I finished my daylight shift last Wednesday. Thursday I did stuff around the house. That evening I had a group of friends over. We sat out on the porch, drank a few beers and talked. The group included TK, MK, Kevin, Gary, Ker, Josh, Pastor Mark, and me (It was a Presbyterian posse, except for Josh who is not “yet” convinced about infant baptism). It was a great time, I would like to be able to do this now and then.

Friday I meet Josh P. at DeAngelos for dinner (lunch). This is one of my favourite restaurants in Lake Charles. After that I went home and picked up the little boys, including MK’s son, who had spent the night, and the four of us took off for Longville.

In Longville the boys swam, while I visited with Pop. After they where finished swimming we headed for the pond to fish. We had only fished for a short while when it began to rain, so that was cut short and we return to my parents and visited some more.

After we returned home, Josh called; he had asked me earlier if I would be interested in going fishing in the gulf Saturday. I told him that I would be at his house a 4:30 am. I had never been fishing off shore in the Gulf before, so I was pretty excited.

I am a US Navy veteran, and have spent many days at sea. I’ve experienced two typhoons (both near the Philippines) while at sea. Every time I was on land for a few months between cruises, I always got sick the first day out at sea. After that first day I never got sick again, but no matter how calm the seas, I always through up the first day out.

I have not been on a boat in the ocean for many years, and so I was a bit concerned. Mk gave me a prescription for sea sick patches, and I put one behind my ear in hopes of not ruining the fishing trip.

Saturday morning, we put in at the Cameron jetties and headed out into the Gulf of Mexico. We went out about thirty-six miles out in to the gulf. We pulled up to an oil rig and hooked on to it. The fist time I dropped my hook in the water I caught a red snapper almost immediately. We caught sixteen snapper, and a couple of ling (cobia), in no time at all.

For the first hour we fished with frozen cigar minnows, the snapper had quit biting and so we decided to switch to artificial bate and try for more ling. Josh gave me a new rod and I began to thread the line through the eyes of the rod. That was a big mistake. I could feel the sickness coming on at a mad rush. I turned and throw up off the side of the boat. Josh saw me and was surprised, because I had done so well up until this point. I heaved a couple of times and set my eyes on the horizon and felt much better.

I never felt bad again after that. It was a great trip. We caught four dolphin (Mahi Mahi) and a Spanish Mackerel. I also hooked a small shark but we cut the line and let it go.

It was a great day. After we got back, cleaned the boat and the fish, I went home and grilled some of my portion of the fish. It was great. We ate red snapper, ling and mahi mahi for supper. I opened a good chardonnay to go with the fish. After that I bathed and crashed. I was really tired.

Sunday, we worshiped at Bethel. Monday evening I started back to work on graveyards.

Coram Deo,
Kenith