3 Feb, Thurs

Thurs, 3 Feb. at 8am, Abi, Tim and i were supposed to be at Driftwood Dock to do another Lionfish hunt/kill. we were really excited after yesterday. we arrived and found out that the seas were too rough to get around to the north end of the island. they were going to 'patrol' around the 'keys' on the west side, so we said we'd like to go too. we were looking for people who were taking undersized lobster and conch. we basically took a boat ride out there. but, didn't see anyone to 'bust' :) so, they took us to a guy on one of the Keyes that had another 'aquarium' of marine life. this one was larger and didn't seem so 'oppressive'. the man was very nice and told us of his efforts of buying young turtles from people, and 'saving' them from being killed for food. he said the Green Turtle is very good and tastes like lean beef. he keeps them, feeds them well, and then will release them when they are larger. he really seemed like a nice guy with his 'heart in the right place' .... (my interpretation) .... maybe he was totally bullshitting us, but i don't think so. he also was talking about the Great Blue Heron that come and eat some of his fish in the night. i told him that those were 'our' Great Blue Heron. he was surprised that they went up there in the summertime, ..... education is a sharing experience! here are some photos of his 'aquarium'. the big red fish is a 'yellow fin grouper' ... it is more red at deep depths, but has yellow fins. nice starfish too. we got back around 10am and spent the rest of the day working on our projects. Gato Gordo was totally enjoying the day on the stairs. and later in the afternoon, he moved down a few steps to this position. and he's adopted us as his evening 'home' .... he makes himself comfortable in the kitchen. and then moves onto the bed. i noticed on our way back from town that my favorite restaurant, HotPot, had a sign out front that said 'Fresh Shrimps'. i went there for dinner tonight and they did not disappoint.