Caribbean Air Fishing

It was beginning to snow as the jet taxied onto the runway at the Omaha, Nebraska airport. The outside temperature was a 9 degrees Fahrenheit as everyone fastened their seat belts and waited for the accelerated thrust down the runway and then the light feeling of being air born. With a loud roar, the long, sleek slender airplane raced down the runway and then angled up and away from the airport slicing through the air as it violated the law of gravity. Soon, it was flying level at 30,000 feet above earth's surface heading due east for O'Hare at Chicago. As it followed the mighty Missouri river below for a short distance before turning east, the plane flew past a late-migrating flock of Canadian geese heading south. Soon, the plane was over a flat field of clouds that slowly turned into hills of white cotton matching the rolling snow covered Iowa hills below.

Midway down the aisle of the fast moving plane, Vernon reached down between his legs to make sure his carry-on bag was still there. He had just recently returned from Mayo Clinic where doctors had placed two stints in the blood vessels feeding his heart. Feeling the round medicine vials inside the soft leather bag, he relaxed then leaned back in his seat then looked seat-side toward Dorothy who was just opening a Grishham novel. "Well, we're off, "he said.

"Uh huh," Dorothy said as she turned a page.

Vernon turned his head towards the window and began to look down at the cloud field below letting his imagination run wild. That patch of dark cloud with the cloud hills surrounding it...ahh...a snow lake in the air surrounded by happy snow cloud mountains....cloud fishing....what kind of boat...a cotton canvas....no, a cloud raft....no...cloud boat...fishing in a cloud lake ...floating on a cotton cloud raft....catching a cloud fish....scuba diving in the cloud lake ...spearing cloud sharks....chasing cloud birds ...look at that cloud seagull and that fat cloud pelican....

"Vernon...Vernon," It was Dorothy..."Sorry to wake you up...do you want something? The stewardess is here?"

"Whaaaa....Oh, yea, I'll have a bottled water"

"Vernon...I think I found one," Dorothy said as she closed her book and placed it in the seat pocket in front of her.

"Found what?"

"A terrorist,"she said.

"What!?" Vernon nearly choked as he quickly took the bottle away from his mouth..."Where? Who? Dorthy!"

"No...look at that guy up there, the one near the window four rows in front of us," Dorothy said. She didn't point, just used her head, nodding like you say yes.

Vernon silently counted seat rows. Four rows forward, sitting next to the window sat a man wearing dark glasses. "The guy with the dark glasses?

"Yes," she said, looking straight ahead and holding herself rigidly upright.

"How can you tell he is a terrorist?"

"He looks like one," she said. She spoke through tightly held lips that made her sound like a robot.

"You can't tell a terrorist by looks...that's ridiculous. It's like judging a book by its cover...you just can't" Vernon said.

"I buy all my books by looking at the covers....anyway, it is not just his looks, ever since we leveled out, and he keeps looking around and shifting in his seat. He is checking everyone out," Dorothy said.

"You don't have enough evidence for your conclusion,"Vernon said. He squeezed his feet together against his carry on bag...I wonder how strong those stints are, he thought, rubbing his chest with the palm of his hand.

"Vernon, do you remember this morning when we were waiting for the terminal to open?"

"Yes, and I remember the four fifty I paid for a cup of coffee, too."

"Well, the television was on and president Bush was on the Today show saying the best defense against the terrorists is for everyone to be extra aware, be vigilant and report anything that looks suspicious...that homeland security guy, the one with the skinny face and thin hair...he said the same thing and while we were getting x-rayed and searched, one of the security women told me the same thing, " Dorothy said.

"Dorothy, what are you saying"?

"I'm going to report him to the stewardess."

"Aren't you being a little over reactive?"

"No...I am being proactive...I don't want to be blown to bits thirty thousand feet above the ground." Dorothy said, as she pushed the service button on her arm rest.

-----0-----

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain. We are beginning our decent to O'Hare where the temperature is 5 degrees Fahrenheit with a 15 mile an hour wind. I hope you have enjoyed your flight; American Airlines thanks you for flying American."

Then the stewardess: "Everyone going on to Puerto Rico, Flight 322 leaves terminal 11 in twenty minutes, thank you and have a good day."

