Only 11 days left for Cannons Marina’s Grady White Boat sale.  Now is an unprecedented sale on ALL Grady White models, Plus, Yamaha’s “Invest in the Best” event means up to $7500 in extended warranties or up to $4500 towards the purchase of your motor package.

You can live the ultimate boating experience of your dreams.

Let’s get one thing clear here, I love to fish and I am a non-professional fisher-lady, actually somewhat of a novice at the sport.  Although a novice I was taught some basic fishing rules and etiquette, as I fish with a well known local guide by the name of Captain Scott Moore.

During our trip I personally hooked the tarpon of  my lifetime! I fought the huge fish for more than 30 minutes when another angler cast into the pod that I was fishing, crossing my line. Thinking he had a fish on, he attempted to set the hook, and cut my line, I lost my tarpon. I was not happy.

I wanted to scream profanities but knowing my Captain would have not tolerated any aggression -  I actually just sat down and had a bottle of cold water. Captain Scott handled the situation with Captain grace and aplomb. It was his gentleness that made me think that perhaps the angler had no idea of what he was doing, or maybe he just didn’t care, but it made me aware that there are a few things that anyone attempting to catch a tarpon should know.

These are a few basic rules of etiquette that will increase everyone’s odds of actually catching a tarpon and keep everyone happy.

1) Running an outboard motor close to a school of tarpon will spook them and cause them to leave the area.

2) When making a presentation to the fish,  TURN OFF your motor well away from the school. Make the final approach with an electric trolling motor of just drift into the casting range of the fish.

3) When another boat is working a school of tarpon,  don’t approach them. Wait your turn, and consider that it might be a Captain who makes his living fishing.

4) If another boat hooks a tarpon close to you, give them room to fight the fish. Motor in the opposite direction slowly, or just sit still and let them move away from you. They will have a better chance of landing their fish and it may prevent a tarpon from jumping in your boat and smacking you in the head!

5) If you are just cruising an area where other anglers are fishing be mindful that it is tarpon season and give them a wide berth.

Tarpon season can be fun for everyone if we just show some simple kindness to our fellow fishers and other boaters.

So if you are looking for waterfront dining by boat, we have listed here our top six places to eat while enjoying your day boating with family and friends.

Cannons Grady White Club, More Adventures in the Bahamas

Another quiet day on Green Turtle. The Neumans went dump diving, checking out the local dump and the chickens that reside there.

Kathy wanted to take some of the chicks home, but apparently Al decided they wouldn’t do too well on the boat.

The Griffins, Mike Seery and John Pock went to town for a lunch of cracked conch and other seafoods. Lyons and Gaults went beaching and snorkeling.

The day ended with drinks at the Green Turtle Club, dinner and drinks at the Bluff House, drinks at Green Turtle Club and off to bed.

Saturday – Day 8

Saturday dawned bright, hangovers be damned, check out was timed to the Island beat. Slow. We got it done and headed south for Marsh Harbour.

The seas were moderately bumpy. The armada sailed under the lead of Capt. Seery, all waypoints were reached.

The water was iridescent, a turquoise color that one has to see to believe. The white sand bottom was fifteen feet below our hulls, and yet seemed touchable.

The occasional conch or other shell fish dotted the pristine scene as we traveled at 32 miles per hour, seemingly gliding above a wonderland of Bahamian sea bottom. We pulled into the Boat Harbour Marina with a brisk wind sending our small craft in every direction.

Ali Schulze, Mike, Debbie & Bob Lyons

The dock master, assisted by dock-hand and former Sarasota trial lawyer Bob Lyons, who had arrived ahead of our group,  worked overtime to get us berthed, and seemed ecstatic that we got lashed to the docks without damage to any of the really expensive boats moored next to our assigned slips.

We were assured by Bob Gault that he had completed the most important task assigned to him during the trip.

He found a conch shell for Lucile Miller. We all felt that we could now go home safely to Cannons Marina.

It was dinner time at Marsh Harbour. We were told about a wonderful restaurant about a ten minute walk from the hotel.

