Miami trip: day 2

It should be a sin to get up at 4am while on vacation, but sure enough, there we were. Up at 4am, left our hotel at 5am, pit-stop for bagels, met the rest of the crew at the second hotel at 5:30am, and leaving the dock at 6am. Did I mention I'm not a morning person?

However, you are rewarded with views like this...

We sailed for about 20-30 minutes and stopped for an hour or so to "make bait," collecting about a hundred or so small fish to use as live bait. I have to admit -- I chose to skip this process and instead nap inside, so I can't speak to the experience, but Tom thought it was fun to catch five or six fish at a time!

We then sailed about five miles off the coast and began the real fishing for dolphin fish (aka, mahi mahi) and sailfish. Tom and I had fished for dolphin back in May, so reeling in the first two or three was old hat.

The sailfish, however, was an entirely different story. Much larger, a lot more fight to them, and it's catch-and-release. I actually gave up on my first sailfish and handed the rod and reel over to Tom's friend, Hubie, to finish the job. Then I was feeling really sorry for my lack of upper body strength when I reeled in a puny, rather sorry looking fish that had to been about 15 lbs. Tom had a huge battle on his hands with a very feisty fish and nearly fell off the boat when a wave knocked us around at the same time the fish was giving him a run for his money. He successfully reeled in the fish, but had a nasty egg on the top of his knee for good measure.

I had the last word with the sailfish, however, reeling in the final fish of the day. Adam and the mate brought the fish aboard for a very quick photo op, then gently returned it to the sea. Unfortunately, that photo was taken with another couple's camera, so I'm still waiting for the evidence, but check out our photos online.