Next trip...

We motored up to Blake yesterday...smooth sailing. Our marina friend spotted us going out and sent this bon voyage pic as we were cruising out of the Foss:

We stopped in Des Moines for fuel. Yikes...this was about half a tank:

That's 110 gallons for $611! Good thing we go slowly...

A bit about our spot prawn expedition.

We went shrimping out of Des Moines on May 25...me, Nick, Caleb, and Mac. ToG motored to the DMM on the 24th and Caleb and Mac drove up after work that day to join us for dinner and stay on the boat so we could get an early start Wednesday.

Caleb and Mac enjoying early morning beverages while underway to the shrimping grounds. 

A passing cargo ship sent a 3-foot wall of water our way, upsetting Mac for a little while. Other than that things went relatively well and we got about 2 and a half limits (approx. 200 shrimp). It was crowded and maneuvering our boat through and around a cluster of fishing boats was a pain. Some of our shrimp were mushy. Nick's research found that removing the heads as soon as possible can mitigate this. Apparently there is an enzyme that is released which causes the mushiness.

Caleb and Mac counting and bagging spot prawns:

From upset to giving a shrimp a little kiss:

Mac "driving":

The weather was nice enough yesterday to enjoy some time on our upper deck and take a nice beach walk. The clouds rolled in however, and this morning we woke to pouring rain and some thunder.

We'll stay here another night and continue north tomorrow.

Some photos from our trip to the zoo with Mac on Wednesday.