Chillin' and Fishin'

Day 40 - Delray Beach, FL - Partly sunny and 80:

After our day in the sun, we had a new adventure planned. Heather woke up early to do some girly things at the spa and then it was off to our big adventure. Mark had arranged for him, Heather, Erin, Casey and I to go out fishing. It was a 65 foot fishing boat with all the bells and whistles. Our captain Nick got us out into the harbor by about 1:00 and KJ went to work setting up the two kites and six different fishing lines. It was an amazing set-up and we hooked onto our first fish within 20 minutes. I stepped up to the boat rail and started reeling. I continued to reel in my first Sail fish for the next 20-30 minutes with the fish "sailing out of the water." KJ and Nick thought it was about a 70 pound fish which is on the high side for a Sail fish. We never brought the fish into the boat because the oils from our hand would have harmed the slime on the fish and with Sport fishing you just have to reel the fish until you can touch the leader and it's considered a catch. We then went back to waiting and hooked onto two sharks and it was Heather's turn to reel them in. She unfortunately lost both of the sharks because they bit through the line and all we got to see was the fin. Then around 3:00 we started to take in the lines and head to shallower waters when Mark hooked a Mackerel and gave to pole back to Heather. This time she was able to reel the fish in and got her picture with it. Nick then took us in near the reef, so Erin and Casey could catch some fish. They started fishing and right away began catching Trigger fish left and right. Between the two of them they caught probably 28 fish over the next 45 minutes it was a lot of action. Then it was back to the inter-coastal to make to 4:00 bridge. It was an awesome afternoon of fishing and I will always remember catching my first Sail fish.

From the dock we raced back to Delray and then over to Sean's basketball game. He plays guard on the St Andrews JV team. They were playing an undefeated team and started of the game a bit slow but picked it up and in the second half and won by 10.

After the game we raced back to Delray again to see the boat parade at Mark's brother Mike's house. Every year residents light up their boats and travel down the canal through Delray and everybody parties and gets in the holiday spirit. After the parade finished one of the Yachts in the parade stopped by Mike's house and dropped off another 50 people and the party really got going. We met some great people from around the country. We were all tired from our exciting day, so we headed back to Mark and Becky's house for some much needed rest.

Day 39 - Delray Beach, FL - Sunny and 85:

After our long day of wrestling alligators in the Everglades we decided to relax and spend a day on the beach and pool at Mark and Becky's house. We though it would be a good idea to try and tan our white bodies so we wouldn't stick out so much. Later in the evening we took some time to go an visit the 100ft Christmas tree that Delray Beach puts up in the middle of town. You get a good idea of the size compared to Ben and I sitting in the big chair! After that we headed back to our guest house and made some dinner and watched a couple movies. It was a very relaxing day!