We started walking, but we’d spent a little time at the pool bar before setting out for dinner and thus, as it turned  out, no one could remember the name of the restaurant.

We walked and stopped and had a drink in several places, none of them the recommended restaurant.

Finally, Debbie Lyons saw a sign that looked familiar, and we hustled in, to find that we were  indeed in the right place. It turned out to be a grand restaurant, good food and tropical drinks to die for. Two, who shall remain nameless, almost did.

Home to bed. A great day ended. More adventures planned.

The Suncoast Grady White club  has a quiet day in Paradise.Some went fishing, some went swimming, some drove our little carts into New Plymouth for lunch and we all took naps.

Dinner at Green Turtle Club was wonderful, fresh seafood, most of it caught earlier that day. Not much to report today.

1st Row: L- R Debbie Lyons, Bob Lyons, Mike Lyons , Ali Schulze, Jean Griffin, Terry Griffin,John Pock, Shannon Gault and Bob Gault, 2nd Row:Cathy Neuman, Scott Neuman, Al Neuman and the group Photographer - Mike Seery!

Scott Neuman will leave by air today, back to his home in Colorado, and Mike Lyons and Ali Schulze will fly out tomorrow, back to school at Florida State.

The rest of us will move on to Marsh Harbour.

So far, we’ve traveled about 450 miles since leaving Cannons Marina on Longboat Key.

By the time we return home, we will have put approximately 1,000 miles on the boats, some of those miles better than others!

The Neumans rented a car and drove to Freeport for a little sightseeing.

The rest of the crews lounged around the pool or took naps or hung out on the beach with pool drinks in hand.

A planning session was held at 5:00 p.m., with the captains arriving at a consensus as to the best waypoints to program into the GPS systems.

Then, as the sun sank over the proverbial yardarm, whatever that is, the crews fell into some tropical drink, a little dinner on the patio overlooking the yacht basin, and then to bed. A quiet day on a beautiful island.

Day 5 – Wednesday

L-R Captains': Neuman, Pock, Lyons, Griffin

At 10:30 am, the little armada headed out of Old Bahama Bay, threaded our way through the rocks that jut north from the tip of Grand Bahama Island and came onto the Little Bahama Bank, headed for Green Turtle Cay, 93 nautical miles away.

It was one of those days about which poets wax -  eloquent.

The green water was as clear as bath water BEFORE you get in it. We were running generally over 9 – 12 feet of water, the bottom visible all the way.

The sky above was clear, the sun hot, and cumulus clouds defined the horizon. The Bank was a little bumpy, about like Sarasota Bay with a 5 knot wind. Moving at 32 mph, we hardly felt it.

Grady White Boat: Pharmasea

Soon, the radars were picking up signs of land and we began to see other islands as we moved further onto the Bank.

We ate lunch underway, enjoying the cruise and the sights.

After about two hours of running, we came into the Sea of Abaco.

The wind had picked up and the chop got choppier, the ride a little rougher. We pulled into White Sound at Green Turtle Key about two o’clock.

We again moored stern to at docks built for much bigger boats. I think we scared some of the large yacht captains out of their flip-flops.

They came running to the rails of their boats, large fenders in hand, protecting their employers’ investments.

They had nothing to fear. After the mooring action at Stuart, we had become old pros.

We checked into the hotel and found, much to our chagrin, that two free rum punches were included in the price of the room. The stampede to the bar was rather restrained as befits Grady-White people, but at least one Bahamian was heard to threaten to sue over his trampling.

Lunch at Cabbage Key: L-R, Jean Griffin, Guest, Captain Mike Seery

The only hitch came when word was passed to Griffin that he had not registered.

He was sure he had, since he had two free rum punch tickets. Alas, he had used the tickets shortly after the stampede to settle his nerves and was afraid he could not prove that he belonged in the hotel.

However, thanks to the intervention of Captain Mike Seery, it was determined that the confusion arose when the dockmaster mistook the logo on Recess for its name and had registed it into slip 25 as the Grady White.

