WEST and it would lead them toward the coastline and back to safety. As the sun disappeared into the water, cannon fire was seen and heard from the schooners. Flares were shot from the deck of Skip’s boat and more could be seen in the distance. Surely someone from the beaches off Miami would see these distress signals.

Skip’s heart was sinking. Everyone onboard realized that they had somehow entered the Bermuda Triangle. Through the night, they kept to their “west” position. As morning broke, Skip thought of the irony of the situation. Here comes the sun to start another day; yet things looked there darkest. Skip took a seat in the fighting chair and just let his thoughts wander. As he relaxed in the morning sun, he remembered a post he had read from me (5th Tuition) on the Tidalfish board two years ago. It was during the fall migration of stripers. People were posting reports of catching lots of stripers. It seems that Skip, Mark (Mlag), Shawn, Jamie, Catman, and others were filling their boats on every trip, however I was having a difficult time producing fish around the bay bridge. I finally got the nerve up to send Skip a PM (private message) and ask for his help. He sent me a three word reply which put me on fish the rest of the season. It simply said, “Go south grasshopper”.

Skip leapt up the ladder to the bridge; turned the boat off its westerly course and headed south. A fog bank appeared in front of them and they slowly made their way to the “other side”. Once through the fog, the instruments began working properly. Skip looked at his watch and notice that it appeared to have only advanced two hours!!!! Everyone agreed to head back to the dock and not tell anyone of their experience.

Skip had also taken his scuba gear to search for some sunken wrecks off the Florida coast, but he hasn’t been back on the water since his fishing experience. He is presently terrorizing tourists in the hotel pool with his scuba gear. As he harasses the women in the pool, he tells the irate husbands, “I’m just looking for anchors.”

He should be back in time for our cbangler meeting on the 21st of December at Bill Bateman’s. Take the time to say hello to him and ask him about his trip.

5th (Marty)