Key West and Beyond...

[Hookin]

Some nice fish and pictures. Congrat!

[Westbury]

JP
praying for you guys in South Florida!
Stay safe and hope Irma makes a hard turn out to sea.

[dam]

Once this blows over, I hope you can get us a report on how the diving is after a big storm/hurricane and how long it takes for the fish to "recover". Best of luck and stay safe!

[Westbury]

I rode out hurricane Andrew in Miami back in '92.
We went diving in the middle keys 2 days later and IIRC, the diving was pretty good

[kathy]

Thinking of all of you keys residents right now, hope you and your family and friends are able to be somewhere safe over the next couple days.

[Donzi Paul]

Prayers for you and family Castronova that you weather the hurricane.

All the best. Don

[castronova]

Hey everyone, my family and I are in good health. My wife gave birth in Orlando as we had to evacuate due to the hospital closure. Good thing we did. The keys are in bad shape, a war zone would describe it best. When I get some time to breathe tomorrow I'll write a little more and post some photos. I appreciate all the prayers and thoughts.

[Donzi Paul]

Congregants on the baby.

Cheers, Don

[dctrjayyy]

congrats

[castronova]

Thanks again everyone.

I am just getting internet and only at work. This is the short of the story.

2 weeks ago Irma was barreling down on the east coast. It was "for sure" going up the east side of Florida. It was too close to call here for the NHC so the evacuated the Keys anyways. Mainly because it takes us so long to get out on our one road. Because of the mandatory evacuation the hospital was forced to close. I couldn't possibly type all the thought processes that went through my families minds or that brain function of what is a "conch." My wife DID NOT want to leave. The hospital closing made that a pretty easy convincing. Her dad and brother stayed, my parents stayed. They both have modern multi story homes built to 150 mph building code. Anywho... a lot of people stayed.

My wife and I went to visit a friend in St. Pete beach since the storm was headed to the east coast. Within the 7 hour drive the predicted path switched to the West coast of Florida. I am dead serious when I tell you within 6 minutes of us arriving in St. Pete beach they evacuated the area. Holy Moly.

We moved to another friends in the St. Pete area and they were going to head out too the next morning. So we then moved to a big house in Tampa where my wifes best friend was staying with family. We stayed there one night. The next morning we found out that my mother-in-law, sister and brother-in-law were evacuating and heading to Orlando. We decided it would be best to get away from anywhere that the power could be knocked out at the local hospital. So we went to meet them and drove across the state.

We arrived in Orlando mid-day. We put our stuff in the families room, showered, and got ready for dinner. The hotel has a very nice sushi restaurant and we decided we'd try and go early and get a table. We showed up and surprise to us it was somewhat empty. We got a table for all 14 of us together. We ordered some food, the service was slow. Just as some salads and apps came out I got my first beer. I poured the beer in a glass and my himachi kama arrived. I haven't had that in a long time and was so excited. My wife had went to the restroom. I saw her walking back and took a bite of the hamachi. Insane good! Went to follow it with my beer and my wife whispers, "my water just broke."

I thought this was something I would be able to prepare for. Like, it's the day, lets get ready and go to the hospital all calm and collected. Nope, fucking fire drill!!! What an absolute crazy rush of emotions and shit storm of getting our packed bags to the hospital.

To try and keep this short, our son was born the next day at 11:34am Sunday September 10th as Hurricane Irma swept over Key West and the Keys. He weighed 6 lb. 9 oz. and his name is John Solomon Castro. He is the 4th John Castro although we all have different middle names.

Had he not been born I would have been in Orlando for an extra week with my pregnant wife. Since he was born and my City was in shambles I had to opportunity to come back. It was not an easy decision but she had her sister, mom, and two teenage nieces to help. They had no problem with me leaving. For those of you who don't know I manage the City's Sewer, Stormwater, and Solid Waste operations. This includes the Wastewater Treatment Plant. My mind was torn in half with my baby sitting there but the power was gone in the entire keys and the backup generator had been taken out by the storm at the plant. I headed home on Tuesday the 12th late in the day after we were released. Today, 9/19 my wife and son will be back home with me in Key West. The City is stabilizing.