Captain Bob Gault, Jean and Captain Terry Griffin

Bob and Shannon Gault met us at the dock as we arrived. They’d flown over [WHAT?} on Monday and were staying the week.

They joined, maybe even precipitated, the afore mentioned stampede to the bar.

Some time later in the evening all thirteen of us went across White Sound to the Bluff House for dinner.

When we returned to the Green Turtle Club, the Gully Rooster band was playing.

It is apparently a very popular group in these precincts, but about the nicest thing your erstwhile reporter can say about it was that it was loud. No problem. We headed for bed. A glorious day behind us.

0645 -The Suncoast Grady White Club from Cannons Marina loosened the lines and headed to the inlet. The sun was peeking over the trees lining the Manatee Pocket.  We followed several large sport fishermen through the pass and out into the broad Atlantic for the 67 nautical mile trip to West End, Bahamas.

The seas were forecast at 2 to 4 feet. I think we were on the high side of that forecast and maybe higher. It was a rough crossing, but the Gradys’ never faltered.

As we crossed the Gulf Stream, the wind seemed to pick up and the ocean got choppier. It took us five and a half hours to make the 67 nautical miles, but we kept plugging along, bows trimmed down, at about 17 knots.

The consensus of the crews was “Glad we had the Gradys.” The only hiccup in the crossing was Griffin’s inability to read his GPS correctly, so Pharmasea who was following Recess, got to practice some heavy weather seamanship. Seery finally convinced Griffin that he needed to reset his GPS. That fixed the problem, but Griffin was heard to grumble that it wasn’t his fault if the dumb autopilot couldn’t follow a course [sounds like an excuse?]!

We sailed into the marina at Old Bahama Bay at West Inn. The green clear water made the trip worthwhile. We moored the boats without incident and cleared customs.

The custom officers were cordial and quick to get us cleared. Lunch on the veranda overlooking the boat basin included Conch fritters and other great seafoods.

Pina Colladas were consumed as enegy giving drinks and Captain Bob Lyons and his crew headed into the village after cleaning up the boat. Captain Al Neuman and his crew rented bicycles and rode up the coast Captain Terry Griffin and his crew (The Lovely,  Jean) took naps, as did Mike and John.

Dinner on the veranda overlooking the basin was pleasant until it started raining.

The roof leaked a bit, so we moved into the bar for a little fellowship. It was a quiet evening among friends.

It don’t get no better than that.

"Lyonhearted" in Florida Locks

0700 – Cannons Marina Grady White Club: All the lines are loose and Pharmasea, Lyonhearted, Grady Lady and Recess head east on the Calloosahatchee River.

We’d heard that the locks were on a different schedule, opening on the odd hour rather than on demand.

We made the first lock at Ortona shortly before its scheduled opening at 9. Quite an experience locking through, but we all made it with a minimum of fuss.

The next lock was near Labelle, and we caught this one just as it prepared to open. Timing is everything. We locked through and then continued east toward the Moore Haven lock, hoping to time it’s opening. As it happened, the lock is permanently open, at least for the short term future, so we simply idled through.

The next hurdle was Lake Okeechobee. With Al Neuman aboard Grady Lady in the lead, the crossing was without problem except for Capt. Griffin’s insistence that we were going the wrong way.

After a short stop in mid-lake the issue was cleard up when somebody pointed out that Captain T. Griffin had his chart UPSIDE DOWN!

The Myakka lock on the east side of the lake was open with boats motoring though at idle speed. Our final hurdle was the St. Lucie Lock which was to open at 3:00 p.m and not again until 7:00. We pushed on and arrived at the lock with time to spare.

Suncoast Grady White Club in Florida Locks

This is the largest lock in terms of the lift and we were actually let down a little over nine feet. From there we went on to Pirate’s Cove Marina for a little fun time of docking stern-to with a heavy wind and current working at cross purposes.

With luck we all were moored without banging into other boats, but it was a close thing.

The tired mariners had dinner in the hotel restaurant overlooking the Manatee Pocket. Al and Cathy Neuman son, Scott joined us here for our trip tomorrow to the Bahama Islands!