Our second day in Nantucket was all about embracing the activities that were offered to us seaside. We woke up incredibly early for a 5 hour fishing trip on The Albacore, the fishing boat that we chartered for the morning. The only fishing that I'd ever done before was at summer camp, where we were elated to catch fish that were longer than 6 inches! Our trip out to sea was probably the highlight of the vacation!
Sunset or sunrise, Nantucket Harbor is breathtaking.
The week before we left for the Cape, Cooper had been sick with a stomach bug. He passed it on to me and Todd before we left for our trip, but then poor Meg got it our first day in town. Sweet girl had been sick all night, but still decided to come fishing at 6 am. What a trooper!
And also, props to my mom, who had the stomach bug, but still volunteered to stay at home with Cooper. What a saint!
I loved that our Captain steered with his foot! Coffee in one hand, donut in the other!
Proof that we were up, literally, at the crack of dawn.
Ok, so for a girl who had only caught 6 inch fish at camp, I was pretty proud of the 25 lb. striped bass that I reeled in! At this first location, we fished for striped bass (we kept 3) and bluefish (we threw them all back). It was such a rush to be reeling in the fish and guessing what kind we'd get and how big it would be! And what a thrill to pull it up onto the boat to see how huge it actually was!
It wasn't long before Todd reeled a big fish in too!
Meg spent half of the morning passed out on the boat. Poor girl! It was kind of like the time my parents took us to a Garth Brooks concert and she slept through the whole thing! She was probably 8 years old or so, but WHO DOES THAT?!
After we had had reached our fill of striped bass and bluefish, we went out to another location to try for sea bass. Sea bass are much smaller, but had to be 14 inches or more for us to keep them. We probably caught 20 sea bass, but only kept 3.
All in all, the four of us caught around 50 fish! There were even a few times where 3 of us would be reeling in a fish at the same time! Our Captain definitely took us out to the right fishing spots!
I felt so proud as we pulled back into the harbor. Hundreds of years ago, Nantucket was an old whaling town. I wonder how those old whalers felt as they pulled back into the harbor after being at sea for a few years, now with 20 or so whales in tow.
Here we are with our fish! I felt really proud of the fact that a few other tourists that had gathered near the dock started taking pictures with MY FISH! Hilarious! And weird.
We now have about 30 striped bass fillets in the freezer, so if anyone has any recipes, send them my way! Todd cooked some up last night, but I had a hard time eating it since I knew that I had killed it. Do other "hunters" have that problem?
After taking quick showers, we headed back to Brotherhood of Thieves- because it was just THAT good!
I love when the boo makes this face at the table!
After our late lunch, we went back home to regroup and decided to head out to the beach.
My only regret of the trip is that we didn't spend more time at the beach. I would have loved a full day there! Beautiful white sand, a gentle surf, and very few people would have made for a totally relaxing day!
The biggest surprise was that Cooper HATED the beach and cried most of the time we were there. The sand must have been too weird for him. He did NOT like it!
Todd said that he would cry too, if he had to wear that outfit. Cooper, that outfit is called smocking, and probably cost $47, so it would've been cool if you had smiled. Just saying.
What would we do without Lolly?
Well, I guess we won't be getting him a sandbox for his birthday!
One day, this boy is going to learn to love the ocean.
I'm so glad that Cooper has found a good friend in Bobo!
We capped off the evening with Bananagrams, Nerts, and tossing magazines off of the coffee table.
Another great day in Nantucket!
