Probably a phrase that we all will get REALLY tired of hearing.  On a nice warm sunny Sunday, we distanced ourselves on the water, Crystal River to be exact.

Temps in the morning were a bit chilly, but beautiful on the water as we motored to the Gulf in between the channel markers.

Being a Sunday, Pete’s Pier had more trucks & trailers in the parking lot than normal, but there was still enough empty lanes for me to park.

First stop was shrimp for fishing.  Eric had called Pete’s Pier several times this week to ensure they were open and had bait available.  They were practicing ‘social distancing’ by having their customers come to their side door (roped off), state their needs while keeping a safe distance. This guy was getting a free meal from the holding tanks in between customers.

The tides should have been great for our regular spot.  Others thought so too.  There were four boats already there when we arrived.  Eventually we could squeeze into a decent spot for casting.

Species caught were:  puffer fish, sea robin and sea perch (L to R).

The puffer fish was probably the biggest at 8-9″ long.  Look at those spines!

We went south near the scallop racks and after a bit of time caught species that were edible – and a size that kept us above the law.  I caught a few short trout, eventually ending up with a keeper mackerel.

Adrienne caught a keeper seatrout – her first!

As she reminded us………………this was her second keeper fish that day.  The first one was a pinfish used for bait.  🙂

Swimming today, dinner that night.  We had poke bowls for dinner.  Eric pulled together  sushi-grade tuna, Krab, mackeral (from today!), boiled shrimp, avocado, pickled ginger atop sushi rice with siracha mayo to provide a kick – delicious!

Eric created a few sides dishes (pickled carrots & radish, cukes) and our meal was complete.

Dessert were chocolate-chip cookies – raw.  Adrienne and Eric had been sneaking them out of the freezer for months……….until they got caught.  I tried one.  I’ve been brought over to the dark (their) side.  I almost like them better raw than baked.

How did we promote ‘social distancing’ on the boat………………..everyone had a section of the boat to fish.

We had another great day on the water.

 

Ginny