As the airplane began its slow decent, Vernon looked out the window looking at the changing features of Chicago below... looks like the circuit board inside a computer,he thought..the buildings are transistors, coils, and diodes...the cars racing along the streets are electrons being shuffled into zeros and ones as they stop and go at the directional stop light gates ..we are going into a huge computer and will soon be a part of it..

"We made it this far", Dorothy said as the plane touched down on the runway .

"Yea, and we didn't get blown to bits by the terrorist," Vernon said as the plane taxied toward the terminal. He laughed outloud.

"Well, how was I to know he was an undercover air marshal? He kept shifting around and checking out everyone and those dark glasses."

"The dark glasses were your clue," Vernon said, still laughing.

"What?" Dorothy said.

"All undercover police kinds of people wear them. F.B.I.,CIA, Detectives, Highway Patrolmen," Vernon said.

"I wonder why.."

"Could be it keeps them from looking shifty...or, maybe it is a tradition....could even be genetic...who knows" Vernon said.

After covering a mile or more of O'Hare's' corridors at a near running pace, Dorothy and Vernon arrived at terminal 11 only to wait for an hour before their flight left for Puerto Rico.

The five hour flight from Chicago to Puerto Rico was uneventful. Dorothy flipped through three quarters of her Grisham novel while Vernon slept, dreaming of snorkeling in the cloud lake and being chased by a puffy white cloud shark. From the Puerto Rico airport they boarded a small prop-driven plane that island hopped them to St. Thomas Island, one of the three U.S. Virgin Islands. After thirty minutes of watching and grabbing their luggage from the conveyor belt, Vernon went to the car rental booth while Dorothy pushed the luggage cart onto the sidewalk.

"Yes, we have your reserved Jeep," said the rental car clerk. As she handed Vernon the keys, she went on, "Don't forget to drive on the left side of the road."

-----0-----

St. Thomas Island is made of volcanic rock piled up for thousands of years in the Atlantic ocean as liquid molten rock erupting up from the earth's center then solidifying in the cold Atlantic waters. When the lava broke through the surface of the ocean , it did not form a flat plane; it hardened into random rock mini-mountains;it took a long time for natives to carve out the few hair-pin turn roads that snake across and through the nine by four mile island.

After two hours of winding, left-side driving at ten miles an hour , Dorothy and Vernon reached the east end of the island and located their resort. "I didn't think you would remember how to get here," Dorothy said .

"Yee of little faith,"Vernon said as he parked the jeep.

"Yea, right," Dorothy said as she climbed from the jeep.

Porters had followed the jeep from the resort office and when the jeep parked, the two porters began hauling out luggage then followed Dorothy and Vernon up the six flights of stairs to the top suite. It was dark as Vernon unlocked and slid open the sliding glass door leading into the interior. Two walls of the inside were glass ; Dorothy slid open the doors then went out onto the balcony that wrapped around two walls of the suite. Warm, fragrant Caribbean scents drifted into the rooms. Somewhere from the darkness beyond the balcony, a rooster crowed. "I can't wait for sunrise...the view is so beautiful from up here." Dorothy said. Reggae rhythms drifted up from the beach front bar below as she moved back into the room swaying her hips to the spicy music; her long honey blond hair seemed to move in counter-point to the music and her slender swaying body...It's just as beautiful as it was last year, she said to herself.

All the sliding glass doors remained open all night.

"Erka erka errrr..........erka eerrrr." It was a rooster crowing from across the bay that woke Vernon from his sleep beside Dorothy. Still dark outside, Vernon slid slowly and silently from the bed not wanting to wake her up...he had been with her for eighteen years now, and always wanted her to get a good nights sleep.

"Erka erka errrrrrrr....errrrrrrr...err." It fascinated Vernon that chickens ran wild in the Caribbean islands...Belize, Cayman Islands, Cozumel...everywhere in the Caribbean, chickens ran wild..they were all over the place...In the Midwestern United States where Vernon grew up, few farmers kept chickens and those that did kept them tightly penned up. Here, chickens seemed up for grabs to whoever could catch them when they were fat enough to eat. He wondered where these wild Caribbean chickens nested...he could have free fresh breakfast eggs...I bet the roosters are tough around here, out running theses natives all the time...he thought as he listened to the rooster crow across the bay.

