Fishing Practice

The boys are participating in "Sea-N-Sail" summer camp during their last week in Biloxi. The camp is hosted by the Maritime Museum and they get to do a variety of activities; sailing, shrimping, swimming, etc.  K went on a real working shrimp boat yesterday, C will go today (he is in the older group).  K thought that it was interesting to learn how they shrimp, he said he had never seen "shrimp that are alive."  Along with the shrimp, the boat pulled in two eels and a flounder, which was very exciting. 

At camp, the boys also get to do some fishing and cast netting.  We did not bring our fishing gear with us to Mississippi so I checked out rods for the boys from the MWR office on Keesler AFB.  These rods are a bit longer than the rods they have at home, so before we sent them off for fishing at camp we decided to do a little fishing practice yesterday evening.  Actually, I skipped the practice session.  I stayed in the condo and did some reading and more hoping that "A" will arrive.  So Johan, my mom, and Hector took the boys down to practice.

The water here is extremely shallow.  You have to wade out quite a distance to cast.  Sometimes at the beach I'll call out to the boys to come back in because they are way too far.  They might be 100 yards away, so far that they can hardly hear me.  They are usually laying down flat, so I can't tell how deep it is.  They hear me calling and stand up to get a better idea of what I am saying, and I realize that the water isn't even past their knees.

Here is K hoping for a nibble.



The headline news when the boys returned was C's fish story.  As he burst through the door he exclaimed, "Mama, I caught one!"  K was quick to add that, "It wasn't very big."  C relived the experience telling me that he was reeling in his line and he didn't feel anything, then he looked down and thought, "Hey, that little fish is following my lure."  Not until he pulled up his line did he realize he had actually caught one.  Johan pointed out that the hook couldn't have been much smaller than this fish's mouth.  That is one ambitious fish!



So today the boys are off at camp again.  C's schedule for the day is shrimping aboard the Sailfish, followed by a presentation from the Hurricane Hunters (who are based here at Keesler), and then fishing and cast netting off of Schooner Pier.  Today K will go; sailing aboard one of the Maritime museum's Schooners, fishing, see the Hurricane Hunter presentation, and finally bowling. 

I am so glad that they are at camp this week.  The boys are as ready as I am for A to arrive.  They are frequently asking, "When is A going to be here?"  Or, "Mama, when do you think A will be here?"  Their absence leaves me with plenty of time to lament the fact that I am still pregnant!  Where are you A?  We had thought that we would be leaving Mississippi with a two-week old baby girl.  Now we will be lucky if she is a couple of days old.  We are supposed to start driving one-week from today...

Johan took this shot of our condo from the beach.  We are on the 13th floor of 14, our patio is the one in the center, just below the top floor.