Emerald Isle - Day 7
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship...
For years David's been talking about going out on a fishing boat...every year since I started going to the beach with him and probably even before that. He went out as a teen and loved it, and then waited another 30 years to do it again. Finally, this year the kids were all old enough, and there were no more reasons not to go. We asked everyone in the house to come along, but only our 6 signed on.
We got up very early, making sure not to wake the rest of the family. Not sure we succeeded! We drove to Morehead City and collected our tickets to board the Carolina Princess! Three would fish and three would not. David figured he'd be too busy to fish his own rod, so Morgan, Katherine and Will were the official fisherpeople.
We climbed to the top deck because someone who looked like he knew something told us the kids would like it up there. We sat and waited and got more and more excited. We had visions of a boatload of fish to take home for dinner! Some of us anyway - Caroline doesn't do fishing but thought she'd like the boat ride. She brought a book!
We left the dock and drove forever until there was no sign of any land at all. No sign of anything and heaven forbid the boat would sink and then where would we be? In the middle of the ocean, or close to it, with a bunch of people and not nearly enough life boats. Is it possible to be claustrophobic in the middle of the ocean?
Anyway, we stopped and dropped anchor and David & the fisher people went down to claim their spots along the rail. The boatmen did everything - they dropped gross bait in the trough front of everyone, if a line was tugged they were right there to help get the fish off the line, they clean the fish (bonus!), and they even washed upchuck off the deck. Thankfully I didn't witness that...though I almost added to it!!!
Caroline and I were feeling queasy from the start - the combination of the diesel fuel and the rocking up on top made for a difficult decision to stand up and try to get down the ladder to the fishing deck. I knew I couldn't stay up there and not experience some of this thing that David had so wanted to do for so long. So down I went, stopping at the trashcan to make sure I didn't need to leave an offering.
I found a bench and stayed there, watching my family enjoy casting and re-casting. They really were having a great time! Even Katherine loves to fish. David was kept pretty busy keeping up with the kids' rods, making sure they did get dragged into the ocean! Periodically, the captain would pull up the anchor and we'd turn around or move to another spot to try to find more fish. Moving really is overrated.
Everyone caught something, but only Morgan caught something big enough to keep. One of the deck boys came and took it away on a line with our family number #42! the hope of course is to catch lots of fish so that your family number line is full! Not today. Maybe next time, when Caroline and I are shopping instead!!
After a while even Will started getting a bit green. We stayed outside as long as we could because being inside meant facing the smell of the galley. The boat cook was frying up fish of all things! Finally we couldn't stand the heat and I took Will inside where we joined a bunch of other seasick people. We found an empty bench to rest on, and here we stayed until the boat headed back to port.
Once we headed back, the feeling of queasiness passed and we all enjoyed the ride. We heard all about how big the ones were that had to be thrown back!
So we left the boat with lots of memories and one fish, which we ended up giving to one of the crew.
When we found our legs and were able to walk on land again, we headed to DQ for the biggest sundaes ever!!
For years David's been talking about going out on a fishing boat...every year since I started going to the beach with him and probably even before that. He went out as a teen and loved it, and then waited another 30 years to do it again. Finally, this year the kids were all old enough, and there were no more reasons not to go. We asked everyone in the house to come along, but only our 6 signed on.
We got up very early, making sure not to wake the rest of the family. Not sure we succeeded! We drove to Morehead City and collected our tickets to board the Carolina Princess! Three would fish and three would not. David figured he'd be too busy to fish his own rod, so Morgan, Katherine and Will were the official fisherpeople.
We climbed to the top deck because someone who looked like he knew something told us the kids would like it up there. We sat and waited and got more and more excited. We had visions of a boatload of fish to take home for dinner! Some of us anyway - Caroline doesn't do fishing but thought she'd like the boat ride. She brought a book!
We left the dock and drove forever until there was no sign of any land at all. No sign of anything and heaven forbid the boat would sink and then where would we be? In the middle of the ocean, or close to it, with a bunch of people and not nearly enough life boats. Is it possible to be claustrophobic in the middle of the ocean?
Anyway, we stopped and dropped anchor and David & the fisher people went down to claim their spots along the rail. The boatmen did everything - they dropped gross bait in the trough front of everyone, if a line was tugged they were right there to help get the fish off the line, they clean the fish (bonus!), and they even washed upchuck off the deck. Thankfully I didn't witness that...though I almost added to it!!!
Caroline and I were feeling queasy from the start - the combination of the diesel fuel and the rocking up on top made for a difficult decision to stand up and try to get down the ladder to the fishing deck. I knew I couldn't stay up there and not experience some of this thing that David had so wanted to do for so long. So down I went, stopping at the trashcan to make sure I didn't need to leave an offering.
I found a bench and stayed there, watching my family enjoy casting and re-casting. They really were having a great time! Even Katherine loves to fish. David was kept pretty busy keeping up with the kids' rods, making sure they did get dragged into the ocean! Periodically, the captain would pull up the anchor and we'd turn around or move to another spot to try to find more fish. Moving really is overrated.
Everyone caught something, but only Morgan caught something big enough to keep. One of the deck boys came and took it away on a line with our family number #42! the hope of course is to catch lots of fish so that your family number line is full! Not today. Maybe next time, when Caroline and I are shopping instead!!
After a while even Will started getting a bit green. We stayed outside as long as we could because being inside meant facing the smell of the galley. The boat cook was frying up fish of all things! Finally we couldn't stand the heat and I took Will inside where we joined a bunch of other seasick people. We found an empty bench to rest on, and here we stayed until the boat headed back to port.
Once we headed back, the feeling of queasiness passed and we all enjoyed the ride. We heard all about how big the ones were that had to be thrown back!
So we left the boat with lots of memories and one fish, which we ended up giving to one of the crew.
When we found our legs and were able to walk on land again, we headed to DQ for the biggest sundaes ever!!
posted by gomomyourock at
Friday, July 23, 2010
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