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<\/a>Lobster Pirate<\/p><\/div>\n
Anticipation sets in as I head to one of the most beautiful places on earth:\u00a0 the Florida Keys.\u00a0 Oddly enough, there really isn’t much golf down there, with the exception of the gorgeous Key West Golf Club, the only ‘Caribbean’ golf course in the United States.\u00a0\u00a0Built on\u00a0200 acres just prior to\u00a0traversing the bridge to\u00a0the ‘Conch Republic’ of Key West, this 6500-yard Rees Jones redesign was built among Florida wetlands and vegetation and lies not far from the southernmost point in the country – about 90 miles from Cuba.\u00a0 I am looking forward to playing my first round of golf in the Keys, especially negotiating the par-3\u00a0‘Mangrove Hole’ which requires a brave shot over the thick mangroves so prevalent in the Sunshine State.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While golf may not be\u00a0the focus here, fishing, boating, lobstering, stone-crabbing, and…..uh…..eating Keys-style food and enjoying the\u00a0local beverage\u00a0,is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Truly the Keys are<\/em>\u00a0in a different world.\u00a0 If you’ve never been there it is difficult to understand how one can languish for days at a time and never turn on the TV, listen to the news, or have no idea of what is going on in the world.\u00a0\u00a0You don’t\u00a0care.\u00a0A couple years back when Michael Jackson died, we heard about it – but albeit a\u00a0day or two later.\u00a0 Where else in the world would you be spared that news? \u00a0That, my friends, is the Keys Disease you may have heard of.<\/p>\n Lobster season is in full swing and stone crab season opens next week.\u00a0 Most people think lobsters are only found in the colder waters of the Atlantic around Maine.\u00a0 Not so.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0sweet and delicate crustacean\u00a0known as the Florida or ‘spiny’ lobster lives in the warm Caribbean waters and in the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0 A few of us will head out\u00a0for\u00a0some shallow diving around Big Pine Key, about 25 miles east of Key West, and do our best to limit out at 6 lobsters per person per day.\u00a0 There is nothing quite like scouting out and capturing your own dinner for the evening’s repast.\u00a0\u00a0After a few successful days, we may begin to moan, ‘What, lobster……again?????’\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>While I am not much of a diver I am one good spotter, though pretty much by default since I have the best eyesight; I perch myself\u00a0on the bow of the boat and watch\u00a0as GPS-located points come up.\u00a0 Or, I look for undiscovered spots, usually underwater rocks, coral heads, cuts, holes, or other structures that sometimes just happen to be man-made…..like sunken boats.\u00a0 The lobsters\u00a0prefer to hide under cover, or in holes, often competing with the now-protected Goliath Grouper that, before political correctness, was known as a Jewfish.\u00a0 My divers will head down and stare face-to-face with 30-40 lb. Goliaths who simply won’t move.\u00a0 The trouble is, they like eating the lobster too.\u00a0 It is a battle of wills that the Grouper always wins.\u00a0 They must know \u00a0they’re protected….at least for now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"