With Brendan up in Massachusetts for the weekend, seeing the first of the 4 Phish shows he has tickets to this summer, my friend Brilly and I decided to hit New Smyrna Beach for a few hours today. Because storms were predicted for the afternoon, we left early and go to the beach around 9am. In Florida in the summertime, it is already warm enough and sunny enough by 9am to be soaking up some good rays. The part of the beach we were at was in a state park and was almost completely empty. It was awesome. We snacked on pineapple and Parrot Bay coolers, took a little walk down the beach, got some sun, and did NOT go swimming, since the ocean was approximately 3 degrees. Or at least it felt that way. The Gulf side of Florida is definitely better for balmier waters.
We started to hear some rumbling around 1145am and the clouds were starting to increase, so that was our cue to pack it in and head to Capt JB's Fish Camp for some lunch. This place was EVERYTHING I love about a little seafood dive on the water. Casual and comfortable, decorated with kitsch and mermaids and all kinds of random things...Rolls of paper towels and packets of handi-wipes on the tables...and a great menu, chock full of all things seafood. Brilly had the Crabulous Sandwich and I had a blackened grouper sandwich, and man, it was one of the best grouper sandwiches I've ever tasted. There was a group of "salty dog" type of guys at the booth/table adjoining ours...they had arrived on their boat and were going back out on it. They had a table overflowing with oysters and bottles of beer and were pounding away at all of it. One started joking with me about us all having to do dishes to pay for our food, cuz they claimed they had no funds and I told him he was outta luck if he thought I could help, cuz I was hoping he would wash dishes to pay for meal too. He offered us an oyster...we politely declined.
As the over-served salty dogs were leaving, the oyster-offerer gave me a friendly pat and said he hoped we enjoyed our lunch. Then they staggered outside to get into their boat and motor it drunkenly away. Only when we asked the waitress for our check did we discover that Salty Dogs had bought our lunch. I gotta say...in my almost-43 years, I have never had someone buy lunch for me like that. It was a lovely end to a lovely day in New Smyrna. And now that I am home, I am enjoying the fact that there is nothing I have to do for the rest of the day if I don't want to. So I think I will just go lie on the couch, watch some tv, and wait for the Wings to come on. Days off rock.
A great compliment to a lovely lady. I've never met Brilly, and don't think I've seen a pic, but if she's your friend, I'm sure the two of you deserved it and could get free meals more often, if you frequented stops like that at just the right time of day...HAPPY HOUR! Salty Dog is my kind of dog. Reading your blog, I could picture myself in that booth besides you. Beers/Margaritas/Malibu Rum...doesn't matter which. The one thing I know about that, is as the sea roars, and the drinks pour, more and more, you need less and less of a beautiful woman, but her beauty, to appreciate the fact she is sitting near you, let alone talking with you. It's like the one time Curly was in love.(City Slickers' Curly) Don't need much more than that. A tribute to beauty, and a fine pair of gals. Guys and Gulls/Gals by the shore, and a little oysters and booze...What more do you need? Kudos....to a job....done!
ReplyDeleteAnd the more you drink, the better looking the girls get. Which explains why they bought your dinner at the end of the night ;>
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