Birthday Parties

This past week was a milestone for our friend Russ Reynolds.  He celebrated his 60th birthday.  Keith and I as well as several couples from New Bern were there to wish him the best.  There was a big party for him on Ocracoke.  He plays in a band and they entertained the guests for part of the evening.

60 Never Sounded So Good

(Russ is on the left)

There were three boats from New Bern that came to Ocracoke for the weekend.  Dave and Janet on "Sequel", Chris and Tracey on "Synergy", and Dr. Mike and Debbie on "Just Sayin".  Both Debbie and Dr. Mike also have August birthdays.  Happy Birthday to all.  We had another get-together at Russ and Michele's for Debbie's birthday.

From left to right

Russ, Dave, Tracey and Chris in back, Janet, Gail, Debbie, Michelle, Keith,  and Millie the best yellow lab on Ocracoke in the front.

It may be difficult to believe, but there was also some activities besides parties.  Keith and Dave had some great luck fishing.  They caught several keeper flounder and two pompano.  The pompano that Keith hooked into was 2 1/2 pounds which is a citation in NC.  Each year the NC Division of Marine Fisheries sponsors an open tournament for recreational anglers.  Fishermen who land or release certain saltwater species of a minimum size or larger in NC coastal waters are eligible for a citation certificate that commends there catch as extraordinary.  The fish must be caught on hook and line; and landed without the aid of electric or hydraulic equipment.  The fish must then be weighed at an official weigh station where the weigh-master will inspect the catch.  The marina here is an official weigh station and the staff checked Keith's fish and got him the paperwork for his citation.

Keith's Citation Pompano on the top

Keith and Dave cleaned the fish and we had a fish fry for lunch with the whole gang.

Keith and Dave cleaning fish

The Gang on "Sequel" from left to right

(Chris, Tracey, Deb, Janet, Dave, Gail, Keith, and Dr. Mike is taking the picture)

Keith and Dr. Mike did some dinghy fishing as well.  They did not have as much luck, but still had a fun time.  Here they are heading out of the marina.

I cooked up some of the flounder one day for Keith and I.  This is my flounder Francaise.

It was wonderful to see everyone and to celebrate all the August birthdays.  Hopefully as the weather begins to cool down and the fishing gets better,  Despite Keith's good luck fishing, it really has been a struggle with the waters so warm right now. Hopefully Capt. Dave will be able to come back for more fishing this fall.  We are getting excited for the return of species such as tuna, wahoo, and drum (red fish) in the coming weeks.

Fish Dip

 For thousands of years people have been smoking meat in order to preserve it.  Communities along coastal areas in particular, had fish as a staple for smoking.  This method not only preserved the meat, but also made it quite tasty.  Our friend Shea was so helpful to crank up his Green Egg and smoke some of our fish for us.  

Shea's Green Egg just getting cranked up

Bluefish ready to be smoked for a few hours

The fish turned out quite nicely.  I put some in the freezer for the future, and made some into dip.  In addition to our smoked fish, we decided to actually go out for dinner one night.  We picked the Ocracoke Oyster Company and of course had to have oysters.  The oysters Rockefeller were phenominal.  This needs to be a repeat outing.

Oysters Rockefeller at Ocracoke Oyster Compnay

Oyster shooter

I love me some oysters.  Local resident Fletcher O'Neal runs Devil Shoal Oysters.  These are cultivated oysters, grown in the Pamlico Sound just off Ocracoke Island.  These oysters are slightly different genetically from wild oysters.  Many of you from the south are probably familiar with the old saying that you should only eat oysters in months with an "r" (eg. September through April).  Cultivated oysters can be harvested and eaten all year long.  They also filter water at up to 1 gallon an hour for each oyster.  That helps keep the water clean and reduces algae blooms.  

Fletcher O'Neal at his oyster beds

To top off a veritable seafood feast this past week, flounder season opened as well.  Keith hooked into 4 legal flounder on one day. 

Flounder (aka the swimming doormat)

One of our flounder at the fish cleaning table ready to be cleaned.

