a pirates life for me........

'going where the climate suits me clothes'
I know I have used that before, but it just fits.
So I hopped in a truck with a buddy, and trekked out of west palm, heading to key west, yes not really planned, but here's to living in the moment.
He had to film a possibly 7 species fishing show for Cabella's and needed a driver,
I felt like the chick in Forest Gump, when the guy pulled up in the VW microbus, and said, anyone wanna go to san francisco? Yeah!
I got in the car and went. Mike carried the boat home and hopped a flight to come meet us, while a super unusual substropical storm was churning around the nc and sc coasts, we got blown out on tuesday, and mike and I enjoyed a key west afternoon, with a late waking up, a nice lunch, and happy hour at the pool bar and a sunset (can never see too many of those in key west!) We stumbled to the condo to meet the rest of the additional crew of cameraman, AlaBama ! could not understand a word he said, and I had just come from a week in wilkesboro nc at a bluegrass festival in the mountains where it was ALL redneck-speak, talk slow and add 4 syllables to every one-it was pure country prairie jibberish! I decided to join him in some dark rum, maybe it would make more sense that way,
the second member of the add-crew, was a fellow fisherman, a legend in south florida and tortuga fishing, a man above water, able to leap waves in a single bound, it was, it is, a man I had rarely met before, but his reputation proceeded him,
he is, da da da dummmmmmm INVINCIBLE MAN Rob Hammer!
It was officially Hammer Time.........
As we drank rum and formulated a plan of attach to wind and water creatures,
the three of us who were drinking the rum talked to two sober boys into just going to the tortugas and staying the night,
we would save 80 miles of running per day, more fishing time,
blah blah blah.......
our boy scouts in charge were nervous, they had not prepared for this,
we need supplies they said, so we all wrote down three necessary things,
mine were rum, beer, and flashlights,
our fearless capt monkey uncomfortably agreed to the boisterous wishes of rum drinkers, we each headed out with out lists.......
I forgot the flashlights, so I doulbed up on the rum, and headed to duval street to hang with friends at Capt Tony's, (no Capt Tony that night or we might have added oxygen tank to the list and brought him along!)
Although I was one of the three rum drinkers, mike had become mikeey that night, as about a dozen margarita's were entertaining him, we stumbled up and down duval street to get our supplies, and found our way back to the westin for some ice cream and some sleep. The ice cream was awesome and I could not sleep, I was way too excited to go-I would be 80 miles south of key west, check that out on a globe,
in the middle of nowhere, a dream with a million stars above my head,
to be one with the fish of the day and the stars of the night.
As I packed my heavenly bed from the westin to sleep on the boat
(a princess has to be comfy....)
we took two boats, for safety and better video, its fairly rough and nasty but cleared up great by mid day, once we stopped the boat, I recorded in my mind,the begining of one of the most amazing day in my life.

chapter whatever....
we pulled up to a shrimp boat, anchored, and asked to barter beer for by catch, as we pulled up to these 'pirates' we passed buckets of buds, in exchange for fresh 'trash' of chum, it was very exciting to me, these guys looked just like the dudes from Pirates of the Caribean, you know the guy with the wooden eye,
just like them, and we were cautius and ready to get out in a second, but it set the mood for the day that would be more like an ernest hemingway story, than an actual day in my life. I wanted to take photo's of them, closer up, but I dare not, for safety sake, not the best place for a girl and didn't want to know what barter that would bring. We took the chum and went on, then pulled up to another shrimp boat that Hammer knew, and we chunked chum out the back of it and the boys jigged up the most amazing school of black fin tuna, they were diving out of the water, and giant, I mean GIANT porpoise protecting them, I drove as the boys created some awesome footage, Mike was about 1/2 a mile away, driving the da da da dum INVINCIBLE boat, and enough film was shot, Mark let me hook up two or three tuna's in a row, and wow, that's a fight! It was awesome! I put a hurtin' on them, as they did me, but it was way cool and they were way cool as they hung on ice-fisherman 10 tuna 0. So then we did the same thing a bit away with kingfish, we got a few mediocre ones, then it got flat, seas and bites, so we waited it out with telling stories, and telling jokes, ya know, captain monkey loves the jokes! All the while we were just goofing, we kept looking over to Capt Mikeey, about 1/4 miles away in the da da da dum INVINCIBLE, and he was fighting fish after fish, right and left, with no crew, no live bait, and only two hooks, and no drinks-we kept calling him on the radio asking what's up, he would only answer with 'nothing to see here folks, just catching some stripers!' It was too funny, his mojo was on, hmmmm.
We finally caught some monster kings and got to use the underwater camera, should be some awesome footage!

