REPORTS FROM THE RIP: Marlin, Softball, Adult beverages and Sunsets

Marlin release flags flying at sunset on the Blue Heaven

Afternoons on the dock are one of my favorite times of the day. The boat crews that did not fish have been polishing or waxing or doing maintenance all day. By 3 pm the dock is pretty deserted because of the heat of the day. But as 5 pm rolls around, all the crews tend to begin aggregating on the dock, waiting to see what kind of numbers of blue marlin were caught amongst the boats that did fish. As everyone stands around and talks of fishing and catching or not catching there is always an eye on the jetty. As each returning boat slows to enter the marina, everyone waits to see how many marlin release flags are being raised. Its kind of a strange ritual. But each day it is the same. As each of the boats that fished backs into their slip the group of guys that were at the dock will migrate to that boats slip to ask the standard questions . "How many bites did you get"? "How many did you see?". Then as the next boat wanders in, the same ritual is repeated. This goes on till every boat has returned. You would think that all of us fish heads would bore with it. But it never gets old. But then again, how can an adult beverage on the dock at sunset with good friends, talking about fishing get old.
The sunset.... the coast line here runs east west. We get some outstanding sunsets here each evening. The sky seems to light up with a different color of orange and red each night. Some nights if there is a little smoke in the air from sugar cane production, it will appear as though the sky is on fire. Its only fleeting but the blazing orange sky is amazing to see.
This past Sunday, Casa De Campo set up a softball game. The game was to be the gringo boat crews against the Dominican local soft ball players. All of the gringos piled into a bus provided by casa de campo and rode into La Romana. The field there is nicer than a lot of little league fields back home. When we arrived, the local Dominican team was all decked out in uniforms. We knew we were in trouble. Some of the Dominicans were enormous. And Lets face it, Dominican babies come out of the womb with a baseball glove on there hand. The Dominican coach approached me and suggested that a few of the gringos trade places with the guys on his team. We gladly excepted the trade. The game ended up pretty evenly matched. I was the oldest guy out there playing. But held my own until the top of the 6th inning when I hit a grounder to Shortstop. I rumbled my way to first base. My last step was a stretched leap for the bag. When my foot hit the springy base, It launched me and I did a superman prone full body face plant in the dirt. It was ugly. I lay the for a second and did not feel any pain. so I rolled on my back. As the Dominican players tried to help me up I laid there in did a dirt snow angel. Upon getting up though, I realized that my shoulder was screwed. There was a lot of pain. So I took myself out of the game. The entire night was a blast. There was fun had by all as each team carried rum drinks onto the field to play ball all night. I hope we do it again soon. Thanks again to Casa De Campo for setting this evening up. Not many marinas do this kind of stuff for their visiting boats
Fishing is still really good. We posted 3 for 8 Blues yesterday. But the big news was that the Dream Time posted up 12 blues and a white yesterday. Congrats guys. thats great fishing.