Sunday Brant invited me on a fishing trip off Palm Beach Island. The crew included Tia, one of our neighbors, her brother Tom, her father, Brant, me and of course the charter captain (who was incredible). So we took a small boat out through some pretty heavy breakwater. Some waves were around 10ft which I completely enjoyed…others…not so much. After about 40 minutes we were beyond the breakwater and in deep enough water to start fishing.

The captain broke out the kite, which I’d never seen before. He sent a kite up (we had heavy winds so it was key) and we proceeded to set up three rods to use the system. Each line was attached to the kite line which would release once we got a bite and started to reel in. The kite keeps the line verticle in the water and allows you to fish far off the boat and easily rotate lines in and out from far to close depending on who’s got a fish on. You just have to keep your bobber/marker about 2-3 feet off the water and live bait, about 10 inches long, in the water with the ocean swells.

Brant was the first one out and got the first hit. Tom was next then me, who got the smallest fist of the three. Tia caught one on the sideline (non kite) which was just a bit too small to keep but she had a good time getting him in.

Then we reset and waited for about an hour. I was the last on the kite line so I was closest to the boat which means I was less likely to get the next hit.

BAM…I landed a 20 lb Mahi Mahi which I chased around the boat a couple times. It came in close twice and then darted off making me work my ass to bring it in. I was thrilled, shaking and excited. When we finally got it in I was beat, forearms throbbing but soooo cool. Huge fish and smiling from ear to ear. Not bad for my first fishing trip.

One thing that made it difficult was the sea was listing the boat about 6-8 ft every wave so it was a constant battle to stay upright. Constantly keeping your balance, watching the bobbers and running like mad when we got a bite. What a great day on the boat.

The ride back was fun as well, as the captain is a surfer so we had a good time surfing the big swell with the boat on the way back to the dock laughing my ass off.

Brant whipped up some cajun seasoning when we got back after the captain perfectly prepped fileted the fish for us and we headed to the grill for some well deserved Mahi Mahi.

Thanks again Brant, it was a great time! Thanks Tia, for taking such great photos.

Thanksgiving was a bit different this year…in a good way. Of course Wednesday night before the big day was a drunken shitshow (as usual) but we had a great time. Thursday I headed to Boston Market and got Thanksgiving lunch, no big deal. Our friend Rosy invited us (Brant and I) to Jupiter for dinner with her and Regina.

They’re a great bunch of friends and we always have great time. Thanks guys for making Thanksgiving something to remember.

Of course hitting Dirty Martini in PGA on the way home made parts hard to remember but I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. So much fun!

Sunday night I made the 70 mile trek down to South Beach to meet up with my old friend Jay and his girlfriend, Stacy. It was so great to see him again. It’s been at least five years since the last time we hung out and he only lives 4 hours away in Tampa, FL.

So I geared up, hopped on the motorcycle and headed down to Joe’s Stone Crab at the south end of South Beach, right next to Nikki Beach. We had a couple beers, caught up and had some stone crab / oysters.

For those of you who don’t know Jay, we’ve been friends since 2000 or somewhere around there when we used to work together at the now defunct Mercurio Group. After that company went under we both worked at Instant Replay in Cincinnati.

Not long after I moved to Florida he moved to Tampa and after a quick weekend trip to Boca Raton, we kind of lost touch so I was thrilled to hang out once again. He and his girlfriend were on a weekend away in South Beach to catch Sting in concert so he hit me up and invited me to dinner.

Great to see you man, glad to see you’re doing well over there on the flat coast. You’re always welcome to spend a weekend away over here, I’m always more than happy to show you around downtown West Palm Beach.

This is Winston, my neighbor’s little King Charles puppy. 2 months old and cute as hell. I’ve agreed to take care of him from time to time, so now I have a little buddy to hang out with during the day which is great since I’m pretty much by myself all day.

We’re still in the pee-pad phase of training but he’s been fantastic. Just sleeps in his little bed next to my desk as I work. For lunch we chill on the couch and watch tv and take a nap.

He still needs a few shots before I can take him outside and get him used to marking his territory.

Nothing quite like puppy breath kisses and a cute face to hang out with during the day.

The holiday weekend was one for the books. A full day of boating with new friends over at Peanut Island, swimming, drinking and an all around great time. Sunday was happy hour up in PGA and Sunday night was another downtowner with friends.

This is a shot of the boat we took out. My buddy is in the Boat Club so he gets a selection of boats to reserve a few times a month so this could be a regular occurrence. Nice! I could do that every weekend for sure – thanks Brant!

The weekend held some great surf for us thanks to Hurricane Irene. The hurricane itself basically never really hit the coast at all. We had some bands of heavy rain that lasted for 20 minutes at a time and nothing in between.

