The Adventures Continue!
As soon as my first cousins Kaye and Susan arrived, we jumped into the boat and headed out on the first part of our adventure–the wetland tour. With Susan was her husband, Charlie; and with Kaye was her son, Zach.
If you’ve ever seen Cajun Justice, then you have actually seen some of the areas on my Wetland Tour route. So, we headed up to the “haunted swamp” from one episode, which is also the same swamp where the alligator poachers got busted with the help of a big alligator head decoy. I showed them the spot where the poachers jumped out of the boat and took off running. And the idea hit me, “Hey, I could start doing Cajun Justice Tours!”
After we returned from the tour, we loaded up, and drove to Dulac to enjoy a great lunch at the ever-famous Schmoopy’s restaurant, and I think everyone was very satisfied with their food. I know my softshell crab poboy was delicious!
After lunch, I took the girls to check the crab traps so they could work toward earning their Bayou Woman T-shirts. With only about 8 crabs total, they decided to leave the traps overnight. Good choice.
For supper, we had shrimp and andouille gumbo, which I made using a new product I discovered at Rouse’s the day before.
Yep, I’ve seen it all now: Troy Landry’s Choot’em Andouille. It is labeled spicy, but I didn’t think it was too spicy. We liked it, so I would buy it again. It was a 14 oz. package for about $4.95, which is a fair price for andouille.
During supper, we talked about some more about Cajun Justice, which prompted cousin Susan to ask about “Scary Sally Road”. On that episode, Deputy Storm Fitch tells the tale of how a shrimper got killed on that road, and that on certain nights you can still see his ghost hitch-hiking. So, after dark, like little kids on a ghost hunt, we headed out to that scary road, with me driving their Tahoe.
We saw several pair of creepy-looking eyes that belong to either cats or coons and some spooky-looking oak-tree skeletons, but we never did see anything that even slightly resembled the ghost shrimper. So much for ghost stories. On the way back, I commented how that wasn’t such an exciting trip, but not long after, I had to eat my words.
Me: “O H M Y G O S H ! ! !”
Sound affects: “Thuh-dump, thuh-dump.”
Everyone: “What was that? What was that?”
Me: “Uh, I think we just had an adventure. I ran over a huge alligator.”
Yep, that gator was about eight feet long, and there was nothing I could do but bounce over him in that Tahoe. We turned the car around and went back to see if it was dead, my heart beating wildly in my chest, my knees feeling weak.
Using his cell phone’s flashlight, Charlie bravely got out of the car to scour the shoulder of the road for the gator. Following a slight blood trail, he traced the gator’s steps–it had turned around and gone back into the water from whence it came.
I can only hope that I didn’t do any lethal damage to the gator, and that it will fully recover from whatever injuries occurred. The Tahoe? Well, as far as the front plate holder and the Ole Miss license plate–they are HISTORY. Andthe rubber spoiler that ran along the top of the bumper? Well, it’s a goner, too. This was no small gator, my friends. I’ll get Charlie to measure and tell us how high that gator was off the ground.
In all the years I’ve lived down here, I’ve never EVER run over a gator–not even a baby one. This was definitely a first–the first of several firsts yet to come.
The next day, we went fishing, and Kaye’s son, Zach, experienced a first of his own, and a first for me in that particular brackish lake . . .
a black-tipped shark. And then there was another first. After fighting this strong creature until his muscles were weary and his adrenalin at a peak, I netted it and discovered . . .
it had TWO IDENTICAL KALE HOOKS in its mouth–one in each side. Earlier, something big had taken Zach’s line and gotten away with it, biting it clean off. Sure enough, that shark had come back for more, but this time, Zach won the battle. Here’s a closer look at the hook in the right side of its mouth (sorry for the blur–camera getting old!)
Hook in left side of shark’s mouth . . .
ANOTHER first: never knowingly caught the same fish twice.
And it was a first for Charlie in that he had never seen a hard head, a lady fish, red fish, speckled trout, shark, and large-mouth bass caught off the same boat in the same brackish waters all in the same trip.
But Charlie and I had yet one more first to experience. Not long after he caught that speck and I caught a nice red fish, we had a visit from a couple wildlife and fisheries agents. They wanted to check everything they could possibly check–life jackets, fishing licenses, boat registration, and they wanted to look in the ice chest.
I told this guys in all the years I’ve been fishing, I have NEVER EVER been checked. One of them said, “Well, don’t you think it’s about time you got checked?” Well, no not really. I’d like to go to my grave having never been checked by the LDWF, but I submitted to their demands, and of course, we passed the test with flying colors.
Charlie, an avid outdoorsman about 11 years my senior, also stated that in all his years of hunting, fishing, and boat ownership, he had never been stopped by wildlife and fisheries in any of the states in which he had participated on those activities. So, I don’t know who was the catalyst for all these firsts–Charlie or me? At this point, I’m wondering what we might expect to encounter next time Charlie comes back to fish again?
On our way in, we emptied the two crab traps into the cooler, and returned to the camp to boil them up for our lunch with the help of Cousin Kaye.
The crabs weren’t huge, but they were full and had a really good sweet flavor. And at least one of us ate the lion’s share and really, really enjoyed them . . .
And that would be cousin Susan. I heard she even eats them for breakfast, cold, right out of the fridge. Now, that’s a boiled crab lover!
So, let’s recap the trip: We toured the haunted swamp, we fished, we encountered the LDWF, it rained on us, we rode down a scary road, we ran over a gator, we crabbed, we cooked, we ate, and then . . .
it was time for them to go, but not until after the girls got their “I am a Bayou Woman” T-shirts.