The Keys got hit very hard by this storm. We got pretty lucky in Key West, small islands just 15 to 30 miles up the chain from us got destroyed. As in, entire houses completely torn from their foundations. I lost 4 mango trees with the other 2 being torn in half. We stood one back up and we'll see if the other 2 that are hurt survive as well. One fell and took out my gutter, I lost about 40' of fencing (which was cheap and I wanted gone anyways), and probably half the shingles on my roof. All in all, I call it a win.

Here's a few pictures for making it through my story.

[kathy]

Oh my gosh, where to even begin!

First congratulations, amidst everything, on the new baby and keeping your family safe.
What a crazy crazy story. I feel like when your kiddo is old enough, he will ask you to tell that story again and again. I am glad you all are back safe on your island now and can rebuild and introduce the little guy to his home.

My heart is broken for the middle keys. I lived for a while on Geiger Key and had friends up on Cudjoe and Big Pine. There are so many sweet old houses and tropical, overgrown neighborhoods back on those islands. And also so many homes that are very fragile - trailers and trailer parks. I imagine not much of that made it through.

I am guessing as a boater you will have to take some serious precautions as well, to avoid sunken / floating debris and boats?!

My grandpa's house and farm in Homestead got thrashed by Andrew in 92 and the hardest part for me was seeing all the massive, old tropical trees - mango, avocado, Royal palms - broken, wind-burned and stripped of leaves. Your eyes acclimate to seeing the trees and all the greenery in a tropical place, and without it, it's a different place entirely, and it took years for things to grow back.

Best of luck with everything - if you have any specific local organizations that accept donations, will you let us know here? It would be nice to donate to a local cause esp. if it helps Key West and the Keys bounce back. Are there volunteer organizations that clear the water of debris? That must be quite an effort.

ps. My mom went into labor with my sister in the middle of the old 7-Mile Bridge - stuck heading to Homestead in some really bad close-US1-in-both-directions accident traffic - my sister had to be born up in Baptist Hospital in Miami. While it's been years since I lived in Key West, I hear you about the Conch mindset. I am glad you all made it to a good hospital to have the kiddo safe and sound.

Kathy

[dam]

Holy crap, dude. I was reading this like a suspense novel. Glad you guys had a relatively smooth event. Congrats on the boy, too, JP! Dude's poised to brave any sea, any weather, any time!

If you have time, can you post more pictures of the aftermath. I'm curious about how the "sanctuary" towns handle the masses who had to evacuate. Do they have enough infrastructures? What about your boat?

PS: What's a conch mindset?

[Trace]

Havn't seen this until now. What a story. Glad everything is working out for you and new family JP.
Congratulations on your new boy. It's a life change but a great ride.
Love to hear an update on how things are going and also need the story on Conch mindset.

[castronova]

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. I haven't sat at my computer in many weeks so I didn't see most of this. Sorry for taking so long to reply.

Personally my mess is cleaned up. I need some stumps gone but thats it. I need a completely new roof that will be around $20k. I will also need over 100' of new fences (or more) and some concrete work done (walk way to the house, curb retaining wall in the front yard). I don't have a speck of shade in the yard anymore so we'll need all new trees and theyll probably need many years to grow back but thats ok. We just met with adjusters on Tuesday (took them forever as they are swamped). Seems like they agree with the damage, now it's just about them recognizing the incredibly high construction costs down here with the added demand on top of that now. Unfortunately our windstorm deductible is $14,700. So if they agree to the estimates we may just have enough to fix the roof. The fence I will have to put up myself a section at a time as well as forming and pouring concrete. All stuff I can do it will just take time.

I don't really know of any local organizations off the top of my head but I can find out. Even local stuff like that always makes me weary of where money may be going. I have a friend that I've known my whole life that lost everything. I know someone else who is doing a little fundraiser for them too. He played baseball with me since I was 6 and he has 2 8 year old twins. Their house is mostly gone, the foundation has been undermines over 15' from the water side now. All of there belongings are toast. He has the same boat as me, lost the t-top, sides are beat the hell, most of the cowlings and mid-cowlings have been broken to pieces. All his rods and reels were completely submerged in salt water for 2 weeks until he could get back. Those are the stories that make me not even worry about what I have going on.

