If you're one who keeps up with my travels, you've probably noticed that it's now May 2007 and my last travel log chapter was in October 2006. Does that mean I'm not out RVing? Not really, just nothing exciting enough to chatter about and show photos. Joyce and I went up to Huntsville in late January and early February (about the worst time to leave Florida), where I did some contract work with Northrop-Grumman and made a few extra bucks ... or I certainly wouldn't have been camping in Northern Alabama in February! We stayed in the Alabama Space and Rocket Center campground again, so if you want to see what that was like, just go reread chapters 27, 34, or 57.
Other than that, we've pretty much stayed home and watched the gas prices going up .. and up .. and up. Now, they just passed $3 a gallon ... we've actually reached a level where diesel fuel is cheaper than gasoline in some areas. I've been looking, off and on, at RVs and was staying clear of diesels because of the high price of that fuel. Now, that table has turned again. By the time we finally settle down and decide to buy again, however, we'll probably be burning hydrogen ... :) After looking at some really nice RVs and figuring out how much our payments would jump up, we decided that the Damon with 2 slide-outs is just fine. It certainly has the best engine (Ford V-10) and brakes of any that we've had, and has plenty of room, so we can probably do without the flat-panel TVs, double-door refrigerators, automatic levelers, extra slides, TV in the center of the coach instead of up front, power awning-sunvisors-everythingelse, and ... hmmm ... maybe we do need some of those things ... haha .. time will tell. Never say never ...
So, on to the real topic - another fishing trip to Jupiter Inlet, Florida. Here again, if you want to see a bunch of photos of Jonathan Dickinson State Park, where we camp, or of the various types of fish that we generally catch, you can check Travel Log chapters 28, 49, 50, 58, 65, 67, 70, or 72. Gee, I didn't realize there were that many! You'd think I was a fisherman or something ... actually, I'm an RVer and enjoy getting out with the guys and going on the water. Of course, catching and eating these fish ain't half bad either.
Now, about that title "It Ain't All Fun, but Mostly Is" ... we got down to JDSP on Sunday and started watching the weather report. Although Wunderground.com weather reports had been saying for weeks that the wind would die down mid-day Monday .. HA HA ... we got up Monday and the wind was blowing 15-20 knots and TV weatherman said it would continue all day! Boo! The good news was that the day off would give Buckner a chance to fix a short in his electrical system, that had been a slow drain on his batteries for a long time. So, we spent Monday trying to run down the short. The BAD NEWS is that in chasing down the short, he managed to fry the entire electrical system, so we spent Tuesday in a Publix parking lot, replacing all of the wiring in the entire boat.
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79. It Ain't All Fun, but Mostly Is
Uninvited Guest at Campsite
Rewiring the Boat
Rewiring ... all day
Sailfish - coming to boat
Sailfish - end of the battle
Sailfish - bringing it in
Sailfish - Pre-release Photo-Op
Spacious campsite
Bird family
What a job! Had to take out the inside side panels, go under the floor, hang upside-down under the dashboard, string wire this way and that way ... Buckner did most, with Bruce and I assisting when we were able, but it certainly was an all-day job. Good news was that the wind was still blowing pretty good, so it wasn't as hot as it could have been. About noon, we put up the top on the boat, so had a bit of shade to work under. By nightfall, we were back at the campsite, checking to see that all the switches, pumps, gauges, radio, etc. worked. Buckner ended up having to replace the radio, but other equipment luckily survived.
Wednesday, the wind actually died down. Weatherman predicted calm seas most of the day. We went out, trolled for about 10 hours, and never got a bite! About mid-afternoon, the wind REALLY started to blow - so much for the weatherman. Went back to camp that night and cooked out hamburgers.
Thursday turned out much better. Slight winds, but nothing drastic. We did the same thing we did Wednesday, but ended up with about 6 Dophin, a few Bonita, a Barracuda, and Bruce landed a great Sail! See photos below. CLICK ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE!
Wrapping up, it was another great trip despite the problems on Monday and Tuesday. Buckner even found a model Hogfish to hang on the wall of his porch in South Carolina. It's made of fiberglass and had three delicate fins on top that I suspected would never make it back home unbroken. Not so! He made it home and the Hogfish is still in one piece!
My first Cobia
A couple of great Dolphins
Nice Dolphin
Buckner's Hogfish
How about some campsite photos? As you may recall from earlier chapters, the state park once had a bunch of trees, most of which were either wiped out by the 2005 hurricanes or taken out later by park staff worried about tree damage during future storms. Note in the photo below that some of the trees have come back. Campsites are still VERY spacious - if you ever make a reservation there, ignore the size restrictions on specific campsites. Most can handle anything up to 40 feet. This one shown below, #68 is noted for a maximum 30', but our 36' plus boat and van fit there fine.
Other photos are just some fauna I noted. I thought the birds were Blue Herons, but Wikipedia shows me they're not. I guess they don't have the Red on top of their head. I have no idea what type these are, but they sure were actively begging around all the campsites. Squirrels also were very brave, indicating that campers are feeding them regularly. Not a great idea, since they become dependent on humans for food, then starve when nobody is there during the off-season. When we first arrived on Sunday, there were only about 5 or so campers in the entire section of 90 campsites. More showed up by Friday, but still not real crowded.
Not Fun
Fun
Thursday was so good, we decided to stay another day. Friday was supposed to be windy, but based upon the accuracy of earlier weather reports, we decided to stay and check for ourselves. Up early Friday (about 5:30) and watching weather - looked like a windy day all day ... boo again. HOWEVER, daylight about 6:30 showed no wind blowing around the campground at all. Despite the predictions on the TV, it looked like it might be calm enough to go out again, so off we went. It turned out to be a great fishing day! Wind was around 5-7 knots all day and surf wasn't bad at all ... guess we either need to get another source for our weather reports or just plan to go and check for ourselves.
Bruce caught a couple of really nice Dolphin, let one really, really nice Dolphin get away, and I caught my first Cobia. I'd heard a lot about them, but had never seen one. Right up to the time we brought it into the boat, I thought it was a Shark. The real good news about that is that Cobia are great tasting fish. Buckner said that we could take it to a restaurant and probably get $600 for it .. which we didn't do. Had it for supper that night and it tasted fantastic! Even better than the Dolphin (called Mahi-Mahi in restaurants). And we had enough left over that each of us got to take a couple of 2-person packages of it home with us. Altogether, we each went home with about a dozen packages of fish, so have enough to carry us through until next trip!
Note that Dolphin below on the "Buckner Board" - explained back in Chapter 67. I just went out and measured it and it's just over 36" long, so that Dolphin must have been nearly 4 feet long. I checked back in Chapter 70, however, and the one we caught that time was quite a bit larger. I believe that one must have been well over 4 feet! See photos below.
Chapter 70 Dolphin
More
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