What’s in a boat name? Hemmingway tackled giant blue marlin on his “Pilar”. Quint pitted his “ Orca” against the legendary great white shark, JAWS, and Columbus had three – the “Nina” …
Last Chance to Bid on a Winner in the Blazing Mako
14 Jun 20167:35 PM
By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Journalist
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Hall of Famer/fly-fishing pioneer Stu Apte is primed and ready to win the Blazing Mako Tournament and Festival this coming Father’s Day weekend at the Islander, a Guy Harvey Outpost in Islamorada. And you still have time to be part of Apte’s inshore fishing team guided by veteran flats master Captain Steve Thomas.
Bidding in the Blazing Mako auction to fish with Apte and Thomas will remain open until 10 p.m. June 17– the night before the June 18 inshore/offshore fishing contest. So far, the highest bid is $1,500. Surely you can top that for a great shot at winning the top prize of $10,000 cash.
Anglers will earn points for catching, photographing, measuring and releasing permit, bonefish, tarpon, snook and redfish using live bait, artificial lures or fly rod. Fishing conditions should be red hot only two days before the June full moon. With Apte coaching and Thomas manning the poling platform pointing out fish, how can you lose?
“I don’t know who the angler is, but I am going to help him,” Apte vowed. “If he’s a fly angler, he’ll be up on the casting platform and I’ll be on the console seat to back him up with a spinning rod. I am going to help however I can.”
Apte– who has held more than 44 saltwater light tackle and fly rod world records since the 1950s– doesn’t want to give TOO much away about his strategy for winning. But he allowed that the permit will probably be the toughest to score, while snook might be the easiest. Whatever the conditions, he has absolute confidence in Thomas’ fish-finding abilities, since the guide has been plying the Upper Keys’ back country waters practically every day from dawn till dusk for the last couple of months.
So enter your bid now at HERE, or step up at the Captains Meeting June 17 at 8 p.m. at the Islander Resort Trophy Room. And definitely plan to attend the Papa’s Pilar Fishing Seminar at the Angler House Marina beginning at 4 p.m. where you might be able to coax some tips from Apte, Thomas and other pros.
Proceeds from the Blazing Mako will benefit scholarships for students at the Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography at Nova Southeastern University.
For more information on the weekend-long event, visit www.blazingmako.com.
************
Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling, camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women’s world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
**********
Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts.
Pro team Member
Related Articles
Pro Team
Connect & Follow
Connect & Follow
General
Bon Appetit
Conservation Corner
Dive In
Got Photo
Get Hooked
Outdoor Adventure
SURF-UP
Travel Tips
![](mailto:?subject=Name That Boat & Win a 3-day Dive Vacation with Dive Bimini!&body=<a href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/boat_name_contest.html"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-75" title="Name That Boat!" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/boat-banner1.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="107" /></a>
What’s in a boat name? Hemmingway tackled giant blue marlin on his “Pilar”. Quint pitted his “ Orca” against the legendary great white shark, JAWS, and Columbus had three - the “Nina” the “Pinta” and the “Santa Maria”. By the way, a little known fact is the “Pinta” was the fastest of his three.
It is a serious task, for sure, to name a boat - as it tells of her spirit, and sometimes even her destiny. It’s an even harder job to come up with something unique as there surely are many boat names as there are fish in the ocean. But we have a new 60 foot dive boat, and we have a job to do!
<a href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/boat_name_contest.html"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-89" title="Click Here to Name That Boat!" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/diveboat1.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="226" /></a>
<a title="Guy Harvey Inc. web site" href="http://www.guyharvey.com" target="_blank">Guy Harvey</a> and <a title="Neal Watson's web site" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/boat_name_contest.html" target="_blank">Neal Watson</a>, who have teamed to form <a title="Dive Bimini Press Release" href="http://guyharveyoutpostnews.com/2010/08/21/guy-harvey-and-neal-watson-join-forces-with-dive-bimini/" target="_blank">Dive Bimini</a> at the <a title="BBGC web site" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/index.htm" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Club</a>, want your help. They’re looking for a boat name - a name that divers from around the world will immediately recognize and come to symbolize the most famed dive boat in all of the Bahamas.
