Lobster Hunting

Bruce and I are back from our Florida getaway. The waters around Cudjoe Key are minus a few lobster. Here is Bruce and Ron with one day’s catch.

On August 5th the lobster season opened in Florida. We got up for our usual early morning start – 10:00 a.m. In our defense, diving has an extra consideration down in the Keys – tides. So you look at the local paper to get the tide schedule for Key West. Then you have to adjust this for the tide schedule where you will be diving. Of course, this will all change the next day.

Off we went on our first day to an area called the “Coral Heads.” It is outside and on the open water which makes this not my favorite spot. I have terrible motion sickness but Saturday was calm. Bruce and Ron put their dive gear on and take off. Ron got 4-5 the first dive but Bruce was in the Dead Sea. The second dive was in a place called Lennie’s Hole or Shark Alley depending on who you are taking to. Bruce got a couple lobsters and Ron also got some. We ended up with 11 lobsters – not very good for the first day. We also ate four of them so not too many went into the freezer.

Our second day was much better. We brought in 22 lobsters. This was only two under our limit. However, we did so much running around that we ran out of gas. Luckily Ron gets help from Sea Tow and they brought us five gallons of gas. We left at 10:00 a.m. and got home at 7:00 p.m. Did I mention that I also get sunburn when out lots?

The best part about the second day was that we got in so late, we had to go out to dinner. Eating out is one of the great joys of a Keys visit. The variety and scope of restaurants is somewhat better than Grand Marais. The day we flew in our first stop was a late lunch at the Half Shell Raw Bar for Conch Chowder and Oysters Rockefeller. But this night we went to Mangrove Mamma’s. Bruce and I had a Mahi Mahi fish sandwich that was huge. We forced ourselves to finish it just to be polite. We had three other meals out.

Another thing that we do is look for new recipes for lobster. Steamed or grilled lobster is great but we get enough to try different things. On this trip we adapted a crab cake recipe to make lobster cakes. It was a great success. What really topped off the meal was Pat’s homemade Key Lime Pie. She makes the absolute best pie and we all look forward to it.

Friday came too early in our vacation. We flew home with a good supply of lobster tails. Many of them were given away to our kids and managers but a good supply found their way into our freezer. They make wonderful treats during the winter.

Life at the resort was busy while we were gone and it is still keeping us hopping. Both September and October are very heavily booked. Even November is starting to fill in. Meanwhile I will dream with lobsters dancing in my head.