Paddle power in the Sea of Cortez

From a two-man tent on a sandy beach, I watch the setting sun cast purple shadows on craggy desert mountains that plunge into the placid blue waters of the Sea of Cortez.

Darkness is not far behind and brings another visual delight: a sky full of brilliant stars, unmarred by pollution and artificial light. 

For a winter “getaway” from snow and ice, we've chosen an idyllic destination.

Our friends Ben and Karen have highly recommended this combination sea-kayaking and whale-watching trip with Sea-Kayak Adventures, an Idaho-based company that offers similar summer trips to the Pacific Northwest and relocates to Baja in the winter months. Our pals assure us that everything about the trip will be to our liking: the consistently good weather, the state-of-the-art equipment, the helpful guides and the incredibly fresh and delicious “al fresco” cuisine. The company's moderate pricing and “carbon-neutral” policies are also factors that induce my husband Bill and I to sign on.

We arrive on Horizon Airline's once-a-day flight into Loreto, a pleasant and unpretentious town on the Gulf of California about 700 miles south of the California border. At our comfortable Hacienda Suites Hotel, we meet Edgar, Tuku and Javier, our personable and competent guides. At the same time, we get acquainted with our fellow paddlers and camp-mates for the rest of the week. Six days later, we'll all feel like soulmates. Maybe sharing a 2-foot-by-2-foot metal porta potty (concealed from others by a mere boulder!) has something to do with that.

The following morning, we luxuriate in our last shower before driving a half-hour south to the launching dock. There, we learn how to efficiently pack the company's 22 ft.- long tandem kayaks (with tents, sleeping bags, food and water). Immediately, I realize that I've packed twice the personal items I'll need. Shampoo, a mirror, an eye-brow pencil? What were you thinking, woman?

The daily routine is leisurely. After a sumptuous beachside breakfast, we kayak each morning in crystalline bays surrounding Isla Danzante and Isla Carmen — two of Mexico's many protected marine parks. We pull onto another beach for mid-day activities. While our multi-talented guides prepare a feast (for example: fresh shrimp ceviche loaded with lime juice and cilantro and served with warm tortillas) we “slack-offs” spend our time snorkeling among reefs, tossing a frisbee or simply stretching out on the sand for a beach snooze. After lunch, we take a 45-minute hike to a volcanic rock overlook that provides not only beautiful bay vistas but some leg exercise to balance our paddling routine as well.

By the time we make the 3-mile afternoon kayak crossing to our night's camping destination, it's time to break out the tequila and pour the piña coladas. Every night includes a generous “happy hour” for those who care to imbibe. And then we get to eat again! Mexican specialties abound: Chicken with chocolate-laced molé sauce, white fish fajitas and green chili enchiladas. Fresh tomatoes and avocados are part of every meal.

Our intrepid guides offer nightly entertainment. One night it's a tour of the magnificent night sky. Another night it's Edgar's famous “scorpion tour.” Aiming a black light under bushes to flush the spiders out, our guide finds more of them than we care to know are there. (Lesson to be learned: WEAR SHOES on those middle-of-the-night trips to the porta potty!) On still another night, a game of “Loteria,” (think: Bingo) provides a Spanish lesson along with plenty of laughs.

There are a few surprises: The wind whips up one day and Edgar wisely turns our flotilla back to a previously camped-on beach. We 12 people must schlepp the 400-pound, fully loaded kayaks on and off the beach several times daily, a task my back complains about. I stumble on a slippery rock and jam a leg into a jagged crevice. The ensuing trip to the “urgencias” for an antibiotic provides an adventure in itself, proving that “flexibility” in a multi-sport vacation is definitely a must. 

On the last of seven super days, we shuttle to the other side of the peninsula for a once-in-a-lifetime close encounter with mama gray whales and their newly born offspring. These creatures — some as big as school busses and weighing as much as 40 tons — migrate to the warm Pacific Ocean waters from Alaska each year for the birthing process, then return when the babes are but a few months old. The latter are playful little creatures, pushing their bodies up against our “pangas” and even wanting their heads scratched. 

What a privilege indeed to be in the presence of these gentle giants of Magdalena Bay. 

Carolyn Schwartz writes from Frisco and Pittsboro, N.C. She loves a variety of travel adventures and can be reached at keltywoman@nc.rr.com. 

If you go

Sea-Kayak Adventures: (800)616-1943, www.seakayakadentures.com.
Email: info@seakayakadventures.com.

