Keys Vacation - Islamorada

Long-winded post, what do you expect I been gone a whole week.
Nice but Very WET. It rained nearly every day. It would start at 0400 and last until 1700 nearly every day. We had one very nice trip to Hens and Chickens reef where we had a 2 hour snorkeling adventure. Otherwise we mainly stuck to the beach at Founders Park where there is a couple of rock jetties we like to explore and swim.
We were positioned in a very nice canal home on the Florida Bay side of US1, from the kitchen I could see the rear 2/3 of the Sea Hunter boat that they cut in two pieces as a promotion stunt. It is parked alongside the Plantation Boat Mart facility. Holy cow, they have no less than 5 Quad 350 Yamaha rigged center consoles sitting out front. Hydra-Sports and Sea Hunters. Awesomely vulgar display of hardware.
What else did we do? We got to watch a Cesena 162 do a take-off and landing at close range. Landing gear in the sea grapes on approach. Then there were the various critters, swimming and walking that were always fun to observe. The one morning we got to go to the reef was 6 to 8ft and more than a little uncomfortable, no we weren't in the V-20 for that one. We were in a nicely rigged 27 Conch and it was tossing us around like we were on a surfboard. After taking a small one over the bow we decided to move closer in. It was still dicey, current would not cooperate,(into the wind) boated a small mutton and a yellowtail. Another afternoon, Melissa and I had a fishing derby where she cleaned my clock catching six fish to my 1. Ended up with some Mangroves and some gray snapper for the knife. I will promise some pics for later. Even a video or two as I figure that out..
 
i'm jealous, we used to do a 2 week trip to the keys every 2 years, but have not been able to go for while. the weather is always a gamble anytime of year. we went one time and never took the boat off the trailer. sounds like you made the best of it, congrats
 
Nice man!!! 5 WEEKS TO GO FOR ME!!!!! Man I cant wait to get down there!!!!

Looks like yall had fun....the hogfish video wouldnt load for me
 
Ssiredfish, IDK why it won't load for you, I just viewed it again.. Anyone else?
You like shooty hogfish, NO? LOL. Seriously, I tried to feed them into the boat and we just didn't have any takers. No spears for that little section of rubble. Wish I was going back in 5 weeks. Or even this Wed. and Thurs. for Lobster mini. BUT- From what I could tell from the unscientific headcount, the lobstering is not going to be as good this year..

Me too Reel, I would love the opportunity to do that 24/7/365. I only took the GOPRO on the last day and that was after a pretty bad storm the night before so the water was a bit cloudy. It just isn't automatic yet. Too bad because the snorkeling on the patch reef was much better, schools of glass minnows, giant brain coral, fans and tons more fish with visibility to 60 to 80 feet. Snapper, Trigger, Tarpon, Barracuda, Parrotfish, Cowfish, Spadefish, Angel fish, Blenny, more than I could even name. Slow starter you know..
 
Watched it off your channel but the link still didnt work. Looked like a keeper Hog.....Nice lil pile to visit....

Do I like shootin hogfish?!?!?!?! Its only my second favorite thing to do right behind eatin em!!!!

Thats a bummer about the storms and vis, I hop we get lucky with the weather. I dont see how the lobsterin could be much worse than it was last year but man I hope it picks up!!!!!
 
My crew was in Big Pine Key the week of the 4th....same weather you had, I would estimate at least a foot of rain fell while we were their and the wind blew a steady 20 to 25 all week, day and night.

On a positive note...no bugs!
 
I've been going to Marathon first week of November for the last 32 years. This year I will be spending 2 nights in Islamorada during my annual stay, to get......(shrill screams) married.

Glad that is early in our trip so I can enjoy the remainder.
 
Great job with the Go Pro!
I'm still learning to use ours..
Would love to spend some time down there in the Keys.

Did you use the flat lense to do the underwater shots??
 
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I've been going to Marathon first week of November for the last 32 years. This year I will be spending 2 nights in Islamorada during my annual stay, to get......(shrill screams) married.

Glad that is early in our trip so I can enjoy the remainder.

32 years? Married? Well congratulations. We like the keys but it is harder and harder to justify the expense.
 
Ridge, I liked the keys as well, but we're still paying for our Christmas trip. Never mind the looooooong ride. So on that topic, what are some "hidden ***els" of Florida that give the Keys feeling(clear water, good fishing, relaxing scenery, good boating) with out the high cost and weirdos. Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed ourselves in Marathon, and I really liked the look of Big Pine, but once I got past Miami and realized how much longer it was going to take, I started having second thoughts. The weather unpredictability was another issue as well. Come up with some good ideas and we'll have a fall get together in Florida
 
Great job with the Go Pro!
I'm still learning to use ours..
Would love to spend some time down there in the Keys.

Did you use the flat lense to do the underwater shots??

The camera is a GoPro 3Hero White edition. The only option out of the box is for the full door or the half door on the polycarbonate case. So, I used the lens that came with it. LOL That was literally my first use of it, and editing, and uploading, and etc.. So yes a 44yr old computer illiterate dog can learn a new trick every now and then. It must be easy if I can do it. A bit time consuming. For instance:
It took 85 minutes to upload a 8 minute video to Youtube.

The WiFi capability is interesting. There is an app I can use my i-phone to work the camera from a short distance away and have streaming video on the i-phone with a small delay. Helpful when you want a preview of what your shooting. They make a lot of attachments for it. I want to try a suction cup mount and perhaps a handle with a lanyard for snorkeling.
 
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