So true to the <a title="Guy Harvey Outpost info" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/aboutus.htm" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost</a> sporting nature, we’re putting a little competition together to come up with the name of the new boat. It’s a two-part challenge:
First, send us your suggested names by filling out the form at the link below. Send as many as you can think of. There are no rules on the name you wish to submit, although we’re going to favor ones that are clever, entertaining, easy to pronounce and not too long. The others? We’ll toss them out...but, of course, we’re expecting yours will be in the “keeper file” pile!
Then a group of us at Guy Harvey Outpost, including Guy and Neal, will rally up and review the “keepers”, from which we’ll create a shortlist of four names. These four names will then be posted to our <a title="Guy Harvey Page on Facebook" href="http://www.facebook.com/DrGuyHarvey" target="_blank">Guy Harvey</a> and <a title="Guy Harvey Outpost Page on Facebook" href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Bimini-Big-Game-Club/127094040665962?ref=ts" target="_blank">Outpost</a> Facebook pages and be put to a vote by our fans.
The name with the most votes wins and becomes the new name of our dive boat. And if it’s the name you submitted, not only will you get a personal “high five” letter of thanks from Guy and Neal, we’re going to give you a complimentary 2 night stay at the resort and include a two tank dive on “your” dive boat. Sure, there’s some fine print, but nothing that should stand in the way of entering and having some fun - remember, this is how a legend begins!
<a href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/boat_name_contest.html"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-78" title="Name That Boat!" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/boat-banner2.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="300" height="107" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/name-that-boat-win-a-3-day-dive-vacation-at-dive-bimini/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=BugFest Underway; Lionfish Also on the Menu!&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/image1.jpeg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2841 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/image1.jpeg?w=225" alt="image1" width="225" height="300" /></a>Post-dive lobster barbecues are going to be a lot more sumptuous than usual during this summer's two-day, Florida-wide lobster mini-season July 29-30. Extra lobsters will sizzle on the grill, accompanied by tasty fillets of exotic lionfish. That's because the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission is allowing divers to take an extra lobster over the bag limit each day for harvesting ten or more lionfish. It's a special incentive program to help control the burgeoning population of the exotic, peppermint-striped invaders from the Indo Pacific with venom-tipped fins.
Here are some tips to help you catch your limit of bugs while taking as many lionfish as you want:
-- In the Atlantic, lionfish and lobsters are often found together in dark caverns and beneath coral ledges in depths ranging from 15 feet to more than 100 feet. You'll find plenty of lobsters in shallow water, but more lionfish in 60 feet or deeper because of local culling efforts at heavily-visited inshore reefs. In the Gulf, artificial reefs hold lots of lionfish, but lobsters may be hit-or-miss. Best times to harvest both are dusk and dawn.
-- While spearing lionfish is legal, spearing lobster is not. Use your tickler stick, or a lasso-like 'bugger', net and catch bag to take lobster. The most efficient way to take lionfish is with a three-pronged pole spear. Nail the fish in the body, then pin it to the sand while you use kitchen shears or 'sea snips' to cut off the spines. Most, but not all, are venomous, so go ahead and cut them all off for good measure. Wear puncture-proof gloves.
--If you don't want to take the time to cut off lionfish spines underwater, then bring a ZooKeeper catch bag. Available at dive shops, it's made of durable PVC and has a one-way chute that allows you to insert the speared lionfish, then pull out the spear. Do not store an un-snipped lionfish in a mesh catch bag; even dead, the spines are venomous.
--If you do get stung, soak the affected area in hot but not scalding water for 30 to 90 minutes and seek medical attention. No one has died of a lionfish sting, but pain and swelling can be severe.
--Check regulations for the area where you will be diving. For example, some areas of the Keys prohibit spear fishing--even for lionfish unless you have a special permit. Mini-season lobster bag limits in the Keys and Biscayne National Park are six per person per day; the limit is 12 elsewhere. That means you can take seven or 13 if you produce proof you harvested ten or more lionfish.