UW grad’s movie documents ‘100 Days’ of drama on the Yukon River

Floating down the Yukon River on a 48-foot raft, Brett Rogers expected an adventure or two.

He got more than he bargained for that summer in 2006.

A crew member smashed his foot, necessitating a helicopter airlift to hospital. Another crew member jumped ship, literally, asking to be let off the raft seven days into the expedition. Battling fast waters, the remaining crew crashed the raft along the river’s edge to let the disgruntled adventurer go.

On one day, the changeable river would strand the homemade raft; the next day it would hurl it into low-hanging branches along the shore. And late one night, the crew discovered a body under the raft.

Challenging? Sure was, says Rogers, an adventurer, environmentalist and river rat extraordinaire. But on top of that, try making a documentary about the expedition — now that was daunting, he says.

On this particular day, Rogers, 28, who has led expeditions down the Mackenzie, Yukon and Mississippi rivers — all of them made without using a single tank of gasoline — is sounding relieved as he celebrates the completion of his Yukon documentary, called 100 Days.

“It’s like having a gift and you’re waiting to give it away,” says Rogers, a 2006 University of Waterloo geography graduate, in an interview from his home office in Lowville, Ont., north of Burlington.

Five years after Rogers and eight crew members set out on their 3,000-kilometre trip down the Yukon River, he is ready to premiere 100 Days at the Princess Twin cinema in Waterloo on March 31 and April 7.

Rogers will be there in person to introduce the documentary and to answer questions.

“Waterloo has always been a very supportive and interested community in what I’ve done in the past,” says Rogers, who teaches a post-graduate TV documentary course at Conestoga College in Kitchener one day a week.

“You only have a short amount of time on this planet, and I have things I want to share,” he says.

He wants to show people how incredible the natural world is.

“I want to make people aware of what is at stake. . . . We do want to keep some wilderness left in North America.”

The documentary will also air in May on the Outdoor Life Network.

Rogers is hitting his stride. He was recently made a member of The Explorers Club, a U.S.-based professional society started in 1904. It’s an honour he shares with U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, and Wade Davis of Canada, an ethnographer, writer and filmmaker who is also Rogers’ friend.

In 2005, Rogers premiered his first documentary, Into the Midnight Sun, at both the University of Waterloo and the Princess Twin cinemas.

That movie described a 29-day trip down the Mackenzie River on a 32-foot raft in 2004. He struggled with the making of 100 Days, but in the end, it’s a more sophisticated movie, he says.

Two years after the Yukon expedition, Rogers, feeling overwhelmed, still hadn’t produced the compelling movie he felt was possible.

It was buried somewhere in the 90 hours of video he’d shot while leading a crew of eight down the Yukon River on a raft kept afloat by 40 oil drums. Giant sweeper oars were their only power.

It was during a contract stint with the advocacy group Waterkeeper that Rogers got his enthusiasm back. He took a stab at editing the footage, then showed the results to Les Stroud, filmmaker, survival expert and creator and host of the TV series, Survivorman.

Stroud offered to “take it to the next level” and recut the movie through his own production company. Stroud became executive producer and narrator of 100 Days and Max Attwood, who had edited Survivorman, became its editor.

The result is 44 minutes of pure adventure, Rogers says.

“The things that happen, you could never have predicted,” he says.

“My philosophy is that human beings have an innate connection to adventure. We all come from somewhere else . . . It’s this drive to keep exploring and see what’s out there.”

The 3,000 km journey started at Whitehorse in Yukon and ended at Emmonak in Alaska, where the Yukon River flows into the Bering Sea.

Along the way, Rogers saw moose, caribou and a grizzly bear. He saw remote First Nations communities, wooded islands, mountains and even relics of steamers that had worked the river at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush early in the 20th century.

In Fort Yukon, a community 13 km north of the Arctic Circle, the crew witnessed a funeral for a traditional Gwich’in chief — a man who had been a passionate opponent of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

They helped dig the chief’s grave and watched as a baby bald eagle circled the ceremony three times and flew away.

“Everyone was crying and cheering,” Rogers says. “It was the most moving experience of my life.”

That special moment was followed by the disturbing discovery of a body beneath the raft. Sometime earlier, the crew had spotted a smashed canoe on shore near a sharp, treacherous turn in the river called Devil’s Elbow. The body was later identified as that of a missing 19-year-old local man who had stolen the canoe, Rogers says.

