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Tag Archives: fish

Orange Beach Gulf Coast Finally the Sun Also Rises on This Sweet Place

American Press Travel News--Flashback-—Bob and Barb Stopped to Smell the Roses —Just south of Mobile, Alabama, along the 32-miles of Gulf Coast coastline, lies an active beach community called Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. Last month Barb and I had a chance to stay, play, be greeted and introduced to the areas attractions, accommodations and dining spots-from fine dining to waterfront vittles that warmed the cockles of our hearts, although Barb would say: “made no dent in our waste-lines.” Recently the area along with Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida’s Gulf Coast took a hit from a man-made disaster: the oil spill brought to us all by British Petroleum.

We went to Orange Beach hoping to find things getting back to business as usual and we found this to generally be the case. Unfortunately, far too many tourists and visitors just don’t know this yet, or assume the worst from the heavy media coverage recently broadcast around the world-rightly so, but now it’s time to tell it like it is today!

Our stay was well complimented by having been ensconced in The Beach Club ‘Resort and Condominium project that had everything you could ask for in a great vacation paradise. The beaches were clean and white, the pool complex rivaled anywhere we have ever been that had this amenity, the restaurant served seafood’s and various chef prepared dishes that were quite scrumptious. Our condo apartment rental was 1st class with a wide gulf- view right out our bedroom windows.
Barb grew up living on or near the various saltwater shore locations in New York and Long Island in particular. Her dad, Herb wouldn’t have it any other way-he enjoyed and instilled in Barb the same love of the surf and sand at a few beachside communities that had been a boon to me too, as I love it all as well and got to fish into the bargain when visiting my then girlfriend, now 44-years my wife.

We’ve been to Orange Beach and Gulf Shores a few times and always loved the friendliness and cleanliness, and this time was like all the rest, except businesses had been suffering from lack of tourists.
However, based on many of the restaurants with busy tables full of patrons, you’d never think this was the case right now.

One of the restaurants we ate at: The Hangout where Rt. 59 ends and as they say: “the fun begins.” Even Paul Simon came to entertain here at their Music Fest which featured scads of bands and entertainers such as Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue group, and the Flaming Lips too to name but a few! We were hungry for a great seafood dinner with king crabs too! We were not disappointed. Make a visit to their web site: www.hangoutal.com or call for more info. At (251)948-3030. The Hangout was one swinging place and everyone rousingly joined in the song and dance venues. The next night we we stopped by under the Perdido Pass Bridge at the Cobalt Restaurant. The views of Perdido Bay were spectacular and we ate in a sunset setting al fresco, just outside of the many windows of the inside restaurant. The foods were exquisite, can’t recommend this place more highly and I tend to be conservative when recommending food emporiums, but not here. You can come by any size boat, or by auto. I tried their yellowfin tuna and avocado stack served between fried wontons-scrumptious, Barb had Spanish Paella-all in all a very memorable meal topped off with fried apple pie with ice cream and carmel sauce. Chef Jack Baker really does it up well.
www.cobaltrestaurant.net Call at 251-923-5300

We began our first day aboard a dolphin and nature cruise out in the back bay’s of Alabama’s Gulf Coast. Dolphins always fascinate me and as I believe anyone having a chance to get up close and comfy wit them. These playful cetaceans (they are in the whale family) are around all year in this area and together with the bird and other sealife made for a great beginning to our visit. Contact: www.cetaceancruises.com
Later in the day we visited the Orange Beach Art Center’s hot shop for a glass blowing demonstration. This the first and only glass blowing studio in Alabama open for public use. It was founded in cooperation with Bear Creek Glass and the studio now welcomes nationally known resident glass artist Sam Cornman. WOW! The many moves he made with 2000-degree molten glass to make a magnificent arty piece of table-top collectible well worth the watching and the buying. For more information: www.orangebeachartcenter.com

The following day I went fishing for red snapper with another writer Beverly Hogg, who was as interested in a great bite as I was. We were not disappointed!
As the various trips were quite inclusive and exclusive, yet anyone reading this can enjoy all of the above, there are many more venues we experienced. So this is a two part article on Orange Beach, Alabama.
Please look for an additional article that will tell the rest of the story next month.

Duck delight!