Now, he made his way to the kitchenette where the resort staff had stocked some basic foodstuff including coffee. After brewing a strong pot, he made his way to the balcony where he sat down next to the glass-topped table and waited for the sun to rise across the bay, knowing it would reveal a breath-taking sight just as it had last year on their first visit to the Virgin Islands. In the distance, several roosters were crowing; he knew the sunrise was coming soon. He sipped his coffee and looked east.

The first morning sun rays refracted through a partly cloudy sky creating a rainbow of colors with golden reds and oranges ruling out the pale greens and yellows;the panoramic sky-scene lasted only minutes as the earth revolved sending more direct light onto the hills beyond and then onto the bay in front of Vernon. Beyond the bay three islands thrust through the surface of the Atlantic ocean like the backs of huge humped-back whales. Above, pelicans and frigate birds glided, looking for breakfast. Down in the bay, below the balcony, sail boats gently rocked against their moorings; some had small boat-to-shore skiffs tied to the bows, others did not. Along the shore line smaller fishing boats rocked waiting for local fisherman to go out for the day's catch. Through the tops of coconut palm and banana trees, Vernon watched an early morning couple walk along the curving white sand beach below. He took another drink of coffee then went to find his cell phone almost stepping on a large iguana that had made its way onto the floor of the balcony.

"Captain Tyler?" Vernon said into the phone.

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"Dorthy and I have booked your boat for a day's deep sea fishing..."

"Is this Vernon?"

"Yes."

"I've just returned from filling the bait tank with live bait. You are due here at the docks in about an hour. It's a great day for fishing...I will see you guys then..ok?"

"We'll be there Captain Tyler."

Vernon used the fresh pot of coffee to gently wake Dorothy. "Thank you,"she said, her voice still full of sleep as she took the cup of coffee.

After showers and a fresh fruit breakfast, they went to the balcony with second cups of coffee. At the table, they watched a resort employee below them; he had just finished cleaning the swimming pool and was now using one of the long cleaning poles to knock down coconuts from a nearby tree. "So you say you called and we are going fishing?" Dorothy said as she sipped coffee.

"Yes, I talked to Captain Tyler and it is all set...we need to leave soon,"Vernon said. Out over the bay, the pelicans and frigate birds were diving for breakfast into a school of bait fish that came too close to the surface.

Before leaving the Midwest, Vernon had found the Double Header Deep Sea fishing charter on the Internet and had arranged for the day of fishing. The Double Header docks were located about fifteen minutes from Point Pleasant Resort where Vernon and Dorothy were staying. After loading up gear into the jeep, they drove along the resort road to the main highway that would take them to Sapphire Marina. Once on the highway, a tour bus full of tourists came at them head-on with horn blaring.."Go to the left...get on the left side!" Dorothy screamed as Vernon sharply turned the jeep into the left hand lane of the highway. The bus slid by with the horn blaring loudly.

"Damn! I forgot,"Vernon said.

"Well, don't forget anymore, you'll get us killed."

After finding the Double Header dock, Captain Tyler welcomed them aboard the 55 foot fishing boat and was soon slowly moving the craft out of the harbor and into the Atlantic where he accelerated the boat into the 3 foot swelling waves. Vernon and Dorothy sat on chairs as the salty sea breeze sprayed over them. Soon, the craft was cursing along the coast of St. John, another of the three U.S Virgin Islands."As soon as we get to that channel along those rocks, we'll bait up and go for it" Captain Tyler said. Soon he had the craft at a crawl and was at the bait box from which he netted a sliver squirming bait fish about three inches long. Vernon was beside him with a fishing rod and reel he took from one of the rod holders built into the side of the boat.

"Give me the hook," Captain Tyler said. Vernon unhooked the hook from the reel, peeled off some line, he secured the fish hook then handed it to Captain Tyler who began sliding the hook through the lower lip of the bait fish.

"You're inserting the hook like that so the bait fish will slide through the water?" Vernon said.

"This method keeps the bait fish alive, this way, it will swim on its own attracting bigger fish, the kind we want to catch. You see, Vernon, we fish with no weight on the line, just the bait fish. As the boat moves at just the right speed through the water, that exertion on the bait fish makes it swirl and dive like a wounded fish, bigger fish really go for that," captain Tyler said as he cast the line out into the water at the rear of the slow moving boat. With that, he placed the rod in a holder and began baiting another rod, repeating the process until three baited lines were trailing the behind the boat.