In addition to 100 Days, Rogers is working on another movie, to be called Old Man River. That documentary will tell the story of his 2009 expedition down the Mississippi River aboard a homemade York boat, the same kind of sturdy wooden boat that 18th-century Canadian fur traders used.

It ended up being the last full river expedition before the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, he says.

In the meantime, Rogers has refined his moviemaking skills while working in Antarctica, Peru and other locations with Survivorman as well as Les Stroud’s Beyond Survival, Megaworld, Mighty Ships and Top Chef Canada.

Rogers says his dream hasn’t changed since he graduated, but it’s now tempered by experience. Living rent-free with his “super supportive” dad while he works on moviemaking, he isn’t so inclined to leap into another river without first securing adequate funding and an experienced crew.

“I’m working with Les (Stroud) to find a way to make these expeditions financially sustainable,” he says.

“I’m not trying to go down the 10 greatest rivers,” he says. “I’m going river by river. The dream is to continue doing freshwater expeditions and telling stories and . . . inspiring people to care about the planet.”

Rogers says he hears frequently that his adventures are inspiring.

“That doesn’t put money in the bank account, but it does feel like I’m doing the right thing,” he says.

100 Days will be screened at the Princess Twin cinema in Waterloo at 7 p.m. on March 31 and again on April 7. Rogers will attend both evenings. Tickets are $12 at the theatre. Fifty tickets for each night are also available through sponsor Royal LePage Wolle Realty, 842 Victoria St. N., Kitchener.) Brett Rogers has a website at: www.brettonthewater.com.)

baggerholm@therecord.com

100 Days - Official Trailer [HD] from Stories from the field on Vimeo.

Dive Support Vessel Ocean Project Sold

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Photo courtesy Marcon International, Inc.

Marcon International Inc. of Coupeville, Wash. announced the sale of the dive support vessel Ocean Project from Oceaneering International, Inc. of Houston, Texas to private South American interests.

 

The Vanuatu-flagged Ocean Project (ex-Rambo, 0601, George E. Darby, Janie B, Cathy B, Nordic Offshore) was built in 1972 by Bel-Aire Shipyard, Ltd. of North Vancouver, British Columba, Canada as an offshore supply vessel and classed ABS +A1, Ice Class A, Towing Service, +AMS, Unrestricted. Ocean Project is powered by a pair Ruston 12RK3CM diesels totaling 5,300BHP with Seffle CP wheels in kort nozzles and fitted with a 400HP Ulstein tunnel bow thruster. The 185-ft x 45-ft x 16-ft vessel was originally built as an offshore supply vessel, but converted in 1986 by Transport Canada into a Search & Rescue Vessel and to tow small icebergs out of shipping lanes. The Canadian Government sold her into commercial use in 1993 when she was renamed Rambo under Panamanian flag.

 

Oceaneering purchased the vessel in 1997 and fitted her with a four-point mooring system and a sophisticated diving gear complete with two decompression chambers. Ocean Project then worked as an offshore maintenance / repair vessel conducting platform inspections, pipeline construction, hyperbaric welding, salvage, etc. She was used in 1999 to successfully retrieve the 2 ton Mercury space capsule Liberty Bell 7 from 16,040' of water. The capsule, piloted by astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom in 1961, sunk shortly after splash-down due to premature denotation of the explosive bolts designed to open the hatch in case of an emergency. The capsule subsequently filled with water and sank only minutes after the successful mission.

 

New owners are having the vessel promptly delivered on her own bottom to Peru, where she will be put into dry-dock and refurbished before re-entering oilfield service work. This is the second research / dive vessel sold by Marcon for Oceaneering and the first sale to the buyers.

 

Marcon acted as sole broker in the transaction. Oceaneering is replacing Ocean Project with a new vessel under the same name. 

Coast Guard Interdicts Cocaine Carrying Submarine

Photo: Coast Guard Interdicts Cocaine Carrying Submarine

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Coast Guard Cutter Midgett interdicts a 35-foot self-propelled semi-submersible vessel (SPSS) carrying approximately 6,000 kilograms of cocaine on Jan. 20, 2011. The SPSS was located 335-miles off the coast of Costa Rica. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Coast Guard Cutter Midgett.

RESON SeaBat 7150 Multibeam Sonar - Seafloor data from 4400 meters depth

Explorer Scouts On North Pole Expedition Face Death

The lives of two Eagle Scout’s headed for the 1965 North Pole Expedition are thrown into turmoil when everything seems to go wrong. Coming of age saga with intrigue, adventure, encounters with Eskimo spirits and strong life lessons at every turn.


