The Musketeers Trip On The Water

The weather finally cleared up enough on Sunday for us to hit the water. My dad, brother & I (The Three Musketeers) went. First we went to the gas station to get snacks, beverages and gas for the boat. We of course took our souljas and used them for the bait. We went around 7:30 to try to beat the heat, my brother ran the boat, as usual. We call him captain. Whilst my dad and I prepared the bait and lines. We then went to our secret spot where we usually go to catch squabs and other fish. We fished for about 15 minutes but nothing was biting so we went to another of our spots, outside of water key channel and anchored in about twenty feet of water. Here I jumped over board and dove five conchs and brought them up. Then I took a look to see which fish were around. My dad threw his line in and I watched as the old wife attempted to take his bait and got hooked! The fight was on…after about a minute, the hook slipped out the mouth. The old wife took off. I then got back into the boat. All three of us threw out our lines and Eric caught the first squab then my dad caught the second. It took me a while to catch a fish and it wasn’t even a squab. I caught a squirrel fish. After about 20 fish, we headed ashore.  

Looking Souljas

On Friday my brother, dad and I went deep in the bushes behind my grams’ land in West Bay. We were searching for “Souljas” aka Hermit Crabs, for fishing bait.Locals use them to catch “Squabs” which are Parrot Fish.  As I was walking into the bush, I walked into a spider web and it was on the side of my face and in my hair so I screamed like a little girl. The whole night Eric was making fun of me for that, which is fair enough because I am always teasing him! We looked in rotten tree trunks, under rocks and under old zinc.We even found some climbing on my grams’ house. I found one that used the mouth of a broken glass bottle that had the cover on, as a shell. It’s funny how they’re smart enough to do that when there isn’t an appropriate sized shell for them to use! By the end of the night we had filled a gallon bottle with souljas. I got the most though, of course :P . I even caught two regular crabs. Which my dad cooked and ate cause I’m allergic L We currently have the souljas in a plastic container with water and old fruits/veggies awaiting their use. We have been unable to get out on the water, for the rough weather these past few days.

Beach Finds

Sooo this weekend I decided to do something use to always do when I was younger, just to see what I would find. I snorkeled around looking for “treasures” lol. I found a couple of things such as a few broken shells, a green pocket knife, broken glass, some cut fishing lines and hooks along the shore. I decided to go on farther out to see if maybe I’d spot a turtle or octopus or something. I did happen to see a baby stingray and a flounder, I tried swimming after them but they moved too fast for my ordinary human self. I came across a live sand dollar, for the first time yet. I also found a very small queen conch. It was pretty cool cause sand dollars are usually never found alive and the little conch was soo cute lol.

  

        

Beach day with the fur babies.

    This Sunday I spent the day at the beach with my five dogs, two of which are indoor dogs named Lisa and Phoebe. Lola, one of my outdoor dogs, is rather mischievous and always finds a way to escape the yard and rushes after people on the street. Her naughty bum is kept in a pen so she gets super excited when going for a walk or visiting the beach, she is extremely strong and puppy-like she HAS to get her way. Unlike my other two outdoor dogs Sophie and King who are allowed to roam the whole yard. They are more sociable and great listeners of demands. It was a cool, yet sunny and semi-stressful day watching after 5 dogs making sure they weren't making any beach goers uncomfortable or roaming too far from our eyes. I think it is safe to say they enjoyed their day! Digging and rolling in the sand constantly, having little races and fetching the sticks thrown in the water. Sophie is quite the little swimmer and every time she went out after a stick King rapidly went after it often times she would reach it first and he’d try to drown her and take it, but she wasn’t having that!! She let him know who’s boss. Lisa and Phoebe also enjoyed play fighting with the bigger dogs, swearing they were the BIG ones.

 

Here are the pooches, excluding Lola. She was so troublesome i didn't have the chance to take a pic.

Diving Conchs

Today the Conch season in Cayman opened so ya’ll know I had to get out on the water, I went on my brother’s boat with my brother and dad. We launched in the West. Firstly Eric and I went and threw out the lines to catch a few fish, meanwhile my dad dove in and started spearfishing, I caught 4 fish and Eric caught two but the second one was too small to keep, he was jealous that the fish kept coming for my line. I told him he needs to take lessons from the best!Haha. He was not impressed. My dad emerged out of the water with a rather decent sized fish. It amazes me how he does it, I really would love to learn how to spearfish. Anywaaayss we then went on our diving spree for the conchs the legal limit here is 5 per person or 10 per boat. I dove 4 and they dove the rest. When my brother was cracking the conch shells, he found an extremely rare conch pearl! It was small, pink and shiny. My dad has been diving conchs for over 35 years and he has never come across one, that’s how rare they are.