Yes, it continues.........take a break, use the restroom......
an incredible day of fishing, and then we start to head in as the sun slowly starts to fade in the west, we pull up to fort jefferson. Its a former prison, an Alcatraz in the east, federal regulations keep you from pulling right up to the docks, so we stop just short and swim our gear and tents and coolers in, wading with supplies above our heads. Hammer, da da da dum, mr INVINCIBLE, quickly hurries us to the rum and a quick tour, although the park is closed, and gladly,
he knew every detail, like a trained historian, we snuck in and learned a history lesson in the crimes and criminals of the bunks, including john wilkes booth, horrible crimes of history, put off to rot in a most sacred beautiful place,
to rot in the sunshine and die-what's up with that? Hardly punishment to fit the crime, it was more than amazing, in less than a week I had traveled and learned stuff in two different points of reference, the mel fisher pirate museum on my off day in key west, and now ft jefferson, WOW i felt smart!

I then enojoyed a steak dinner, and more rum and stories, and the most amazing sinking sun I have ever seen, it hit in a cloud, lighting up each protruding beam of light, it looked like angels reaching from the sky to the water, then when it came out of clouds for its final descent into the ocean, it looked like maybe two balls of fire, sinking into the waters of the night.

Then it all started to come together,
the fish,
the seas,
the feeling of just doing what you please,
it all came together in a million maybe more, stars,
planets, meteors, jokes, and laughter,
all surrounded byt the roar of the ocean and the surreal
sound of the migrating birds on a dying island.
I felt like I was surrounded in a sea of music, though our ipods did not work,
is was us, and naturally the sea, the sand, the friends and of course the sailboat, adrift maybe 1/4 away, rockin' . When I awoke at 3 am, all was still,
'cept that sailboat, still rockin,
two stones throw away, I went and got a Fiji Water, and sat on the front of the boat, serenaded by the ocean, the birds, and the intermittent sounds of the bear growling in his sleep, and the sound of the boat softly hitting the pylon it was tied to, it was erractic, but smooth, as I sat with my head at a 45 degree angle to the seat, staring at what must have been a dozen shooting stars, not unusual when there are a gazillion (or a brazillion) fo them, I have honestly never seen that many stars, I tried to count them but after two or three times on the fingers and toes, I got lost,
so I just stared, and wondered.

If every person could be this content and happy,
for one day, for one night,
and could see the world, the people and animals in this world
for the beauty they possess,
I think random acts of violence would be as distant a memory as the former inmates at fort jefferson,

the next day, my alarm clock of rolling tarpon by the boat,
and giant, I mean GIANT Jewfish under the boat (see photo)
made me jump up, and again we did the shrimp boat thing, more pirates, more chum, and then we went site casting to permits,
wow, that's a strong fish, my aches and pains from those tuna's on the previous day were surfacing, as the small yet forceful and powerful permit, took us all to school, we finally landed some and wrapped up the day.

I expect all who read this to pledge,
come away with me,the this newest, and oldest place,
and most fantastic place.

PS
I did get a new nickname
Bobo, as in Mike the Bear is Yogi,
his sidekick apparently is Bobo,
got to check THAT out....

PSS
I cannot even put into words, though i tried,
the experiences and memories I captured in the last few days,
I do not know where to begin the thank you's to the people
that made it happen, made it real, and made it so special
my eyes were opened to how considerate and real people and nature can be.
And how strangers can become a part of your life through a common bond.