Mar 13, 2011 – In 1964, two Eagle Scouts were selected by national competition to accompany Navy explorers on an expedition to the North Pole.  I was one of them.  We were promised it would be another ‘Journey of Discovery’ - a Lewis and Clark adventure across the Northwest Passage.  A Journey of Discovery it was.  But NOT the one of progress and wonder that was promised.  It was a journey into a world of LIES, corruption and incompetence. There was intrigue at every turn. We quickly learned that the mission of the lab, and the future progress of our country was being botched up by administrative bureaucracy! That kind of performance wasn’t consistent with the standards of the Boy Scout Law we knew. We were determined not to let it ruin a whole summer of research for the scientific staff. We went into action! 

For two months, we took on every barrier they threw in our faces. We fixed broken tracked vehicles, built boats, turned floating ice into barges, rewired research stations, built bridges - all with scrap we found lying around. But the human obstacles paled in the face of a hidden arctic battle. The water would try to drown us. The animals would try to kill us. The endless day would try to drive us crazy. If we ever let our guard down and were tripped up by any of these, we had to face the ultimate challenge: the spirits of the dead! In the Eskimo world, death is always around every corner. If you make one mistake, the spirits of the dead are right there to steal your body. And, being tenderfeet from the world of “white men”, we wouldn’t have stood a chance without the intervention of Arnaaluk, the Shaman, and a rag-tag group of runaway eccentric geniuses.

Two new novels -- LIARS! Vol. 1: Scout to the Pole; and Vol. 2: Escape to Insanity -- are based on Nappi's experience as one of the Eagle Scouts on the 1965 North Pole Expedition.  They present an epic "Atlas Shrugged" adventure filled philosophical romp through a 3 Stooges run government research world, which challenge the most fundamental beliefs of human culture. Mankind's greatest social institutions:  government, religion, science, education, law, medicine, and even the U.S. Constitution, are challenged.  Over 40 major discoveries are presented that answer many of the most critical unanswered questions of the ages.


About Bruce Nappi

Bruce Nappi is founder and president of the A3 Society and author of the books LIARS!  Vol. 1: Scout to the Pole; and Vol. 2: Escape to Insanity.  An award winning scholar, he graduated from MIT with both Bachelors and Masters degrees in Astronautics ( yes, a true MIT rocket scientist ).  As an engineer and manager, he used his multi-disciplined technical background to develop leading edge products in medicine, optics, production systems, military systems, and automated testing.  His resume is filled with breakthroughs like: the first fully automated system to fabricate dental crowns; fastest DNA sequencing machine in the world (1990); first 512 sensor solid state array for measuring muscle contractions; first infrared fiber optic probe for direct measurement of human blood chemistry; first practical solution for content addressable memory which can speed up computer processing over a thousand times. He is currently Administrative Director for CSESaR, the Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research, University of Florida, College of Medicine, Jacksonville, Florida.

Throughout his career, he was dismayed by repeated failures of society to draw on even a fraction of the technical advances available. He was greatly disturbed that, even with ever-growing technical capabilities, the number of poor and starving kept increasing while great wealth continued to concentrate in the hands of a few. When modern communications opened the door to participative democracy, western governments, waving the banner of democracy, hypocritically established legal barriers to keep government decisions in the hands of special interests and legislative aristocrats. This led to his lifelong quest that produced the discoveries presented in the book series LIARS!  The A3 Society was founded to promote those discoveries through education. His work is summarized online at A3society.org. The books are available at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Nappi

Contact
Bruce Nappi -  Nanook *at* A3society *dot* org
Linkedin public profile  http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bruce-nappi/0/13a/975
Twitter  TheRealNanook
A3society.org   A3societyblog.org
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Nappi
LIARS! Vol. 1: Scout to the Pole  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/30719
LIARS! Vol. 2: Escape to Insanity  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31079

# # #

About the A3 Society: The A3 Society was formed to gather a community of like-minded people to explore the new social structure outlined in the books LIARS! Vol. 1: Scout to the Pole and LIARS! Vol. 2: Escape to Insanity.

http://www.prlog.org/11370742-explorer-scouts-on-north-pole-expedition-face-death-high-adventure-and-attack-by-eskimo-spirits.pdf

Amazon explorer Ed Stafford given adventurer award

An adventurer who walked the entire length of the River Amazon has been given an award in Sweden.

Ed Stafford, 34, of Mowsley, Leicestershire, completed his 6,000 mile (9,600 km) trek in August last year.

