USCG Kind of Day

[Larry M]

We left the Bahamas yesterday bound for Florida with four rods rigged for anything that would bite. The weather was spectacular! At 9:30‬ we were buzzed by a USCG helicopter. After the 4th time around, I called them on the radio. We answered a few questions and with 2 more flyovers, they left and wished us a good day.

An hour and half later I spot a fabled “white lobster”. Lena circled back and I managed to hook it. It was huge! It took both of us to haul it aboard. We estimate it weighed 50 plus lbs. High fives all around. After a few seconds of discussion and knowing the season was closed, we called the USCG. We did feel pretty special when the USCG sent out the cutter Paul Clark just for us. After a safety inspection and a few questions about our earlier contact, we handed over our 50 pound bale of cocaine and waved goodbye.

We didn’t catch anything edible but it sure was an interesting day in the Gulf Stream.

 

[Pack Mule]

Wow what a day .

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. LM. What a day INDEED! Did you contact the helo' on VHF? What channel?

 

[psneeld]

You can usually get a USCG helo on 16.

They will then switch you.

 

[Northern Spy]

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

 

[slowgoesit]

Did those few seconds of discussion include something like:
"How much is this stuff worth?"

and "How big a boat could we purchase with that?"

and "How many YEARS would that cost us?!?"


Good job all around, but here's hoping the next 50 pounder will be something that you can KEEP!

 

[menzies]

Where did you hide the second bale?

 

[Larry M]

Greetings,
Mr. LM. What a day INDEED! Did you contact the helo' on VHF? What channel?

You can usually get a USCG helo on 16.

They will then switch you.

I hailed them on 16 and we stayed there. By the time I did, I think they just wanted me to confirm what they already knew plus give them the number of people onboard and our nationalities.

 

[GFC]

Wow, that is certainly a day for the record books. Nice find with that 50lb lobster!

 

[cardude01]

Wow! What an interesting experience. So was the USCG already out looking for the bales?

 

[Comodave]

That would make for a very interesting day.

 

[menzies]

Wow! What an interesting experience. So was the USCG already out looking for the bales?

BaleS?!!! What are you suggesting!

 

[Benthic2]

How far off shore were you ?? Did the RIB come from shore, or was it launched off the cutter ?

I'd be afraid of talking about that over the radio for fear that the original owners would try to get there first!!

 

[BandB]

Larry, I have a question out of curiosity. Why did you bring it aboard? Or at least why before calling them back and asking?

 

[Larry M]

How far off shore were you ?? Did the RIB come from shore, or was it launched off the cutter ?

I'd be afraid of talking about that over the radio for fear that the original owners would try to get there first!!

We found it about 24 miles east of Fort Lauderdale. The rib was launched from the cutter.

Our best guess was the coke had been in the water for a few days and I’m not sure the owners were still looking for it. I hope not anyway although the value of coke was estimated at ~$1,000,000 and that’s not the street price. Somebody has/had some explaining to do.

 

[PM]

What an interesting, fantastic story.

You may tell your mother she did a good job of raising you up.

pete

 

[Larry M]

Larry, I have a question out of curiosity. Why did you bring it aboard? Or at least why before calling them back and asking?

When we found it we were in the Gulf Stream heading north. It evidently had been in the water a few days from the number fish swimming under it. Not knowing how the USCG would respond, we figured the easiest was to grab it. I’d didn't want to stay on station till they figured out what to do. As it was it was almost 2 hours before they arrived. I did mention to the USCG that in a previous life, the I worked for was a subcontractor to the DEA and I worked in the field with them.

 

[HopCar]

Should have trolled around it a few times. I bet you could have picked up a couple of dolphin. That’s Mahi Mahi to you damnyankees.

 

[psneeld]

Dolphin to this yankee, or Dorado...dislike the mahi mahi label....its for tourists.

So Larry, no exoanding square search to find the packages' relatives...

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Dolphin? Aw...poor Flipper...

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

That is good experience for a quarantined crew on their way back to the states. Your going to be famous at OLM.