I’m so glad they made the trip. It was great seeing them all again. It’s the first time I’ve seen Susan since 1997, and Kaye since 2007, and I hope it’s not that long before I see them again.
Thanks to each of you for a wonderful BWA filled with exciting firsts!
BW
Wow sounds like y’all had a true bayou adventure 🙂 glad y’all had a blast
I always have a great time showing folks around, but being able to have so much fun with my cousins really was a bonus!
Looks and sounds like y’all had a wonderful time. Wish I could have been there!
Us, too!
Pretty darn accurate description of everything! Just one thing to add: when we hit that gator we were air-born!
We had a terrific time! It was so sweet of you to make Red-neck gumbo and your yummy potato salad for us. I can’t believe Charlie had never eaten that combination before but he’s a “believer” now. Choot’em Andouille….what a hoot. But it really is very good.
One other thing…….couldn’t you have let me know you were going to post my picture for viewing? I would have pulled my shirt down over my rump for the picture!
Can’t wait to see your smiling face again soon. Maybe LilSis can make the trek down, which would be fantastic!
I would love for LilSis to join us next time, and our other cousins too!
I’m so proud of my shirt! Love, love love it!!
I’m glad you love it! I love mine, too! I feel like a walking ad when I wear it around town, lol!
I’ll let you know how many people react to mine whenever I wear it. It is good advertising!
Just send them to the blog if you would! Bayouwoman.com. And if they are on FB, they can visit the page and see your pics and LIKE the BW page, too. This social media thing is catching on! Love you!
So glad ya’ll had fun together! Great job, enduring the gator!
Hey Tattoo! Are you new to this blog? Where are you from? Have we met? Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Come back any time!
Thanks for reminding me…I haven’t gotten my new fishing license yet. That will give you an idea how long it’s been since we’ve put the boat in the water. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been checked. Never been issued a citation either.
Glad y’all had a good time.
So, are y’all coming this fall? I hope the trout get stacked up in our lake this year. THey weren’t stacked up last year, probably because of all the fresh water, but that’s not the case this year. Hoping for a banner trout fall/winter!
I plan on at least 1 trip, but hoping for more. Hubby has decided he’s not much on fishing in cold weather. AND…as I’ve stated before, he’s not going to go explore unknown areas for fish during the warm weather months.
And THAT Is why you need to come to the fall BWA, which will be specks and red fishing!!!
I don’t know whether to give you a hug or applause. We’re not doing vacation this year, so I was happy to go on yours. This was like another world with different food…especially the Choot ’em. This was great.
Welcome to the bayou! Have we met? How did you find us here? Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, and I’m happy that you enjoyed this little adventure with us, even though it was through the blog. Wasn’t there just a huge Lutheran conference in New Orleans recently? Were you there? It’s great to have you here! BW
…a hard head, a lady fish, red fish, speckled trout, shark, and large-mouth bass caught off the same boat in the same brackish waters all in the same trip.
That’s the story right there. Amazing. You should be promoting the heck out of that fact.
I watched the tv show a few days ago and didn’t know where to comment. That guy is really cute but he talked too much. I thought they could have edited it so that he wasn’t constantly in the foreground and you in the background. It would have been more interesting if he’d shared more of the spotlight with you.
I bet shooting that show was so much fun for you. It was fun for me to read about this trip full of firsts with your cousins.
Brenda, your observations are well received! I guess I can’t tell them how to film, produce, or edit, but next time I will make sure I’m more in the forefront. It’s weird, and I never realized it until I watched the show, but I was doing my usual thing of helping the customer have a good trip. I wasn’t thinking I needed to be up on that deck with him so I could be in the shots wit him. But you’re right, that’s exactly what I should have been doing. And this was a different show with all the talking in that it was a promotional piece for our tourism bureau. They were the ones footing the bill on this one for the advertising. But maybe next time it will be more about watching us fish, and I’m looking forward to it.
Since I’m not into fishing, I’ve never been stopped by the game wardens, but I was shadowed while sailing offshore for an entire night between Port Isabel and Galveston. That was spooky!
I’ll not bother with the whole story, but the upshot was that we got stopped in the ICW just before Galveston Bay. It was a Coast Guard/ATF combo, doing undercover work. We thought they were just a bunch of guys lounging on their speed boat – uh, no. When the blue light went on, we about freaked. They boarded and made us sit in the cockpit while they went below and got our ID.
Once they figured out we weren’t much of a threat, they got friendlier. Eventually we learned there had been a big shipment of guns that came into Port Isabel and then was loaded onto numerous small vessels to get them up the coast. We caught their attention because we were about 20 miles offshore, zig-zagging back and forth. In fact, we were tacking into a strong headwind. We didn’t want to fall off course because we would have had to head 50 miles offshore to be able to tack back toward Galveston. They thought we were trying to avoid detection, when all we wanted was to get home!
It makes a great story now, but it was pretty scary then!
It DOES make a great story! I get freaked even without the blue lights!! I was so nervous, even though I always have all my I’s dotted and T’s crossed. Not sure why, but it just makes me nervous. It’s good to know the coast guard was on the lookout for criminals. Wonder if the bad guys got away while they were on board visiting with y’all? LOL!
That may be my favorite photo of Susan ever! That’s my Gal!
Would that be the crabbing photo? Or the one of her holding up the boiled crab? It was great spending time with y’all, reliving old times with Susan, and getting to know you better! Thanks for making the trek!