First Days in the Field

Well, after spending a few days fixing the baitwell pump in the boat, fishing, and teaching the new guy what a lobster looks like and, more importantly, how to coax it into the net without looking like a total moron, we have finished our first four sites in the field. The first two sites were on the bay side of Long Key, near the Outdoor Resorts former trailer park land. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather, flat calm water, excellent visibility, shallow water - two great days on the water.
In the water we found 3 Octopus near ODR and poked them with a stick. While this may seem a bit cruel or unnecessary perhaps, we are trying to test how they respond to this sort of threat. Most of the octopus seem to like the stick and most didn't want to give it back. We got lots of great videos of the octopus valiantly trying to pull the tickle stick out of TJ's hands. Fortunately we managed to get the stick back, so far. . .
I also spotted a small school of Caribbean Reef Squid hanging out by our transect lines. They were a bit concerned with the large, hairy, bubbling object shooting pictures of them, changing colors rapidly and threatening me with their tentacles. Not bad for a 4 inch long cephalopod.

Today, we made the long trip down to Bamboo Key off of Marathon, near where we took TJ yesterday for his first Lobster Reuben sandwich at Keys Fisheries (waddling out later with hands placed contentedly over extended stomach). This was a full day - no holds barred, two full sites. We caught about 70 lobsters, 14 Octopus, and a few rashes (sea whips wrapped around the neck while trying to video an octopus try and yank a ticklestick out of TJs hand). Yes, 14 Octopus, almost as many as the Childress picked up all last summer. TJ appears to be some sort of good luck talisman when it comes to locating large numbers of octopus.
Tonight, we went over to KML for a birthday party for Daniel Poland, aka "The Swede", his thirtieth. On the way over, we stopped at the quickstop for an excellent assortment of random gifts for Daniel including an R-rated beer coozy and quick-drying-odor-reducing-urine-powder (turning thirty apparently is only one short step from incontinency). A good time was had by all. Tomorrow, Lignumvitae Key!