"Best Day Ever" and "Dad of the Year" on the same day!

[Steve]

I think as a dad one of the best things I can hear my daughter say is that she "had the best day ever" while we are doing something. Add to that "you are the dad of the year" and wow, be still my heart!

Thursday night I was locking up the house and getting ready for bed while half listening to the news when I heard something that perked my attention. If any of you have watched Sharkmen or Shark Wranglers on the History Channel, you will recognize the name Ocearch. Late last year/early this year they were in the Northeast around Cape Cod tagging Great White sharks. One of these sharks ended up about 200 yards of our beach (just outside of the surf zone actually) a few weeks ago. A lot of people around hear are not really aware that we (fishermen) have actually seen quite a few over the years.

Just off the South Georgia/Northeast Florida coast we have the Northern Wright Whale migration about this time of year, with the females giving birth to thier calves in our warmer and rich water. To a big shark, I'm thinking that is the sound of the dinner bell ringing.

Anyway, on the news they were saying that the Ocearch and her crew were docked downtown at the Riverwalk, and that they we going to be heading out early Saturday morning for a 20 or so day tagging expedition. As many of you have read in my previous posts, Boo loves the marine sciences, and Sharkmen/Shark Wranglers has been one of the shows we have enjoyed together. So Friday afternoon, I was able to get out of an appointment and pick her up early from school and we headed down to the water to just take a look at the boat.

When we got there we saw several members of the crew that we recognized, and saw several people on board that were milling around and socializing. About that time I saw one of the Captains, Jody Whitworth, walking by. I caught his attention and asked if they were doing tours, and he told me that they had been doing tours earlier, but that this was a private event for their sponsor Caterpillar. Boo was obviously disappointed and mentioned that she had been in school earlier. About that time Jody had to excuse himself to attend to a couple of the guests, but asked us to hold on. I could feel Boo perk up a bit, and sure enough, shortly thereafter Capt. Jody motioned us aboard and proceeded to give us a personal tour of the boat, as well as giving Boo a t-shirt! I gotta tell ya, that made Boo's day. He also introduced us to several other members of the crew.

My respect for that man went up even further when after about 20-30 minutes of showing us around the boat, he apologized and told us he had to head out to the airport to pick up some of the science crew that was arriving at 5:00 (it was about 4:50 at that time). Not only did he not have to invite us on-board, but he did so in an extremely gracious manner and gave us a personal, unrushed tour even though there were other things he needed to get done for their departure early the next morning. Props to that man!

OK, so their boat is bigger than mine...I'm alright with that!


Boo with Captain Jody


We actually had to get moving ourselves to meet Holly for dinner at her mom's. I wasn't sure Boo was going to be able to fit in the car she was so pumped and excited. In fact, I really don't think I have ever seen her that excited.

After dinner Boo and I took Holly down to see the boat. As we walked by, one for the crew, Brandon Eyre, saw Boo with her Ocearch shirt and called us over to talk. He is a deckhand and also their research assistant with a degree in marine biology, so it was really cool for Boo to get to talk with him. My wife is a teacher and I think we are going to be able to get field trip together when they come back to port in a few weeks before they head to their next destination.

While we were talking to Brandon, Chris Fischer, the expedition leader, recognized Boo and I from earlier. We passed him a couple of times during the tour and I could tell he was trying to figure out who the heck we were . After he finished talking with the person he was with, he came off the boat and walked over to introduce himself. We ended up talking with him for 30 minutes or so and had a great time.



I can remember growing up and watching Jacques Cousteau with my mom and dad and wishing I could meet him. I am so happy for Boo that she was able to meet some of the people that she has seen on tv (and I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am that it wasn't Justin Bieber or Nikki Minaj or someone similar that she wanted to meet!) and enjoyed. One of the things I have tried really hard with my daughter is to expose her to as many life experiences as possible, without me forcing my likes and enjoyments on her; I have seen too many parents that have tried to live vicariously through their kids lives and I do NOT want to do that myself.

I'm looking forward to their return in a couple weeks. Brandon told us that it would be pretty much the 6 guys who live on the boat full time; the science and production crews would be heading home for a couple of weeks, and that it would be a little bit less crazy and to come back and spend a little more time touring the boat and hopefully hearing some awesome fish stories.

I already have some cigars selected brother!