--Looking for tasty lionfish recipes? Check out "The Lionfish Cookbook" available at dive shops and at reef.org. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/bugfest-underway-lionfish-also-on-the-menu/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=A Hemingway Returns to Bimini – Part II: Of Boats and Bonefish&body=John Hemingway, grandson of the legendary <a title="About Ernest Hemingway" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway" target="_blank">Ernest</a>, is in <a title="About Bimini" href="http://www.bahamas.com/out-islands/bimini" target="_blank">Bimini</a> this week while on assignment for Showboats International magazine. John, who is being hosted by the <a title="BBGC web site" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Club</a>, is sampling the best of Bimini - including many of the pursuits and places that were favorites of his grandfather during his years on the island (1935-1937). John filed the following dispatches after spending the day with Bimini's famed guide and boat builder, Ansil Saunders:
Mr. Saunders is a very interesting man. Apart from having bonefished for over fifty-five years, he was a good friend of <a title="About Dr. Martin Luther King" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_luther_king" target="_blank">Dr. Martin Luther King</a>. King visited Bimini several times in the 1960s and on one of his last visits in 1968, he told his friend Ansil, while the two of them were out fishing, that he knew that he was going to die soon, that his time had come, but also that God must exist, saying "look at the sheer abundance of life you have here, in the air and in the sea. This is proof, if ever proof was needed.
Here Mr. Saunders is seen holding a photograph of himself and the US ambassador to the Bahamas when she gave him a plaque commemorating his friendship with Dr. King.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ansil12.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1162" title="Bimini's legendary boat builder and fishing guide, Ansil Saunders" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ansil12.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="412" /></a>
Here I'm standing behind my fishing guide, Mr Ansel Saunders. He built the bonefishing boat we're standing next to, the cost about $30,000, incredible craftsmanship.
<a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/ansiljohnboat.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1163" title="John and Ansil pose next to one of Ansil's custom-built boats" src="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/ansiljohnboat.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="412" /></a>
This guy was heavy and towards the end I was bringing in one after the other, and god do they fight (all of them were released afterwards, you don't eat bonefish). What a morning!
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ansiljohnbonefish.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1164" title="John and Ansil with one of the many bonefish caught in the Bimini flats" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ansiljohnbonefish.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="412" /></a>
The first bonefish I caught, out of about a dozen, incredible morning, about six pounds, of the eastern coast of South Bimini, Bahamas.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/johnbonefish.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1165" title="John and one of the many bonefish he caught with Ansil on the Bimini flats" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/johnbonefish.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="412" /></a>
Stay tuned for more updates from John's trip to Bimini! https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/a-hemingway-returns-to-bimini-2/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Somewhere Under the Rainbow&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3433 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/rainbow.jpg?w=300" alt="rainbow" width="300" height="202" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
[Dunnellon, FL--] Drifting at a speed of 1 1/2 knots downstream in west-central Florida's Rainbow River, I am blown away by the clarity of the water, the shimmering kelly-green eelgrass dotting the bottom and, most of all, by the antics of a cormorant.
Through my dive mask, I watch raptly as the black water bird with the curved yellow beak plunges ten feet deep, churning up the sand and parting the thick grass blades in a hunt for food. To my left, a terrified sunfish darts away unharmed, and a few seconds later, the cormorant returns to the surface empty-beaked.
Two feet apart, we look at each other and the unperturbed hunter makes another dive, still unsuccessful. I drift with him for a good eighth of a mile, but he never spears a fish. Maybe the black shadow of my thick wetsuit is scaring away his prey, and he leaves me behind. But watching him was fun while it lasted.
A cornucopia of wonders awaits just about anyone who snorkels or dives this scenic watercourse. The Rainbow emanates from a second-magnitude spring in the state park that bears its name that, together with numerous smaller springs, generates more than 450 million gallons per day of nearly invisible, 72-degree water. With a maximum depth of 25 feet, it flows for about 5 1/2 miles before joining the larger, tannic-brown Withlacoochee River.
My friend Kyle Stewart and I began our snorkel float about a half-mile downstream from the park-- (boats are not permitted in the headspring)-- guided by captain Ross Files on a pontoon boat from the dive shop at Plantation on Crystal River. Files kept the boat ahead of us as we drifted, flying a dive flag to warn approaching boaters-- of which there were very few.
What fun! We passed fat largemouth bass and colorful bream hovering around numerous tiny spring vents that look like miniature geysers erupting on the sandy bottom.
At the major spring heads, I could feel the warmth of their deep underground sources as I drifted overhead. At one spot, at least a dozen pointy-nosed alligator gar hovered. And we floated over a sunken palm tree that Files said was reputed to have been used by actor Johnny Weissmuller as a diving platform in the "Tarzan" movies of the 1940s.
Just before the take-out site at the K.P. Hole Park boat ramp, we spied a gigantic alligator snapping turtle sitting placidly in the eel grass.