 

[BandB]

When we found it we were in the Gulf Stream heading north. It evidently had been in the water a few days from the number fish swimming under it. Not knowing how the USCG would respond, we figured the easiest was to grab it. I’d didn't want to stay on station till they figured out what to do. As it was it was almost 2 hours before they arrived. I did mention to the USCG that in a previous life, the I worked for was a subcontractor to the DEA and I worked in the field with them.

I would have been concerned about the CG but even more worried about the owners of it. People get killed for far less in the drug trade.

I knew of a container arriving at a plant once in Mississippi full of marijuana instead of just the goods it was supposed to have. This was in a rural area so nearest FBI was two hours away. The employees locked themselves in an office until they arrived, figuring someone was looking for that. They were so relieved when FBI and US Marshals showed up. Oh, they were told not to notify local law enforcement.

 

[menzies]

Should have trolled around it a few times. I bet you could have picked up a couple of dolphin. That’s Mahi Mahi to you damnyankees.

I wonder what the coke equivalent of Ciguatera is?

 

[Larry M]

Should have trolled around it a few times. I bet you could have picked up a couple of dolphin. That’s Mahi Mahi to you damnyankees.

That’s how I found it. I was on the fly bridge looking for debris or a weed line as we were dragging three lines from Hobo when I saw it. I trolled by and said, “what the heck is that”? That’s when we circled back. No dorado but there were a bunch of fish underneath. That’s what told me it wasn’t just dumped.

 

[Dougcole]

Should have trolled around it a few times. I bet you could have picked up a couple of dolphin. That’s Mahi Mahi to you damnyankees.

Dolphin to this yankee, or Dorado...dislike the mahi mahi label....its for tourists.

So Larry, no exoanding square search to find the packages' relatives...

Parks and PS Neeld are correct. The proper name for that fish in Florida or Bahamian waters is Dolphin. Mahi Mahi is the tourist name that the fancy marketers gave it. Though it would be correct in Hawaii.

 

[Larry M]

I would have been concerned about the CG but even more worried about the owners of it. People get killed for far less in the drug trade...

A valid concern and I agree but the bale had been in the water for a few days if not longer. The easy thing to do was pull it up on the swim platform and continue north, which we did.

 

[HiDHo]

Larry also called “square grouper” by those fishermen that go fishing with no bait.

 

[Blissboat]

Apparently I am naive - "square grouper" is a phrase so old it's quaint, but I had never heard the term "white lobster" before. Larry, I have so much to learn from you!

I've run across square groupers before, on the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida. But I've long remembered one stunningly beautiful Bahamas summer evening during the 1970s, anchored just south of that long approach channel leading into Bimini harbor. Maybe I was boneheaded to have dropped the hook in line with the final approach to the airstrip on South Bimini, but that was where we had spent the afternoon snorkeling in clear shallow water, exploring an old airplane wreck. In my defense, that airfield was less busy back in the '70s, since Chalks seaplane service was still the principal way in and out of Bimini by air.

So anyway, there I was, sitting up on deck by myself at about midnight, reading a paperback novel (Hemingway's "Islands in the Stream," as I recall) by the light of a full moon. So suddenly I barely had time to look up and re-focus, a helicopter swept over me at less than masthead height - low enough the the rotor wash gently rocked my 41' boat. It was a Bell Jet Ranger, nose down and tail up, obviously straining for speed while staying as low as possible. Not a single running or anti-collision light to be seen. Just a howling turbine, and a sleek, million-dollar machine beneath the moon, disappearing with lights out across the Gulf Stream in the general direction of Miami. Wonder what it was carrying?

 

[OldDan1943]

Get a drug dog onboard to sniff around.... You do not want USCG the local cops with a drug dog to declare your boat a drug b oat and seize it.

 

[Larry M]

Apparently I am naive - "square grouper" is a phrase so old it's quaint, but I had never heard the term "white lobster" before.

We first heard the term “white lobster” when we were in Panama. For a local fisherman to find one, it was worth a years income fishing. There the “lobsters” were usually much smaller.