Last Day at the Beach

This morning was, once again, a glorious beginning to the day.  Marty and I walked down to the beach to see the sunrise.  It was just past high tide, and Marty decided that he would do some fishing while the beach was empty.  He immediately caught a 15 inch flounder which we will enjoy, once again, for dinner.
I forgot to mention the spotting of dolphins, yesterday, as they swam north along the water.  This morning, Marty and I spotted dolphins, considerably closer to the shore, traveling south, this time.  You can see a shot that I managed to capture on my flickr site.
The water was crystal clear and warm, once again, and I even ventured out to do some boogie-boarding with Marty.  I could see Amy, camera in hand,  waiting for me to come riding in on a wave, but I must tell you that I had to leave her disappointed.
The last day at the beach is always a bit of a bummer.  We enjoyed the day to the fullest, but we needed to get back to clean up the house and pack the car for an early departure in the morning. 
As the kids used to say when they were young, "I didn't have enough fun yet!"

A Perfect Day at the Beach

You certainly can't ask for a better day at the beach then what we were blessed to have today.
The sky was a brilliant blue, the weather not too hot.  The water was considerably warmer than yesterday and crystal clear. I even ventured out into the surf for awhile and was amazed that I could see the bottom of the ocean despite walking out quite a distance from the shore.
The kids built a large sand castle in the afternoon, and later in the day, Marty and Jim had one of the most exciting fishing days at the beach.  You can see lots of fish photos on my flickr site.

At first, Amy and I began to question whether or not Marty was catching the same fish over and over, as it looked suspiciously similar each time he reeled one in.  He caught several mullets, some spots and a few flounder, one big enough to cook up for dinner.

This final catch caused some excitement, having broken the line on the rod.  He was flopping all over the beach, and for a brief moment I feared that Mr. Flounder was going to flop right back into the surf (which he actually did at one point, but Marty luckily had quick hands) and get washed right back into the ocean.  But we managed to barricade the guy until Jim was able to retrieve a bucket for us to pop him into.

Marty filleted the flounder and Jim cooked up some tasty fried flounder fillets for dinner. I don't think that you could ask for a better day at the beach.  But we still have tomorrow, so who knows?

The day was just Ducky

Feast your eyes upon the excitement of the day:  Amy and her nephew sporting their
"Duckwear". The evening ended up rainy again, but we never seem to run out of rainy day fun options to keep us entertained.

I tagged along with Marty and Amy as they went kayaking in the sound.  I struck up an interesting conversation with a 10 year old boy who was apparently a blue crab-catching expert.  He was sure to give me all of the ins and outs and tips on how to catch these creatures.  I spied what he had managed to catch that morning, and those crabs were huge!

After heading back to the house, I eventually headed down to the beach for a little while, and watched Marty pull in a flapping croaker.  Once that fish heard that he would make great bait, there was no holding onto him.  He flopped out of Marty's hands three times, but I did manage to get at least one photo.  Marty tells me that he caught three more croakers, but I had headed up to the house by that point. The weather was drizzly and overcast, so the girls and I decided to venture out into the town for a bit, where we picked up the shirt to match Amy's from last year.

We had a wonderful in-house dinner again this evening, and the entertainment was a game called "Munchkin" which Jim thinks is the best game ever.  I can't say that the girls and I agree with his review.  Stacey ended up winning, with me as a close second, but, somehow, all kinds of rules ended up surfacing just when I thought I had the game in my hand.  But it's not winning that counts anyway, is it?

Or course not.  That is why my kids are once again playing a game of Canasta, accusing each other of cheating as the game continues, putting Jim primarily in the wrong.  What else is new?

Here Fishy fishy....

This morning, as we sat on the beach watching the waves crashing on the shore, enjoying the beautiful weather, Marty decided to share his fishing strategy with me. He and  Jim had noticed that the water was quite cold, and there seemed to be a drop in the ocean floor just a few feet out from the shoreline.  The combination of the cold water with the extra depth so close to the shoreline would most certainly result in perfect fishing conditions just after high tide.
(Little did they know that the weather would change to overcast with an impending storm on the horizon, sealing the fate for several hungry fishies. )
Their sharp, decisive analysis resulted in Jim pulling in two flounder, one munching on his finger with its very sharp razor like teeth while Jim attempted to remove the hook, and for Marty:  one croaker, a pompano, and two flounder.
The best memory of the day for me, was turning around to see Marty walking towards me with one hand holding his rod with  a Pompano attached while his other hand was grasping a wriggling flounder. as if he decided to just grab it in the ocean.  It turned out that he had actually caught two fish simultaneously, and that the one had broken loose from the line, and Marty had grabbed it in his hand. 
I had suggested that Marty just keep the Pompano on the hook as is, and throw it back out into the ocean as bait.  It made sense to me that this fish would be perfect in attracting a larger catch, but my suggestion was scoffed at by the two apparent pros. 
This is probably why I don't fish. For those of you who share my lack of fishing enthusiasm,  the rest of the day was certainly interesting with thunderstorms rolling in. We sat in the loft room and watched the lightning strike all around us while the rain pelleted the windows.
Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I hear that there is a strong possibility that we will not be enjoying the sunrise or the sunset.  Perhaps I'll take my brother's suggestion and try to sleep in.

Mullet

Another beautiful day here in Duck.  The weather was hot, but if you got close enough to the water, the breeze was delightfully cool.  The ocean, itself, was surprisingly cold, and little Finn was not too crazy about getting his tootsies wet.
But I certainly had a great day hanging out with the little guy.
Here's the up to date fishing report for Dad:(see photos on flickr below)  Marty caught a large mullet and a flounder, both of which he threw back.  Jim caught a bluefish and a smaller mullet.  He kept the mullet to use for bait, which actually replaces the mullet that they used to catch the mullet.   Got that?
Luckily we weren't counting on these guys to supply dinner.  We feasted on an excellent Roasted Chicken with home made stuffing and corn on the cob from our garden.  For dessert:  Paul Neuman cake.  I don't know how the guy got a cake named after him, but it sure is great stuff!
As I write this the kids are having a grand time fighting over the rules to a game that they are enjoying.  We're having a blast!


 

Sunrise.... Sunset

Here you see a photo of last evening's sunset over the sound.  Beautiful, isn't it?  The house that we are renting in Duck, NC has a unique and smart layout with the bedrooms on the center floor and the living area on the top floor.  A short staircase takes you to a small loft, which is surrounded on three sides by windows, offering the guest the view of the ocean in one direction, and the sound from the other.  Today's photo was taken through glass in this room.  Really, you can't ask for much more.
The only downside to this place is the large spider population.  And I mean that in both contexts.  Large in numbers and large in size.  Can't say that I've seen spiders this large in real life, other than the ones the kids made in gradeschool out of playdough and pipe cleaners. 
Jim, Stacey , Marty and I were sitting in the hot tub last night, when we noticed that we were surrounded by webs with gigantic spiders in the middle.  When the one above Marty's head decided to play Tarzan, swinging up and down at random, Stacey and I decided it was time for our exit.  Amy never even made it into the hot tub, having arrived just as we were scrambling to get out.  She was more than happy to  make an exit with us.
Curiously enough, the spiders and their webs were absent in the daylight, making me wonder just where they packed up their bags and hid for the day.  Perhaps I'm better off not knowing.
The weather has been beautiful, although the surf is a bit rough for swimming.  But we had a delightful day just hanging out on the beach enjoying the sunshine, and relaxing in the house spending some quality family time together.  Add that to chasing a baby on the move, and one couldn't ask for a more perfect day.