This morning we woke up a little before 5am, got dressed and ready and headed out in the dark to go on our crabbing and shrimping charter. On our way we saw shooting stars and the moon followed us the whole way there! 

                               

                                

                                

                                 

We got on the boat on a beautiful, non-humid morning and got to watch the sun rise from the boat. It was a great way to start the day! And we were all really excited to start our adventure!

                                 

                                  

It sure was nice seeing the sunrise from the boat. We also saw some crazy clouds like this dinosaur cloud!

                                 

                                

We headed out on the water for about 30 minutes are so before we got to where Captain Mike and First mate Tommy decided it was a good place to start shrimping.

                                 

                                 

                                 

                                  

                                  

It was raining way out in the distance and we saw lots of rainbows in the sky. It was so beautiful! And we thought maybe it was good luck!

                                  

          

                                  

                                  

Tommy and Captain Mike showed us how the shrimp nets were made and how they worked. Then they dropped them and we dragged them for about 30 minutes or so. When it was time to pull them up Kai and I got to do the pulling. It felt pretty heavy so we were excited to see what we caught!

                                 

Once Tommy pulled the haul in, he released everything from the net. There were fish and crabs and shrimp. We saw flounder and sea robins and all kinds of goodies and especially lots and lots of shrimp!

                                   

                                  

                                

                               

Captain Mike and Tommy taught us how to throw the fish back in and separate the crabs out so they didn't pinch us. Then we put all the shrimp in a container to keep them separate.

                                 

                                 

                                  

We made another drop of the net and came back with another load. After separating everything we learned how to dehead the shrimp. We kept a few with the heads on and the rest removed.

                                   

                                

                                 

                                  

Those shrimp have some sharp barbs on them. You have to hold them just so while taking the heads off or  you'll get a good jab to your fingers. But we're tough and we all survived!

                                 

All that shrimping and gettin up at 4:45am is exhausting!

                                 

Then we got a little shower! It started with just a drizzle and then it poured for a good couple of minutes. But it passed quickly. And we didn't mind. It was kind of fun working in the rain on the boat!

                                   

When we were done shrimping we headed back in to get to Captain Mike's crab traps. It was a nice ride back.

                                  

Even Daddy got a little snooze in!

                                  

                                 

Then it was time to pull in the pots! I even got to help pull one in!

                                  

Tommy showed us how to pull the trap on board. Then he emptied the crabs into the tray.

                                

                                 

Once all the crabs were in the tray, Tommy would fill the trap back up with bait (fatty fish) and then throw it back in to the water to catch more crabs!

Once the crabs were on the tray it was our job to grab them with the tongs and then measure them. As long as they were at least 5" long we could keep them. We had a LOT of keepers!

                                

                                  

Then we had another rouge rain storm. It came down hard and we got soaked, but it was still super fun!

           

                                 

                                 

And then more rainbows! Mama wasn't so sure that Grandma wasn't hanging out with us today! It sure felt like it with how beautiful the weather was and all the luck we had with the shrimp and crabs!

Then it was back to filling up that crab bushel! We couldn't believe how many crabs we were catching!

                                

As long as they didn't pinch us we'd be okay. And believe me, some of those crabs were aggressive and feisty! They wanted to pinch us BAD!

                                  

This guy looked like he had a sun burn!

 

                                  

We were getting pretty good at grabbing those pinchy little suckers!

  

                                 

                                 

                                 

                                 

                                   

We even got a catfish in one of the crab traps! He was a mean looking guy!

                                

It was such a perfect morning. We were so happy to be out on the water together!

                                  

When our trip was done we left with a bushel of crabs and probably 30 pounds of shrimp! And it was still only a little after 10am! What a spectacular way to start the day!

                                

                                 

                                

We went around the corner to one of Captain Mike's friends shop and had our crabs steamed. Boy did they smell and look great! It was a hard drive home with all those yummy crabs in the back smelling up the car!

                                 

When we got home we relaxed a little bit since we got up so early. Later our friends came to enjoy the pool with us for a little while. It was another gorgeous day!

                                  

Then we headed down to the beach to do a late day play in the surf and sand!

                                 

 

                                 

Then it was time to enjoy our feast! Mama cleaned all the shrimp and put most aside to freeze. Then she made some classic steamed peel and eat shrimp with Old Bay.

Then she cooked up the ones we kept with the heads on with butter and hot sauce and old bay and lemon.

                                   

                                

We had delicious corn and coleslaw and green beans and potatoes and garlic bread and and hot dogs and corn bread and of course the crabs we caught! We had nothing short of a feast!

We were so excited to dig in!

And for dessert, the amazing blueberry cheese cake that MeMa and PopPop sent us! It was an amazing day. Full of adventure and fun. And a great day with friends at the beach. One of the best since this whole pandemic thing started. We won't soon forget it!