The former soldier was given the title of European Adventurer of the Year at an event called the Wilderness Fair in Stockholm.

Mr Stafford walked from Peru to the Brazilian coast in 859 days.

He had to contend with vipers and electric eels and was also wrongly accused of murder during his journey, which began in April 2008.

'Great adventures'

Mr Stafford said: "It means a lot that the expedition has been recognised in this way.

"In walking the length of the Amazon river I hoped to create an adventure so exciting it drew people into my unfolding story online, and into the Amazon itself.

"This award is for all those who followed my adventure online, and who sent messages of support and money for the charities."

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

It means a lot that the expedition has been recognised in this way”

Ed Stafford

The jury for the award said he was being presented with it "for having completed one of the world's last great adventures".

Mr Stafford is the first Briton known to have walked the entire length of the South American river.

The Amazon is about 4,000 miles long, but he travelled an extra 2,000 miles after being forced inland by flooding.

The Adventurer of the Year award was set up in Sweden in 2005 and recognises a person for "outstanding performance in the concept of adventure". The European title was added in 2009.

More on This Story

Related Stories

• Amazon adventurer back in the UK 11 AUGUST 2010, LEICESTER
• Walker completes epic Amazon trek 09 AUGUST 2010, LEICESTER
• Risking life and limb in Amazon trek 09 AUGUST 2010, UK
• In pictures: Walking the Amazon 09 AUGUST 2010, NATURE
• Amazon trekker dines on ocelot 05 AUGUST 2010, UK

Big Fish vs. Small Boat

The big fish struck as I was paddling my kayak toward yet another swarm of seabirds dive-bombing sardines off the Mexican coast. I heard the unmistakable zipping sound of fishing line spooling out of my reel, yanked my rod from its holder and snapped the line to set the hook.

Much of the thrill of fishing comes from the mystery—not knowing exactly what's pulling on your line from the depths. I wasn't sure what leviathan I had hooked, but I knew that it was strong and it wanted to dive deeper.

I pointed the buckling rod toward the front of my kayak, so my boat would turn toward the fish should it opt to flee and tow me across the waves like something out of "The Old Man and the Sea." I groped for the walkie-talkie dangling around my neck. "I got one!" I yelled to my guides in a nearby charter boat. They didn't respond, which likely meant I'd neglected, in my excitement, to press the call button.

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Armando Perez

A jack caught from a kayak.

Deep-sea kayak fishing is a sport that pits human against big fish on the simplest of terms and offers anglers two pursuits: Hours of serene paddling on the ocean and adrenaline-soaked bouts with powerful game fish. I got both prowling off the coast of Mexico near Puerto Vallarta, in renowned fishing grounds that serve as a highway for all types of sea life, from sardines to humpback whales.

While it's been around for about 40 years, kayak fishing still isn't widely offered by charter services
in Puerto Vallarta. Ruben Gaxiola de la Huerta's EcoExplorer charter service was the only one I found there with fully equipped kayaks and years of experience.

Mr. Gaxiola de la Huerta, a stout, 42-year-old former insurance manager who moved to Puerto Vallarta in 1998, said he prefers that first-time kayak fishing clients try embarking from the beach and fishing for smaller fish close to shore. Only thereafter can they chase bigger, nastier swimmers on the open water. He made an exception for us, my Dallas neighbor David Matthews and I, since we are experienced fishermen, and I occasionally paddle a kayak on a lake near my house.

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Luis Chavez

Heading out to fish

My goal in Puerto Vallarta was to snare a big fish—a marlin, a tuna or a dolphin fish—that would give me a good fight from my 13-foot boat. It is possible, though rare, to hook tuna or red snapper of 100 pounds or more or marlin of several hundred pounds that can fight for hours and tow a kayak for several miles.

We embarked the first day at dawn, just as the sun peeked over the Sierra Madre mountains. Dramamine kept our stomachs settled as the charter boat, Chololo, plowed through waves. After two hours, we arrived at a fishing area known as La Corbeteña, a swath of water roughly 80 feet deep surrounding a tiny rock island topped with an unmanned lighthouse.

We eagerly paddled our kayaks out from the larger boat, trailing live bait fish on hooks behind us. But the initial excitement and anxiety about being at sea in a tiny boat soon gave way as we became reacquainted with fishing's eternal companion: waiting.

We rowed for hours around the island, with little to show for it. Mr. Gaxiola de la Huerta caught a small tuna. I eventually checked my line to discover that my bait fish had escaped and I'd been dragging a naked hook around the ocean.

