Rainy Day At The Beach

Went to the North End of Virginia Beach today. Good day for me as it was cloudy and I'm stull slightly sunburned. No waves so not much fun with the boogie board. It started to rain and everyone picked up and ran off the beach, we sat it out though. It made us mad though that there was so much trash left on the beach afterwards, beer cans, water bottles, broken beach chairs etc. We picked up a few spots but couldn't clean up the whole beach.

I say a rainy day at the beach is better than a good day at work!

Upside down marlin flag

Here is a photo of the upside down marlin flag flying from the outriggers.
Blue flag with a white marlin, thus, white marlin.

It was pretty neat to back up into the slip and everyone on the docks pointed at the flag.

Someone explains it here
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080624014238AA21TYp

I Catch and Release a White Marlin

Just returned from a charter fishing boat trip with my father and brother in law on the Git-R-Done, which happens to be the biggest and fastest charter fishing boat out of Rudee Inlet. She proved that when we left the inlet and the skipper opened up the twin 800 horsepower Cat's, those engines were singing and we were flying at a good 35+mph.

We left very early, 4:30am to beat the other boats and headed for the gulf stream.

The sunrise was beautiful and we even saw a whale and some flying fish.

We first stopped at a light buoy out in the middle of nowhere way over the horizon. The deck hand baited up a pole, dropped the line and WHAM he said "Someone get in the chair!", we all took turns landing 25 to 30 lb Amberjacks, talk about fun! These guys really put up a fight! This was the warm up to the real thing.

We left that spot and the outriggers went out and trolling lures and baits went on. I was enjoying the comfy leather couch in the cabin when I heard the skipper yell "WHITE MARLIN!", well it was my turn in the chair and I jumped in and the deck hand told me to start reeling in fast, the skipper was yelling "FASTER DUDE! FASTER DUDE!" my arms were killing me, I was reeling in as fast as I could. Then she broke water and you can see her dance on the water, time stopped.
Beautiful, just beautiful. The deck hand touched the leader and said that it was now a confirmed catch, well the marlin must have heard that because she took of probably 100 yards out again! My arms got renewed strength and I reeled in till she got within gaffing distance and the deck hand landed her. The skipper came down and everyone wanted pictures. The skipper said that they are very rare and one would probably never see one fishing as long as they lived!

After all of the excitement I dropped her overboard.

We fished some more but never did catch any tuna.

I fell asleep in the cabin when I heard the engines slow down, I could see Virginia Beach and I knew we were pulling in. I came out on deck and everyone pointed out the flag on the outriggers. An upside down marlin flag, which signifies that we had caught and released a marlin. As we pulled in and the boat backed up you could see the fingers pointing at the flag, the only marlin flag that day in the inlet and certainly the only catch and release.

My brother in law took a video of me catching the fish and I hope to have it on YouTube this week.

Oh yeah, this was my birthday present and the best one I have ever had!

The Waffle House Experience

Just returned from the Waffle House on Northhampton Boulevard in Virginia Beach. What a wreck. The waitress told me all of the wait staff was new, thats not what scared me so much as the overall condition on the grill. I watched as one table got their order, took a bite and walked out and saw another lady order her meal to go, then just kind of got disgusted and walked out. It wasn't that bad. I got my favorite sandwhich, a patty melt, but it wasn't how I remembered.

USA! USA! USA!

Can you guess where I am? Yes, good ol' USA! Specifically the "Admiral's Club" D Concourse at Miami International Airport. One of the bennies of flying biz class, you get club access before and after the flight. Got to take a shower and grab some Internet time.

The flight was pretty much uneventful. The meals where great and the one touch seat that turns into a full lay down bed was nice. I put in my ear plugs and snoozed away.

Watched "Grand Torino", great movie.

Well time to stroll to my gate, maybe get my first good ol' American Duncan Donut while I'm at it!

Oh, still catching myself speaking Spanish, going to be hard to break that habit.

Last Night In Uruguay

It's my last night here in Uruguay. The bags are packed, well almost packed, I am doing some laundry. Cashed in all of my pesos for those funny all green bills. I put my Out of Office reply on at work although I plan on going in for a few, returm my BlackBerry and say my goodbyes. Then I have to come home and wash the sheets and towels that came with the "Welcome Kit".

On a good note I found out my Business Class upgrade request came through. Because we use American Airlines so much they provide upgrade coupons to my employer and they dole them out as they see fit, but for the most part nobody ever seems to get to use them. I wasn't expecting it to come through but I was blessed.

I'll post a few updates while I am home in the USA. If I get a wifi connection maybe an update at an airport.

Book Corner - Finished Reading

My last book read here in Uruguay

The Ghost War by Alex Berenson

Paperback 539 pages

Fiction

Spy thriller

I really liked this one, the story was only a tad bit far fetched, held your interest but was a little long. A good read overall.