Unlike many spring-fed rivers in this region, no manatees show up in the Rainbow seeking refuge from cold Gulf waters in the winter. That's because an old lock system in the waterway between the river and Gulf block their access. In four trips here, I've seen exactly one alligator and it was very small and swam away in terror.
Winter is the best time to do a drift dive or snorkel because the wildly-popular practice of tubing is prohibited from October through March.
Befitting its jeweled status, the Rainbow is designated a national natural landmark, an aquatic preserve and an outstanding Florida waterway.
Plan to visit now before the springtime crowds arrive.
******************
Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
**********
Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts.
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/somewhere-under-the-rainbow/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=An Invitation from Vaughn Cochran to View his New Exhibition at the IGFA Hall of Fame Museum Through April 15th&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/vaughn11.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1069" title="Vaughn Cochran Art Exhibition" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/vaughn11.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="402" /></a>Ned Stone and Vaughn Cochran hang the artist's self-portrait during preparations for an exhibition of Vaughn's work at the IGFA.
From Vaughn Cochran - artist, conservationist, fly fishing guru and proprietor of <a title="About Bonefish Bimini" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/bonefish-bimini.htm" target="_blank">Bonefish Bimini</a> at the <a title="BBGC web site" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/index.htm" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Club</a>, a <a title="GHO web site" href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost Resort & Marina</a>:
You are invited to attend the GRAND OPENING of my newest art exhibition at the <a title="IGFA web site" href="http://www.igfa.org/" target="_blank">IGFA</a> Hall of Fame Museum in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. There will be a reception in the main entry to the Museum on Wednesday, January 25th from 5 to 7 pm serving food and drink. The exhibit will run until April 15th.
ABOUT THE SHOW
The invitation to do this show arrived at the same time I decided to venture into the difficult world of portraits. Not just any portraits but drawings and paintings of the legends of the industry, following the path I chose years ago to create art that spoke about the images, ideas and concepts of the fishing industry....the tools, the colors, boats, familiar scenes and of course the fish. Degas painted dancers and Andy Worhol through his colorful paintings, silkscreen prints and sculptures elevated everyday items of the popular culture into the art world, (where the term "Pop" came from). This would be my chance to elevate the icons of fishing and to explore bringing my interpretation of my friends to the walls of the IGFA. What better way to force myself to actually execute the idea of contemporary portraits from conception to "hanging a show".
Each piece in this show could be a starting point for another show, paintings that would be take offs, exploring the concepts that were established in that particular painting. I'm sure you'll see these thoughts again in paintings somewhere down the road, as every artist is always asking the same question...where do I go from here? Should I keep painting the same thing over and over again or should I take a chance and risk failure?
Take a chance.....failure is not an option!
I hope you enjoy the show. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/an-invitation-from-vaughn-cochran-to-view-his-new-exhibition-at-the-igfa-hall-of-fame-museum-through-april-15th/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Elite Resorts Managers and Guy Harvey Outpost Offer $19.5 million Investment to Develop Okee-Tantie Area&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/okee-tantie-south-aerial.jpg"><img class=" size-medium wp-image-2814 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/okee-tantie-south-aerial.jpg?w=300" alt="Okee Tantie South aerial" width="300" height="163" /></a>On Thursday, July 9th, Elite Resort Managers LLC and Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts & Lodges are presenting a plan to the Okeechobee County Board of Commissioners for a three-phase re-development of Okee-Tantie Recreation Area on Lake Okeechobee. The meeting will take place at the Okeechobee County Courthouse, (304 N.W. Second St.) starting at 6PM. Proponents of the project are encouraged to attend the meeting to show their support!
The goal of the plan is to create Lake Okeechobee’s Best Public Recreation & RV Resort Destination. The complete plan will include:
370 new/rebuilt RV Pads & 60 cabins;
• Restaurant renovation;
• Marina bar;
• 75-slip boat barn;
• Expansion of the marina;
• Addition of a 40-slip floating dock;
• Addition of a club lodge, pool and sport amenities; and,
• Creation of a beach and lagoon.
The concept plan includes three phases.
Phase one includes the marina, lodge, cabins and river area RV spaces.
• Phase two would be the lake section RV resort,
• Phase three would be the lagoon beach, eco tents, RV storage and the sheriff’s office station.
More details to follow! https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/elite-resorts-managers-and-guy-harvey-outpost-offer-19-5-million-investment-to-develop-okee-tantie-area/){kind=link}
TRAVEL DESK : 800.513.5257
Connect & Follow