BRUNSWICK, GA #3

It IS The Water

Watching over the waterways in the pilot house is Larry Creadle, captain of the Lady Jane. The Lady Jane is a working shrimp boat.
The Captain and his crew gave us two plus hours of magic as we trawled out to St. Simon Sound and back.

Son Cliff Creadle is manning the controls that help extend or "set" the shrimp trawler's net. We did two "sets".

Marine Biologist Paul Christian makes sure the descending net and attendant lines hit the water without tangling.

 Once the net is set then everybody waits.

It takes less than 15 minutes of trawling before the catch is hauled in. What a variety of sea life that is brought on board!

A prize almost anywhere on the East Coast is the Blue Crab. However, we weren't after these beauties.

And we certainly weren't after the Horseshoe Crab that Harry was holding.

 Nix on the intimidating little Pufferfish that this woman was bold enough to hold.

Now we're getting closer - not the squid at top left or flat fish but the shrimp with the long antenna lying in the background of the the catch deck. 

We came for the shrimp and they were plentiful.

Though fresh shrimp for all was the big draw (mate Cliff Creadle took on the added duty of boiling and serving them to us), I found the by-catch much more interesting, as you might tell from all the other pictures above. Look in the mouth of the Spotfish above. Do you see the critter with two little black eyes?

Here are the two again. The small multi-legged creature on top of the Spotfish is a parasite that is quite commonly found in residence inside a number of fish that inhabit the backwaters of the Georgia sloughs.

 Our constant companions were the seagulls and pelicans looking for handouts. Like a character from Nemo, you can almost hear this one say: "MINE!" Not this time. Any tasty shrimp were ours.