My View of Life on the Dock
As soon as we walked down the Naples pier for the first time, one of the guys yanked up a few ladyfish. They look like small smelt but only larger and with a few extra fins.
I figured he was going to toss them into his cooler but he instead threw one back and rebaited his other rod with it to use as bait to catch a larger fish.
What Up Homie?, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
The first time I stepped foot on this pier I was 9 years old. My parents sent my sister Felicia (age 8 at the time) and me on the plane to visit our grandfather Captain Joe and grandmother Felicia. I remember back then my grandfather would get me up at 5AM to walk down to the pier to go fishing. It was 33 years ago and I can remember the sounds smells and scene just like it was today. My memory isn’t all that good but I can remember walking down to the pier from my grandparents apartment just like it was yesterday.
My grandmother Felicia would sit and knit under a palm tree at the foot of the pier on the beach with her girlfriends while Captain Joe would fish for snook, jack and spanish mackerel.
Now every time we go to Naples we walk the pier with my little girls- Captain Joe and Felicia’s great grandchildren and I remember all over again and we always take that walk right down to the end.
Naples Pier 33 Years Later, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Osprey Over the Naples Pier, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
He had been circling all morning.
The Naples Pier, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Pelicans waiting for a meal.
The Naples Pier, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Great way to spend a morning. This is the same pier that my grandfather Captain Joe would lug me down to when I was 12 years old to fish.
You can see the Osprey circling around in the foreground.
I came here for the first time when visiting my grandfather “Captain Joe” when I was 9 years old. Back then Naples was a sleepy little community and my grandparents had a small little condo within walking distance of the Naples pier where he would go fishing every morning with his buddies.
The area where he used to live is now built up with amazing homes but the folks still visit this pier to fish.
Good Morning Gloucester 