Friday I cranked out a website in the morning and waited for my buddy D. to get up here from Key West so we can hit the beach in Delray. We met Ramil on the beach around 3 or so and proceeded to paddle out into some huge 12-14 foot surf. It was crazy…it took at least 15 to 20 minutes just to calm my nerves down once I paddled out. It’s been a while since I saw surf like that so the initial drop down a 14 face is a bit intimidating.

After a while I dropped in, made the drop as an air drop, hit my feet then the wave pretty much just mowed me down. I realized I took the wrong board but what can you do?

After paddling around and catching a few smaller waves we headed to a little spot just south of Spanish River in Boca and found some non-crowded, glassy waves. My first ride was probably one of the best I’ve had in years, even had a bit of a cover-up near the end of a long ride.

Lots of great waves and it was so good to surf with my bros over the weekend.

Saturday we drove up to Ft. Peirce chasing waves but it was just one long closeout after another so it was pretty much a worthless trip. I dropped into one and caught a short ride but really nothing much. By then we were tired, wounded, sunburnt and pretty much surfed out.

Now it’s just a matter of time before the next storm hits us. Bring it on!

Here’s the forecast according a link Phil posted on Facebook…

WEDNESDAY: FLAT. ALthough there could be some swell moving in upcoast in central Florida. WInd will start to pick up during the day though and blow it out. There could be a knee high NE windchop late in the day for PBC as those winds will start to blow about 20+mph.

THURSDAY: Victory at sea conditions. well overhead to 12ft. Not really rideable. The storm will be at it’s strongest and at it’s closest. winds will be up to tropical storm force out of the NE, then north. We could also see some outer rain bands and squally weather rotate in thoughout the day. As the winds turn more offshore late in the afternoon, you may be able to find some protection behind a jetty and catch some double overhead dredging barrels. It”ll be a tough paddle out though and probably best to wait until Friday. There will also be some storm surge and lots of beach erosion. Hopfully that won’t mess up our sand bars. Maybe it’ll dump some sand in some secret spot for a perfect a-frame peak on Friday.

FRIDAY: SHRALPING. Head high to overhead peaky barrels. It’s be super consistent too. With the storm that close, there will be no sets, just constent waves pounding. A tough paddle out and still a heck of a drift to the south. WInds will be offshore but still cranking at 30mph in the morning so it may be tough to get into anything early. As the storm pulls away, winds should die down and it will clean up even more in the afternoon. Sun will come out too so it should be a great afternoon of surf. It’ll be those fast moving, air drop, sand dredging typoe waves with lots of open barrels. I’m sure there will be lots of broken boards for the hard core chargers. Know your limits, this will not be a beginer, or even intermediate wave. There will be peaks everywhere so it you don’t like a crowd, you should have no problem finding a shack to yourself if you take the time to look around. Sand will be shifted all around so you may score.

SATURDAY: Wind dies down but still stays offshore, SW 10 all day. Surf dies quick but is more manageable at chest high. Some clean, glassy barrels will be found at the right spot. Waves will still be consistent, but start to seperate into sets more, making for an easier paddle out.

SUNDAY: Waves drop quite a bit but still stays rideable. About waist high, clean and glassy. Bigger upcoast. Starting to get a little inconsistent. Surf will drop by the end of the day and probably will only be rideable at stand out spots.

MONDAY: Back to flat. Rest, recover, check video and pictures and wait for the next hurricane swell!

Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/sports/recreation_sports/surfing_blog/updated-local-surf-forecast#ixzz1Vt7WJzJd

Last weekend was a great time. I pretty much laughed the entire time hanging out with neighbors. By the time Monday the 4th actually rolled around it had begun to catch up with me but hey, we all need recuperation days.

Loads of pooltime, morning bloody Mary’s and margaritas. I didn’t bring the camera out so no shots this time but it was a great time.

Longboards turned out to be a really cool spot and the street event on the 2nd was a good time. They had a half-pipe in the middle of the street loaded with skateboarders and a slew of vintage cars on display. Very cool.

It was also open bar…sort of. They’d give you handful of glassy pebbles and each one was worth a drink. Appetizers were wondering around like ribs, oysters and chicken wings.

My personal favorite was the overall selection of vintage surfboards on the walls….well that and the fact the back patio was all sand! Yes, the beach is now on Clematis.

The fireworks were short but not too bad. Nothing like we have back home in Cincinnati for the WEBN Labor Day Fireworks down on the Ohio River but still entertaining.

Overall a very eventful and crazy weekend.

Weekends by the pool, rummers and Corona light coupled along with grilling is what summer is all about. This weekend was a pretty good one. My neighbors and I pretty much spent the entire weekend at the pool and wrapped up the weekend with barbeque chicken, skirt steak, corn on the cob and asparagus all on the grill.

Of course weekends like that make Mondays a bit slower but it was a good time. Hoping for more weekends like this one.