Remember that famous quote from "Jaws"? Well, Aunt Julie and Uncle Lynn were saying just that last year on vacation in Florida, when Shark Boy caught this monster.
"Last summer, we postponed our spring break until August, and still went to Florida," Aunt Julie explains. "Three of the boys brought along their girlfriends. Well, six 20-somethings aren’t happy walking the beach and shell hunting (there are none that time of year, anyway!), so we needed a plan. Not to mention that it was extremely HOT."
Aunt Julie got one of those ideas that come along with the cartoon lightbulb that goes on above your head. "I had taken a 'shuttle' across a narrow stretch of water to an island for shelling on previous trips. The shuttle was run by a college kid and his pontoon boat. He charged $10 and I am so cheap, I told Joey, the kid, that I could swim it and save the $10! He said he wouldn’t do that, because of the sharks. Yeah, right. Anyway, he also charged to take tourists fishing, so I set it up for early the next morning."
The Pop'r Boys were a little disappointed when they saw the pontoon boat the next day. "They were expecting a fancy fishing boat, but it was Joey and the pontoon that met us," Julie says. "One of my boys whispered, 'Mom, Joey isn't a college boy! I’m a college boy!” So I asked him how old he was. Turns out he was my age! I guess the folks down Florida way are better preserved than we are up north!"
What about the sharks, you ask? I'm getting to it! "Anyway, we followed a shrimp boat for a few minutes and saw lots of dolphins. About 10 minutes out, well within sight of the shore, we stopped and Joey went to work baiting the hooks. We asked what we were fishing for and he said 'sharks'. Great. We were out about 2 1/2 hours and it was constant action. Shark Boy caught this 6-foot, black-tipped reef shark, and everyone else caught at least two smaller sharks."
Even the GFs got caught up in the action. "There was a seat bolted to the front of the pontoon, where there was no railing, where you sat to reel," according to Aunt Julie. "Joey held onto the back of the girls' T-shirts, so they wouldn’t fall in. At one point, a hammerhead circled the boat, close enough to the surface that we could see him very well. Joey thought he must have been 15 feet long! He tried to catch him, but no luck. We would have had to drive to boat back in, dragging that huge shark!"
Even though the sharks were pretty scary, Julie's glad she went on the expedition. "It was exciting enough just to see such an amazing creature!" she says.
We'll have more of this Shark Story tomorrow. In the meantime, have you entered the Great Pop'rs Giveaway? You have until Monday at 8 p.m. EST; it's really easy--just click here--no gear or pontoon boat required!
8 comments:
Have you ever seen Shark Week on the Discovery Channel? It's pretty scary! I don't know what I would have done if one of my kids had hauled something like that into the boat! BTW, don't forget to Share the Caption Love! It's that time again: Time for the Silly Summer Sunday Sweepstakes--come play along!
I watch shark week on discovery all the time. eeekkk sharks scare me.
That fish is unbelievable! Wow.
Happy Sunday to you, too!
It sounds like an amazing, although a bit scary, experience. One everyone will remember for a very long time. What great memories!
Last time we went to the beach my son was snorkeling and I said what are you looking at? He answers, "Just this shark swimming under me." I flipped out and said, "Get out! Get out!"
Wow, where exactly in FL is this? My family would love to do that!!
oh my gosh...I think I would have been too scared to enjoy myself.....I have such a fear of sharks!!!!
What the ....?? That is MaSSiVe!!!!!
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