Some work weeks are good, some work weeks are better, but once in awhile, there’s a ‘yucky’ work week that messes everything up.  Yes, recently there’s been one of those ‘yucky’ weeks – btw, that’s a highly technical term – just saying.  🙂

Hmmmmmm?  What to do?  What to do?  Spend some time on the water, of course!  Who can complain about this view?

Very few people around, very few boats, calm breezes, blue skies and just a few fluffy clouds.  Man – we’ve got to start playing the lottery and win, not just win, but win big.

These birds were enjoying the peaceful morning as they dug in the bottom for their breakfast .

While it wasn’t that early, the sun was peeking through the trees in the Crystal River Preserve.

But let’s start at the beginning.  We booked a room at the Plantation Inn at Crystal River.  We love getting one of the rooms along the canal – to keep an eye on the boat.  That’s our room, third awning from the left.

The goal is always to go fishing, but at this time of the year, scalloping is also on the agenda, at least for some (meaning – not me).  I’m fine enjoying the time on the boat while others snorkel……………until it’s time to get the rods out.

We knew this season that scallops were pretty scarce and/or in deep water so our expectations were not high – good thing as their total scallop catch was 6.  That’s not a typo – probably our worst scallop trip ever.  But the photo doesn’t lie.  We also caught a bluefish, a mackerel and a silver trout.

No matter, an hour after we got back on land, we were eating at one of our top local picks…….Seafood Seller Café.

A fantastic way to start our meal is with the ‘tomato chips’.  Okay, okay, they don’t look like much, but these quartered and fried tomato slices are little tasty bits of heaven.

I ordered something different for me, grilled flounder, accompanied by fries and cole slaw – yum!  It totally hit the spot.  It had the right about of smokey flavor and grilled char on the fish.

Naturally, Eric ordered the crawfish – which is pretty standard for him.  Four pounds arrived on this tray.

Fried okra and red beans & rice rounded out his meal.  Adrienne couldn’t stay the  night and headed home after dinner – sorry about that. 😦   I wanted something ‘more’ to top off the night.  Ice cream answered the call.  Google search found a local ice cream shop within a few miles of our hotel.  We headed out for this treat.

I’ve become a fan of coffee ice cream and theirs was mighty tasty.  Eric stuck with his normal – butter pecan (kind of boring…………..).

We wanted to get on the water fairly early Monday morning and drove a short distance to this Greek restaurant.  It’s nothing fancy, but filling.

Funniest thing is several spots are ‘saved’ for the locals at this restaurant.  We planned on sitting at the counter instead of a table but were told those (empty) seats were taken.  Oh well, we found another spot.  Raisin bread French toast (my pick) and an omelette for Eric.

Monday on the water, we were greeted with this idyllic scene.

While I’ve never been on a sailboat, they’re great to look at.

This one brought a chuckle.

Motoring around King’s Bay, we go past multiple ‘tour’ boats.  Everyone wants to see the manatees.  The best time is in the winter when there are hundreds and hundreds of manatees seeking the relatively warm spring water (a balmy 72 degrees F).  Sometime I’ll share the story how a manatee ‘attacked’ my husband’s kayak.

Before heading out to the Gulf, we first need live shrimp from Pete’s Pier for bait.  Lo and behold, there’s a shrimp boat at Pete’s Pier.

We weren’t the only ones looking for shrimp………………see the white bird, he was looking for the perfect opportunity to grab a bite to eat.

Got our shrimp – √

Enough gas in the boat – √

A man and his dog – whaaattt?

You just never know what you’re going to see on the water – paddle boarding no less.

Ultimately, local storms chased us off the water.  We were only on the water less than 2 hours and didn’t target our ‘normal’ species, but…………….we got quite a catch!

• Top – mackarel
• Left side, top to bottom – grunts (2), mangrove snapper, silver trout.
• Right side, top to bottom – porgies (2), black sea bass (2), silver trout.

Eric made fun of the herbs that I used in the photo, but I think it adds an artistic flair.  And that’s the end of this story.

Ginny