Here are some fun flounder facts:

There are 3 species of flounder common in North Carolina.  These are the summer flounder, southern flounder, and Gulf flounder.  90% of those caught in North Carolina are the southern flounder.  The flounder has an oval, flattened body with a large mouth.  They are usually brown in color with variable red, orange, green or blue marking on the body.  They can change their body color in just 2- 8 seconds to blend in with the environment.  This ability helps the flounder with both hunting for food and avoiding predators.  The flounder can bury itself in the sand/mud seafloor with just its bulging eyes sticking out.  It will lay motionless in this fashion until prey such as shrimp, crabs or other fish pass over the flounder.  Then in the blink of an eye, the flounder snatches up its meal.  Those bulging flounder eyes are located on one side of the head and can actually move independently of each other.  Based on the side of the head that the eyes are located, they can be classified in families as right-eye or left-eye flounder (no really, this is a thing).  

Keith's flounder as seen above are left-eye flounder.  I think this is really cool.  As immature larval flounder, they swim upright like other fish.  As they mature one of the eyes will migrate to the top of the fish, and the flounder will begin to swim with the eyes to the top and the other side of the flounder down.  Depending on which side of the flounder has the eyes determines if it is considered right-eye or left-eye.  (You just cannot make this stuff up).  

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot

 It is definitely August.  The weather has been so hot and humid.  I can not wait until fall when the humidity breaks and the air is cooler.  Even the fishing has become tough.  The water is now so warm everyone is having a much harder time catching fish.  I guess even the fish are sluggish and not as hungry with the water so warm.  That of course doesn't mean we have given up on fishing.  Keith still goes out with the dinghy regularly.  Lately he has been finding bluefish and flounder.  Flounder season does not open until August 16th, but we have kept some bluefish that were nice sized.  Bluefish are common throughout most of the world.  Their meat is a bit more fishy than some other species of fish.  Although many people like them, Keith and I prefer a milder fish.  We plan to smoke the blues that Keith caught.  They are excellent smoked and make great dip when smoked.

                                                                     Keith's bluefish  

   

Keith cleaning the blues

I have also been taking Pengi for a paddle in the mornings before it gets to hot.  Here we are gunk-holing around Teach's Hole.

We like playing with the hermit crabs.  There are quite a few along the sound side of the island.  They also have taken up residence in numerous Scotch Bonnet shells.  Just the other day I found 10 of these shells, all with crabs inside.  Since the shells get pretty "gookie" from the marsh mud; I did not evict the crabs to keep the shells.

Just a few of the Scotch Bonnets we found while kayaking.

This little guy was under the water trying to intimidate me while I took his picture.

So we are keeping ourselves busy and as cool as possible.  Stay tuned to see how our fish dip turns out.  I will let you know.

Surviving Hurricane Isaias

This past week hurricane Isaias moved along the east coast.  Luckily it only ever reached category 1.  I had plans to visit my family in Pennsylvania, so I was actually off the island for the event. I left on Wednesday, July 29th.  We had not had any significant rain for several weeks, but the morning I left to catch the ferry off the island and drive to PA; it was pouring.  This was not related to the hurricane.  It was just a morning storm.  Keith and I drove the 12 miles to the north end of Ocracoke with our Jeep.  Here we caught the ferry to Hatteras Island.

Gray day with standing water on the road as we lined up for the ferry to Hatteras

 

Selfie of me in the Jeep while on the ferry

Another of the several ferries that run between Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island

After a 60 minute ferry ride to Hatteras Island, we drove north up the outer bank about 50 miles to Kill Devil Hills.  Here I got a rental car to drive to PA and Keith went back to Ocracoke with our Jeep.

Once I got up to Kill Devil Hills and into the rental car, the weather had cleared up.  Our weather in PA was hot and sunny except for the day the hurricane went through.  I drove around one day and took some pictures of some of the surrounding farms.  It is such a pretty area.  Here are some of the shots.

The local farmers were working hard bringing in crops.

Making hay

Putting up tobacco

Picking Watermelons

I had to get chicken from one of my favorite places

In Lancaster, PA many of the Mennonite have buggies in their garages instead of cars

While I was in PA, Keith prepared for the storm.  He moved Southern Style from the marina docks over to the National Park Service docks.  These docks are more sturdy.  He also "spiderwebed" lines across the boat to help keep it stable in the storm's winds.

Southern Style at the park service docks

Southern Style and Ocracoke Island fared very well in the storm.  All is back up and running.  I was able to return on Wednesday, August 5th.  I had a very nice visit with family and got to stock up on some fabrics from my favorite quilt shops in Lancaster.  Here's hoping that we will not have any more tropical storms or hurricanes this season.  Unfortunately it is only the beginning of the storm season.