“It’s astounding, time is fleeting, madness takes it’s toll”
Day 3!!! Phew we can immerse ourselves finally. One of the major things that was on the “to do list” was a fishing charter. The missus has fond memories of fishing in Florida w/ her grandfather as a child & her uncle does a fishing trip in Key with his buddies so it was a no brainer to book with who he uses. We chartered with DoubleDown Fishing. And it was awesome. We booked a 4 hour charter for the morning. Got to the dock before the sun, jumped on the boat and headed out. It was just the 4 of us, the captain and first mate. There’s something to be said about being on a boat watching the sun come up, kinda soul cleansing. The crew caught some bait fish and we headed further out off the coast. Barely a cloud in the sky, calm waters and perfect weather all morning. We all had our share of catching a few and being taunted by the ones we didn’t hook in time. Made our way back to shore around noon. Jameson, the first mate, cleaned our catches. Grabbed an uber and got back to the Galleon to regroup and head to lunch.
Wandered down the wharfs and stopped at Dante’s Pool Bar, had our catch with us in tow for them to cook up for us. They weighed our cleaned fish and we had 7lbs total. Ordered some drinks, nachos & conch fritters to hold us until the feast arrived. I was the only one who jumped in the pool, truth be told the water was a bit frigid. And I know how that sounds being on vacation from New Hampshire in Florida in January. Well worth the time. Our feast arrived and I mean feast!! We did all the mackerel fried and the grouper blackened for tacos. There was also 7 sides that came out with it all. Mac & Cheese, Fries and Beans w/ rice. We could have used a lot more stomachs!!! At the end it didn’t look like we even put a dent in the fish. Boxed up the leftovers, grabbed the check and moseyed off, more like waddled after all that food.
Decided we needed decompression in the pool for a bit. After floating for a bit to digest everything we regrouped in the room and made our way off for the evening. Started at Schooner Wharf to wet the whistle. Grabbed a slice of Key Lime on a stick at Kermit’s and made our way to Duval. Swung in the Smallest Bar when we saw an opening, quick photo op and down the street we went. The Cannonball had found a pizza joint, Angelina’s, that had some arcade games and did slices earlier and we headed there for a slice. Not sure we needed any more food!!!! He and I both grabbed a custom slice. Mine was spinach & garlic on a slice of cheese, he went for garlic & ricotta on his slice of cheese. Shoved those in our faces and did the obligatory stop at Sloppy Joe’s for a bit of live music and a nightcap. (Super long day and everyone was toast)
Got back and did a late night dip w/ the cannonball at the pool. Lots of hugs and laughs between us while the ladies did the down time thing in the room. Made it back to the room and hit the pillow.
The running theme of this trip has been the opposite of our last SXM. Trying to do as many activities as we can do in a short period. (Full admission, I set Clark Griswold style expectations for everything I plan) Luckily, this travel crew knows how I am!!