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Getty Images

The Lowdown

• Getting There: Flights are available from major U.S. cities to Licenciado Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport. Dodge the welcomers in the airport, even those promising shuttle services—they're selling timeshares.
• Fishing There: EcoExplorer offers guided kayak excursions from shore or by charter boat. Half-day trips start at $95 per person; full day charters are $700.ecoexplorer.com.mx
• Where to Stay: Several hotels are within walking distance of Puerto Vallarta's main marina, including the Westin Puerto Vallarta,Paseo de la Marina Sur #205, starwoodhotels.com/westin). For luxury accommodations, Punta Mita, an hour away, is home to the Four Seasons Resort (from $440, fourseasons.com/puntamita ) and the St. Regis Resort Puna Mita (from $295,stregis.starwoodhotels.com ).
• Where to Eat: Try Tacos and Beer for a quick bite and a cerveza (Hotel Embarcadero 1-E, 52-322-209-0197). For finer dining, head to beachfront institution La Palapa (Pulpito 103 on Col. Emiliano Zapata; lapalapapv.com) or Ah Caramba! Restaurant & Bar (Ecuador 1071 on Col. 5 de Diciembre,ahcaramba.com).

The rhythmic rise and fall of the waves were hypnotic. For lunch, we ate sandwiches and fruit aboard our kayaks, Mr. Gaxiola de la Huerta reclining with his cap over his face and his lines dangling in the water. But our day, while peaceful, was also mildly frustrating. There was sea life everywhere except on our lines. Sharp marlin fins sliced along the ocean's surface a dozen yards from our kayaks. Tuna and manta rays leapt from the water to dislodge parasites from their bodies. Occasionally, we saw humpback whales spout and breach on the horizon.

Our guide and captain, Luis Federico Cortez-Guittierrez, theorized that the recent full moon had allowed the fish to feed at night, leaving them satiated. "The fish are here," Mr. Gaxiola de la Huerta assured us above the beeps of his sonar detecting fish below his kayak. "You can hear them and see them." But we headed back to the marina spent and empty-handed.

Four days later, we set off again. Mr. Gaxiola de la Huerta had conferred with other fishermen about where fish were biting. He brought bait and tackle for any occasion: live fish, frozen mullet, plastic squid, big lures, jigs. We took two charter boats, so David and I could separate to chase different opportunities.

Our destination was the El Banco fishing grounds, 40 miles to sea from Puerto Vallarta. We never got there. Off Punta Mita, a picturesque peninsula home to Four Seasons and St. Regis resorts, we spotted seabirds diving into the water. Massive schools of migrating sardines attract birds—and bigger fish—to feed.

Two charter boats were already chasing the bird clouds, which dispersed as quickly as they formed. My boat passed within 10 yards of a swarm at full frenzy. Dolphins arched across the surface in chase of sardines. Below the surface, we spied flashes of reddish orange. Big snapper. The game was on.

I climbed into my kayak and paddled swiftly to anywhere I saw birds massing, digging in to get there before the sardines escaped.

I wasn't alone. Dolphins swam around my kayak, at least once passing under it. David and I weaved among towering charter boats, drawing bemused looks from rival fishermen. After an hour of paddling, as I was aiming for yet another swarm of birds, I got lucky. I was overcome with excitement spiked with relief. Finally, I had hooked something.

After determining the fish wanted to dive rather than run, I began pulling the rod skyward and reeling in line each time I lowered it. The fish tugged in powerful spurts, forcing me to keep both hands on the rod. The fight was short by the standards of deep-sea fishing, about 10 minutes long. When I got the fish near the surface, I could see its orangish form cruising through the water, occasionally fighting my line with strong kicks of its tail. It was a snapper of about 30 pounds.

Hauling it in, I saw that I hooked the snapper not in the mouth but in the eye socket. This sometimes happens when a fish spits out a hook but doesn't get entirely clear of it. It showed how close I had come to losing this fish.

As my charter boat arrived, the guides snared the fish with a gaffe, hoisting it aboard. Later, David came close to the ultimate thrill, nearly catching a big roosterfish that spat the hook. We caught five snapper that day: three from the charter boat and two from kayaks.

I didn't hook the thrashing marlin that I wanted, but the snapper haul was a decent consolation prize. And it was far more excitement than I could ever find dropping a line in a lake, or from the beach.

Write to Kris Hudson at kris.hudson@wsj.com