The Case of the Missing Squid
I have a bad habit of leaving squid, shrimps, and other stinky bait in the cooler for days on end after spending an afternoon fishing. Last Monday's fishing trip was no different and yesterday I opened up my cooler to look for a beer koozie and was hit by a wave of stink. As you can imagine, a box of squid smells pretty rancid after spending a week inside a cooler on a back porch in the tropics. Once I opened the cooler, the scent settled in a stinky sort of fog around the back of the house and eventually crept its way up to the front of the house (which also happens to be a spa). I knew I was in a tough spot, so I rallied some bleach and fortified myself with a beer. I emptied the contents of the cooler in a garbage bag, added bleach to both the cooler, the bag, and the garbage can. I burnt some sage and prayed for garbage day to come. After several chemical additions to the back porch, the smell had subsided to a bearable stink and I was content with my actions. Time to crack open another beer and read the newspaper.
So far, this seems like a non-event right? Well, this morning it got interesting...My wife has the olfactory nerves of a bloodhound and insisted that it was still rank outside our house, she wanted me to take the bag of squid juice and toss it into a sidewalk trash can that gets emptied every morning. I agreed to avoid any issues and went out the the garbage can to retrieve the goodies. After taking a few deep breaths and crossing myself, I opened up the lid and reached in. To my surprise the can was empty. "Hmmmm, it must be in the other can", I thought to myself. A quick look into the backup can left me a tad confused, the bag of squid was gone. After a thorough search of the deck and my memory, I confirmed that the bag indeed had been taken from our garbage by somebody. Let me say that again, somebody hopped the 6 foot tall fence that surrounds our house, took a rotting bag of squid from our garbage, and disposed of it for us...Who would do such a thing? I have to admit that I am quite befuddled as to who would be such a garbage diving samaritan. They ignored the fishing poles, bikes, assorted tools, and simply went for a stinky bag of squid. I'm still scratching my head. Maybe they couldn't take the stink any longer...
Key West Post Oil Spill
Ever since the oil spill, the talk around town revolves around exactly how screwed we all are. There is a general consensus amongst the boating crowd that the Keys are going to effected, either by the actual oil or more likely by the rumors of the oil which is causing people to cancel trips. I've been getting in the water at the reef pretty much everyday for at least a quick snorkel while all the paying passengers are in the water, in the back of my head I keep saying to myself, "Well this all might be toast next week". On the other hand, the boating crowd has been saying that the oil has been a few days away since a few days after the spill. The big problem is that most of the people here don't actually read too much news and treat bar talk as a legitimate news source. I'm not saying that all the guys down here are full of crap, but I'm very aware of the fact that a bunch of the guys down here hype things up very much. From what I understand, we're looking at oil starting to show up within 5 days or so. A couple of good sites to follow, that seem pretty reputable would be Keysspill.com and our local newspaper.
Fun on the Water
A couple weeks ago, I got the chance to go out fishing with Justine's parents on a boat chartered by one of her friend's parents. We spent the morning trolling offshore, got skunked, and then headed inshore along a couple of mangrove islands for snorkeling, bottom fishing, and spear fishing. I actually had better luck with my spear than with a hook and sinker. My prize catch was this Hogfish, a local delicacy. The only way to actually catch one is by spearing it. Now, I'm pretty much hooked on spear fishing.
In Closing
Life down here is going well. It's hot, like mid-80's and humid hot. Spending my days on the water is great, it's different every day. I'm learning a ton about sailing and seamanship. Let's hope the oil stays away and BP figures out how to fix the mess they created.
Cheers. Ben