Planning a trip consider the real bargain that this area snuggled against Florida’s Gulf Coast tip has to offer. Contact Gulf Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau at 800-745-SAND (7263) or go: www.gulfshores.com

 

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Fishing Burns Calories

American Press Travel News–March 10th,-Bob and Barb “On The Road Again.”  Probably have not thought about this, but fishing does burn calories. If standing on shore and casting for two hours how about 470-calories “gone?” Fly fishing as you walk in a stream, how about 670-calories an hour. In a boat, not moving around much but jigging on the bottom, about 500-calories  Bank fishing, sitting on your butt after a cast of bottom baits. About 360-calories for two hours. 

When your fishing, your moving, thinking, bending, casting, walking to your location and if your hooking up with scaled or unscaled critters, your burning calories. 

Of course hunting and other sports burn more calories, just as brisk walking does too, but it turns out just about anything you do out in the outdoors on a sustained minute by minute basis, burns that fuel you have stored.

So, its Sunday today and I’m heading out behind my home to our bass pond for some fly fishing activity. Or maybe casting with my new/old reel I bought at a yard sale yesterday to try it out. Its not that I don’t have about 90-reels, its just I love to sell duplicate reels and gear on ebay, so I can buy more gear at yard sales-boy do I have a two car garage that just hasn’t seen a car in ages!!

Mutton Snapper, Great Fighter, Great Tablefare!

Son Brian knows where they live! That’s a mutton snapper and baked up for 20-people!
Brian and Diane in the Keys. A fine bottom fishing excursion..

American Press Travel News–Update: 3/5/19–Bob and Barb “On the Road Again.”–My son Brian and wife Diane sent me these images of a very large mutton snapper they caught for dinner-actually it was enough for a party of people to enjoy for a sit-down meal. The mutton snapper is so called as it is shaped somewhat like a leg of mutton. One thing for sure, it doesn’t taste like sheep. It is a very tasty reef and bottom fish. Always remember; fish taste like what they feed on. Snappers feed on shrimp, crab and on other fresh fish.
Fishing in the Keys can offer a wide variety of excellent fish and seafood to chow down on. Besides fish there are stone crabs, Florida lobster, and incredible shrimp to put on the “Barbie.”
The Keys has more than 200 restaurants that offer these delectibles! These large members of the snapper family hang around rocks and reefs. They are ambush predators. Brian is now known as “Captain Key Largo” he is a licensed Captain and guide to the Upper Keys and surrounding Islands. Takes people fishing, viewing birds and wildlife and visits interesting places, beside doing waterway and front bar crawls.  go: Brian Epstein on Facebook, or give him a call at:   (954)-326-7360 

Bob’s Reverie At The Farm

 

Barb loves to fish when she has an edge and doesn’t have the whole day to hopefully hook a neighbor with shoulders enough for us to spar with! 

APtravelnews-May 16th-Crossville, TN.—Goose Holler’ Farm—Bob’s reverie at the farm–I Woke up this morning to chirps from at least a dozen birds: Blue, red, black, gray, mottled, white, yellow, striped black and gray. Their songs and calls were sweet, some raucous, some sounding playful and a few staccato as in three different kinds of woodpeckers including a bright red headed one with a real attitude that come to our feeders and the older trees with lots of dead wood near the fence-line of Goose Holler Farm.

Today was especially auspicious, as the deer with and without antlers and testicles were feeding along a weed whacker line I made near the pond (the pond brings many varieties of ducks and geese over the year to rest and feed)  to keep our paths from growing wild and hiding some other unsavory visitors. These serpent critters such as water moccasins come looking for a red- eared, or blue-gilled sunfish, or a bass fish dish alongside the weedy shallows, along with some other potentially poisonous water snakes that we all prefer not to tread on, or brush by, by accident.  Sure, I have more squirrels and chipmunks per acre than probably anywhere in our area, as I have at least 150 trees per acre on our ten acre little farmstead, but until they get into our attic, I don’t shoot at them with anything more powerful than a stinging B-B gun to keep them from clearing the bird feeders within an hour or less.  

The trees are mostly big trees of nut and flower, oaks, black walnut, maples and almond, the billions of leaves- each one slightly different than the other, keep us shaded and cool in the summer. Together with the blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, gooseberry bushes and a sundry, seed bushes, not to mention our grown fresh veggies and herbs, we have a fine cornucopia. I guess that in the great profusion of wild plants, it would take a true horticulturist to be able to name them all.  I love waking and spending my day writing, looking out and on our land and up-keeping and gardening here.

 I guess the reason for this post is I really feel blessed to wake up to nature, and the honeysuckle, roses, peonies and lilac bushes blended a sweet natural aroma to a day full of promise that anyone could enjoy if they gave their I phone, laptop and TV a rest for a day or, two a week!