The City itself did great (Key West proper). It is completely clean and we are gearing up for Fantasy Fest. Our yearly parade on the bar strip that usually attracts 50 - 80k people for an entire week of festivities. It's insane. I don't have any photos right now of what the City looked like but I'll look. I can probably find some drone footage of up the keys. They took the bad side of a Cat 4, a lot peoples houses are completely gone.

The Conch mindset... prideful, stubborn, deeply rooted. Although there is not a lot of us left the locals here are families that came from the Bahamas or elsewhere in the late 1800's early 1900's. Most of us are multi generation. I'm 3rd generation but I have a lot of friends that are 6 or even 7 generation Conchs. They have been here on this little island for 100 years. They have had properties passed down, and down again. They are not going to leave it all behind to go to the dreaded mainland for a storm. As with any strong stance it's always admirable but sometimes can get you in trouble. For decades now though the roots of this town have proved mother nature to be just something we deal with. I would have stayed too honestly. But I think we are smart enough now that if we have Cat 5 coming you need to get your family to safety. Its a small town attitude that has been strengthened for a century of longer. Thats as best as I can describe it.

I got lucky with my boat. I remember the new marina just outside Key West (stock island) has a new 150 mph barn built. So I called a few days ahead thinking they may be full with their dry rack tenants. Well the lady let me reserve a spot over the phone. When I told my best brother-in-law and best friend the next morning the first called and got in and the second called and it was full. They charged $500 for the storm which ended up being a few weeks because of evacuations and damage to their fire system. But it was the easiest $500 I have ever spent. My boat looked like new when I got it out. They had no damage inside. People I know who tied there boats down were stained yellow from trees and were filled 12" or more with leaves, lost canvas tops, etc.

[dam]

Thanks for the explanation, JP. Glad to hear your property is in relative good shape. I would've felt like I won the lottery with that $500 investment. Fuck yeah!

[castronova]

I'm telling you, it was easy money to spend. Thanks again.

I got out last Monday for the first time since the storm. I heard near Key West was absolute shit. I also heard west quite a ways was somewhat clear although not that good. So, per usual, I planned on going as far as needed. Started at Tail End which is about 42 miles from Key West and went maybe another 6 miles further. The absolute best viz we saw was around 12 - 15'. But it was not green viz where you can see shadows or anything behind that. It was white out viz with mixed sand. It was so milky and glary it started to give you a head ache. We ended up with a black grouper and yellowjack but gave up as it was not fun and those fish were pure luck. We decided to fish and caught 15 or so nice yellowtail snapper and went to the sand bar to drink beers.

It looks like we may have it just starting to clear up now. I hope something changes because the first Wahoo full moon is next weekend and I'm beyond do for a nice fish and some clear water.

[Trace]

Glad things are working out for you JP. You go through something like this and you realize how blessed you are
that your family and friends are okay.

[castronova]

Glad things are working out for you JP. You go through something like this and you realize how blessed you are
that your family and friends are okay.

Thank you. You are right about that. We'll all have our houses back to normal in due time. Just glad we're all here in the end.

[castronova]

Well, wahoo spearing is one of my all time favorites. The past 3 years I've been busy with the tournament and also with life so I have not shot that many wahoo at home because I have not been able to get out. I promised myself this year if all was good with my new fam that I would do whatever it takes, take days off work, whatever... to get out when the conditions were good and the fish were here.

That is exactly what happened. Last weekend was the first weather window in some time and the blue water pushed in hard. Sunday was flat calm and I decided I'd go about mid week. Jumped in early AM to see the ocean floor crystal clear... at 110'. In a matter of 30 minutes or so we have the first fish come into the flashers. The kid with me dove on it but it came in too quick and he couldn't get down too it. I had just shot a small mackerel to test the new Sea Sniper, and told him the wahoo would come in seconds before that fish showed. I started to reload the gun when a school of 40 plus fish show up. Patrick dives and is in the center of all the fish but misses high over the top of one. A few fish scatter and the school slowly swims. I swim with them after seeing a very big fish closest to me, about 40' away. I get the tip on finally and slowly follow them and try to calmly make ground. I get about 15' from the biggest fish and quickly duck and fire. Solid rear half shot.