"There's four dead bait fish in the bait box, " Vernon said.

"Take that hand net and fish them out of the tank and throw them overboard behind the boat," Captain Tyler said.

Just after Vernon threw the four dead bait fish into the water, from the sky came a diving pelican; just as it neared the sea surface, it folded its wings against its body and stretched its neck out piercing the water like a harpoon. Behind the pelican came a frigate bird skimming the surface, as it dropped its beak ,it scooped up one of the dead bait fish.

"Wow, did you see that!" Vernon said.

"That was great!" Dorothy yelled .

"Fish on!" yelled Captain Tyler as he grabbed a bending rod from its holder then jerked backwards to set the hook..."Here, Vernon, take over".

Vernon took the bending rod from Captain Tyler; he had strapped on a belt with a leather rod holder that hung below his belly button and as the fish stripped line, Vernon inserted the rod into the holder."Man! feels big and it is mad and running away," Vernon said as he began pumping the rod then reeling in line. In a silver flash against the blue water fifty yards out, the fish cleared the surface as it flipped upside down then dived into the water.

"Its a big mackerel," shouted Captain Tyler..."Keep it up Vernon, you got him...pump and reel, pump and reel".

Ten minutes later, the fifteen pound mackerel was flopping in the bottom of the boat.

"Boy, he'll be good eating tonight!" Vernon said as Captain Tyler removed the hook.

"Sorry, but mackerel from this side of the island are no good to eat, there is some kind of moss that grows on the rocks that they eat and if you eat one, you get sick,"Captain Tyler said as he tossed the fish into the sea.

After three hours of fishing, the live box had snapper, parrot fish and yellowtail in the live box. They caught several long, snake-like needle fish releasing all of them. As the boat neared some rocks, Captain Tyler went to the controls while Vernon began baiting another line. As he held the squirming bait fish, his grip slipped and he ran the hook through the side of the bait fish. Not thinking he cast the line out behind the boat as Captain Tyler increased the speed. The bait fish did not sink, but skipped along the surface of the sea behind the boat. Suddenly, a frigate bird swooped down from high in the sky and grabbed the bait fish in its beak and tried to fly away but the hook set in its beak. Frigate birds cannot get wet, that is why they swoop along the surface of the sea to scoop up small fish; frigate birds are also huge, weighing twenty pounds with a five or six foot wing span. As Vernon held the rod, the bird began wildly climbing high into the sky stripping line from the reel with a high speed screeching sound..."Hey!..."Vernon screamed as he fought the bird.

"Hang on! You gotta get him in so we can get the hook out of its beak!" Captain Tyler yelled as he slowed the boat down to a crawl.

The huge bird did not want to come into the boat and it did not want to go into the water. After twenty minutes of high climbing and swooping dives, Vernon managed to get the exhausted bird within five feet above the rear of the boat. Captain Tyler was ready with a landing net and took a swing at it but the bird was too big and the net bounced off its flapping wings then swished through the air. As he tried again, the bird seemed to just give up and plopped into the water where, with folded wings, Captain Tyler caught the bird in the net and into the boat. "Wow, never seen that before!" Captain Tyler said as he untangled the weakened bird from the net.

Soon, they had the hook out and as they wrapped the bird in some beach towels, it drew its slender head back and in a snake-like strike, it nipped Vernon's ear lobe. "It's bleeding!"Dorothy said, grabbing another towel and dabbing Vernon's earlobe.

Its getting its strength back," Vernon said as he took the towel from Dorothy and held it against his ear.

"We'll take him back to the marina with us, he should be dry by then and we can release him from the dock," Captain Tyler said as he headed the boat back to the harbor.

Many fishing charter boats operate from the marina and as Captain Tyler steered the boat into its berth, a small crowd was milling about on the dock as they returned from a day of fishing. Vernon climbed from the boat as Captain Tyler handed him the bundle of towels. "Everyone pay attention, releasing a wild frigate bird," Vernon said as he sat the bundle of towels down on the dock. Everyone watched as a slender head with a long, hooked beak poked its head from the bundle of towels then shook the towels from its body and with huge flaps of its wings was soon spiraling upward until it was a dot in the sky.

"How did you catch that?" said someone from the crowd.

"Vernon has this special technique to fish the air when he gets tired of fishing the sea," Captain Tyler said with a laugh..."Try it, it's fun!"