There are just a few days left before the 4th of July holiday and the marina is filling up fast. People are coming to fish and enjoy the beach for the 4th.
Cubera Snapper are the giants of the snapper family. They are usually found in south Florida and the Bahamas, however this sea monster was caught just off Ocracoke in about 60 feet of water. The Cubera generally average 30 to 50 lbs but can easily exceed 100 lbs. This one weighed in at whopping 94 lbs. It was really cool to see it and to think of spearing this behemoth.
Saturday Keith and I decided to go check out the new inlet that formed cutting across Portsmouth Island after Hurricane Dorian. This inlet allows water from the Atlantic Ocean to connect to the Pamlico Sound. It is 2 1/2 miles south of the northern tip of Portsmouth where we usually take the dinghy and go ashore. This meant it would be a minimum of 5 miles hike round trip. I took two ibuprofen and said "let's do this thing".
We had a great time. The new inlet is huge. There is a large shallow area and then about a half mile wide section that is quite deep, reportedly 10-15 feet deep at minimum.
Keith walking along the shallow section
Another view along the shallow stretch
This is looking across to the opposite shore in the upper right of the picture. You can see the deeper channel as the bluer water.
Portsmouth Island is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The Park Service reported that 54 new inlets were formed during Hurricane Dorian along the National Seashore. Many of them will close over naturally and quickly. Others may remain until the next big storm. This is part of the natural way of things on these barrier islands.
I would love to try to figure out how to get the dinghy around and into the inlet. There is a way as there were several other small boats and a jet ski in the inlet when we were there. That may be a project to try in the next several weeks.
As usual, there were shells that just had to come home with us. I even found the top three quarters of a tulip shell, which I have not found here before. I would love to find a whole one sometime on the outer banks. There were 32 Scotch Bonnets on this run.
Tuesday the 30th of June Keith and I had a nice calm weather forecast so we decided to take Southern Style and head out to the Gulf Stream to do a little fishing. We followed one of the charter fishing boats out at 6:00AM. The inlet at Ocracoke has shoaled badly after hurricane Dorian. That is why we wanted to follow someone with local knowledge. There are markers that are off station and have not been corrected as of yet. Coming back in was challenging. Even following our morning track, we had trouble finding deep water. Luckily we had another local coming in the inlet that saw us having trouble and radioed for us to follow him. He got us through the shallow part and we are eternally grateful.
We were also lucky to have caught three nice little football tuna.
3 Blackfin tuna.
Tuna Poke for dinner
Gotta say the poke was pretty darn good. Tuna poke (pronounced POH-kay) comes from the Hawaiian's and means "cut piece" or "small piece". This is a Hawaiian version of the Japanese sashimi and is an indicator of the love for fresh raw fish. It started to become more popular around the United States in the 1970's and today you can find numerous recipes in cookbooks and on line. In September, Sam Choy, one of Hawaii's most famous chefs, hosts an annual, 3 day poke festival. The contest draws over 2,000 participants from around the world each year.
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