My husband and I took a trip down to Key Largo recently. We towed the boat down so we could do some fishing. Lots of fishing. It was to be my last hurrah before my upcoming surgery that will put me out of commission for the remainder of the summer. Naturally, I had high expectations for this trip. SPOILER ALERT: My expectations were a bit too lofty.

We arrived very late Tuesday night to 20 mph winds. We were too exhausted to think much about anything, so we went directly to bed. Wednesday morning we awoke to the same windy weather. Neither of us felt great so we took the day to fuel up the boat, buy some groceries for the week, and take a look around the little community where we stayed. Most of the residences were small park model campers that are fixed up to look like tiny homes. They are situated on campsite sized lots and each are on a canal with a boat slip out back. That was the main feature that drew me to the property.

We woke up Thursday to 18mph winds but I was determined to get out on the water. We loaded up and set out to find some fish. Manatee Bay was a little choppy but, in my opinion, nothing of concern. The concern came later when we had to cross Blackwater Sound. If you had told me the waters would be so crazy in a bay, I would’ve never believed you. We knew it was a little windy and we noticed there were no other boats (I mean zero) but it didn’t register that we possibly shouldn’t be out there. When we returned home later that afternoon, I checked the data and found out we were dealing with 4.5 foot waves. We also learned the reason there were no boats is because most of the charters called off their trips due to the conditions. But man was that boat ride fun!

The only bad thing about the conditions is we got absolutely soaked, I mean legitimately drenched, every time we moved to a new spot. I can’t tell you how many times I reapplied my sunscreen due to it being rinsed away. Also, fun fact – I love the way may hair looks after being in saltwater. It made me reluctant to wash it every evening.

We woke up Friday feeling optimistic about the day ahead. We were going to head out in another direction and find some other spots I was interested in. That’s where the trouble all started. I will summarize: GPS auto guidance wouldn’t work because there is apparently a conflict of some sort in the system, all straps on the bimini top broke except one, and on the last day the trolling motor battery didn’t charge.

This is where I will acknowledge that when things don’t go the way I imagine, it really pisses me off. I always heard you can’t catch fish when you’re angry, and I found this to be true. Mostly because I was just too aggravated to even bother with the usual things like losing a leader to the rocks and having to re-rig my line. So on my last hurrah I spent more time lounging and napping on the boat than I did with a line in the water. As my mom always said, I cut my nose off to spite my face. I wish I could say it’s not true but it totally is.

All the mishaps aside, it was a good (and much needed) trip. We had some fun and learned a lot of things that will help us the next time we tow the boat to a new destination. Tomorrow, I get to log on for work and see what kind of disasters await me. I estimate around 9:15am I will be pining for Key Largo and all of the technical difficulties that went along with it.

Until next time… tight lines and happy minds!!!