I'm back

Have been for a bit, life has been hectic and slow at the same time. Soon as all this dust settles I can return to normalacy once more...

One bit of news though - I am now a member of Malibu Kayaks Pro Staff and am currently awaiting the arrival of my Stealth 14...soon as I get that sucker in there will be plenty of fish porn to enjoy, cheers

To the mountains once more...

will have pics upon my return! Celebrating Swiss Independence this weekend, in style

"Some birds feathers are too bright to be caged, I know I'm not that colorful but a bird just the same"

Festivals and mountains

So Paleo ended up being much cooler than I thought it would be and as always in life it seems the best was encountered while wandering off the beaten path. There was this group, which for the life of me I can't remember the name, regardless, they rocked: Trumpet, Piano, Tabla, and Indian Vocals...very interesting. The piano player was an indian version of Thelonius Monk, beautiful accents and voicing, but enough of that. Great festival, great food, and cheap beer! Cheap Good Beer! Thats an oxymoron in itself but the Hoegaarden's flowed that night.

The next day we took a leisurely drive into the mountains near Gstaad. Any direction you look is a postcard, without exception. We took Shannon's dogs with us and it was quite picturesque: dogs frolicking with mountains in the background, the mountains change color as the sun gets lower in the sky so even though you remain in the same place the scenery changes.

We slept at Shannon's apartment in Gstaad and ate at a place where they specialize in Rosti...man, that was some good rosti, who knew bacon and pears go so well together? Anyway, enough of my stupid rambling, pictures are better, enjoy

Fortress Europa - Geneve, Lausanne, Montreux, Nyon, Paris, Paleo...where the hell am I?

Paris...



Montreux late night

Paris, outside Le Pompidou


PlaceMonge...where its at
Everyones got a voice here
The 5th
Riding that train...





Lac Leman...I mean Lac D' Geneve, Montreux
Crepes, Crepes, Crepes
Best bookstore ever, you the man Brian
Le Suisse invade Paris by night

So its been pretty crazy so far this July...thats an understatement.

I arrived in Geneve at the beginning of the month, I think the 9th or 10th, can't recall. Haven't had internet, or a phone, and although it made some things difficult I can now say it was good thing, still no phone, and no intention of getting one soon either...the freedom is beyond liberating.

So I've been running around town with French courses, paperwork, looking for work, and taking in the sights when I can...my sister makes sure of that...she is too good to her brother. We spent last weekend in Paris for her boyfriend, Frank's, birthday...man what a town. I blitzkrieged that place and in three nights and two days I saw as much of the city as was possible...a man could grow rather rotund with great speed in that place as every little cafe, boulangerie, bar, and vendor has great, no, excellent food...the mouth waters right now.

So we stayed at a friend of Frank's apartment in the middle of the 5th quarter, no one slept much as far as I can remember and that caused me to miss out on a morning hike with a very intriguing Canadian fellow who owned a marvelous bookshop in the 4th quarter...the dude had everything, rare finds, I spent way too much money in the book shop but i've been reading nonstop lately, finishing close to a book a day...haven't been able to do that for a long time. Regardless we made the best of it and tramped all about Paris with many many crepes devoured.

So Besides Paris, there has been a string of festivals, Montreux Jazz (Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, AND Victor Wooten in one band...WTF?, John Schofield and much more) and Paleo all this week, there are many more to come and besides the big name events there is La Fete D' Geneve running all the way till August: Free concerts every night by the lake...lots going on to say the least.

I am still running about like a fool so I don't want to waste too much time on the computer, plenty more pictures but uploading requires time I simply can't, or won't, waste...I'll post something up again when things cool down a bit, till then Bon Chance!

Sun Sentinal Article

Here she is: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-everglades-canoe-b062609,0,4874018.story

Rainy Day Flamingo 06/24/09

10 knot winds my azz! Me and my buddy Ken arrived at the marina in Mingo at 5am sharp, greeted by thunderstorms and rain we passed out in the truck till about 6:30, by then they had mostly disappated and we launched in a light rain and headed towards Christian Point.We weren't too happy about the conditions, the weather report called for a mild day and it was later on, but not when we were out on the water. Those 10-15 knot winds were closer to 20-25 knots, and this was confirmed when we got back to the marina later in the afternoon. The West winds limited us to fishing to backside of islands and that was fine, the fish were stacked on the lee-side anyway and this made fishing very easy...shooting fish in a barrel came to mind.

Both me and Ken tossed big topwaters all day long, the snook were ravenous! This was my buddies first time down there and he was amazed at how aggressive the fish were, 5-6 hits a cast, coming completely out of the water for it...pretty cool stuff. We fished through the rain and even that wouldn't kill the bite, I actually caught the biggest fish of the day in the middle of a downpour!

I can't really remember how many snook we caught, we both lost track at some point in the day, I'd have to say around or just under 2 dozen for me and Ken must have been close behind, he got the only red and I got a tarpon near the marina that actually towed me into the marina, well, that and the tide. I guess that rain cooled down the water a bit and made the bite last all morning long....we had a great outgoing tide too.

All in all another great day down in Flamingo and the best part was that there were no bugs to speak of! I didn't get bit by any bugs at all! And the overcast conditions allowed us to throw topwaters until noon! The only tough part of the day was paddling back from Palm Key to the marina with 20 knot winds in our faces...I needed the workout anyway. On the way out we saw tons of wildlife, crocs, gators, snakes, and bald eagles...everything seemed to be out and about yesterday...makes me wish I was down there today!

Flamingo 06/18/09

White mangrove at the trailhead

gone...like magic

Bear Lake

Yesterday was hot...I feel like I'm still sweating. Me and David (Perch) hit the water a little before 5:30, we played with the little tarpon outside the marina for a bit, they were crashing the skitterwalks but rarely connecting with it. Had to help David removed a treble from his finger early on in the morning, sorry you had to start your day like that David, I felt your pain.

There were reds cruising the flats on the way to Christian point but they weren't hitting anything, out in Snake Bight the reds were just as spooky but I managed to fool one into hitting my rootbeer DOA Cal. I also got a snook off that same flat before starting to drift back towards the launch.

Daivd stuck it out and I left him fishing Joe Kemp as I searching for reds on the flats. I saw bait jumping near the West end of Joe Kemp and tossed the skitterwalk to what turned out to be another snook. Near the marina I lost another snook on the skitterwalk and jumped two little tarpon on the Cal before calling it a day...too damn hot to be on the water.

I wish I had more days off, I'd really like to spend 2 weeks at Flamingo and fish every possible tide to see where the fish are holding. There are lots of big big big snook hanging around Florida Bay right now and the reds seem to be out on the flats every day...if you can get past the bugs it really is fishing paradise down there. I think next time around I may fish West Lake, I stopped at the launch on the way out and saw a ton of action on the water and lots of little tarpon rolling around. I think the rains have finally cleared all the sludge out of Cuthbert and the Lungs so now the passage down to Garfield Bight may be open...so the fish (and tide) can flow in and out.

The work on the trail was tough, we had a new deadfall right at the launch itself, took us an hour to clear that before we could paddle on down to the planned work. We saw a huge crocodile in the canal as well and I was "bumped" by a small gator as well.

The next day I awoke feeling pretty sore but thought nothing of it, went to work, had to move a heavy desk and as I was lifting it I felt a pop in my back...man oh man, I've never felt pain like that in my life, dropped me like a ton of bricks and I've been laid out all day at home. I doubt I'll be able to help out next week and that really upsets me, but in order to be of some use for the rest of the summer I must rest now...like the saying goes: A good soldier knows when to sleep.