The fish drops down slowly and starts shaking its head. I thought for sure I broke it's spine. It wasn't even swimming. And then it realized what happened and takes off ripping, the float comes flying by my head. The 12 L Rob Allen hard float gets sunk to about 60' deep and is smoking bubbles and out of site in seconds. I couldn't find the fish. I get in the boat and get the other diver. We finally see the float come up about 200' away. Then it goes down again and comes up another 50' from there. I drop in on it and the fish is vertical now which means its very low on energy. I keep telling Patrick its a big fish to shoot it again no matter what. I got it up to about 50' and Patrick secures the fish with another shot.

When I got the fish up I knew it was pretty big. Until I had to help the driver lift it in the boat though, and it hit the deck, did I realize what a slob it was. A true log. We get back in and redrift. Within minutes another school of 40 - 50 nice sized fish show up. Unfortunately Patrick misses again. I stayed with the school and tried to get him to reload and catch up but it didn't happen.

I finally let him borrow the sea sniper because he was frustrated. He had shot high 3 times at this point. He hit a small fish with the Sea Sniper and we finally secured him a 18-ish pound wahoo. I shot the fish again because the shot was low. We were surrounded by wahoo. I gave him the second shot gun and took my slip tip out in the water and grabbed my Sea Sniper off his arm. There were two nice fish close to us. I swam with the wahoo as I was one of them, staying with the school. All the while i reloaded the 4 band Sea Sniper. I got the school to turn and I dove, closest to the 2 biggest fish I took the sure shot and stoned a 45 pounder.

In all we saw hundreds of fish over the day and left the bluewater with 4 wahoo at around 12:00. I went into the reef and the viz was over 100' in 50' of water. I shot a small but legal black grouper and was just exhausted from chasing wahoo all morning. I decided we had way too much fish and although they were there we shouldn't be greedy. I headed to the house.

Big fish went 73#. It's the only one I weighed.





I decided to take Wed. off since it was flat calm and have a 5 day weekend. Again, we had 120' of vis. I got to the popular spot and there were so many boats it was unreal. At least a dozen boats spearing for wahoo. A bunch of the other guys posted photos that the fish had showed. I had no interest in dealing with it. I went east and found clear water about 10 miles away. The morning was slow but we ended up seeing about 8 fish. I shot one 20 something pound fish. Saw some big blackfin tunas and amberjacks but that was it.

I really wasn't going to go again but my buddy Trea Reagen text me and is so stoked on wahoo that it's unreal. My wife was working Friday so I decided to go. We took his 23' Formula but it was pretty rough out. I didn't eat breakfast and was puking in on the surface with just coffee in my stomach. I drove for a little while and they were having trouble missing about 5 fish combined. So I got in. I ate a little while driving so I felt better. A school of about 20 fish came in and I dropped and held. Let the school come to me and shot a nice 35# fish. We ended up getting 2 more and calling it a day around 1:00. We saw many schools of fish again.



In the 7 or so years I've been doing blue water here I've seen this about 3 times where we get the bluewater rush in close, the wind die, and the fish show in massive numbers. It's something pretty incredible to see. Being surrounded by wahoo swimming in every direction is something you never forget. I went 6 - 6 with the new Sea Sniper 67. What an incredibly fun gun to shoot. I am amazed at how accurate it is.

[Bill McIntyre]

Damn! I'm looking for cheap tickets.

[dam]

Damn! I'm looking for cheap tickets.

You and I both! That sounds incredible! The quality of fish and diving condition you're in is the stuff dreams are made of. So jealous!

I also like the bit about you having to show up a bunch of your buddies, though. Nothing beats that. As a fellow elite spear pro, I know just how you feel. .

[Bill McIntyre]

I also like the bit about you having to show up a bunch of your buddies, though. Nothing beats that. As a fellow elite spear pro, I know just how you feel. .

[castronova]

Haha, I wasn't really trying to show anyone up. Once you've shot quite a few wahoo you get much better at relaxing. Most the guys I take I swear they act like the fish is going to swim away at 50mph and they'll never get a chance again for the rest of their life. What do they do? Chase and shoot way too early. Even with a 100 fish in view.

I think the key is just to look as stupid and bored as the wahoo do.

[kathy]

Awesome wheel-barrow photo.

[John Hughes]

Looks like the new gun is working out JP

thanks for the report. That 73 lbr is a slob!