Ka-tia

At this time last year Beau was finishing up his college run, and I was teaching at Tarpon high, coaching, taking two college courses and driving two hours everyday. Sleep was few and hard, weekends were short and study filled. The surfboard collected dust and the fishing poles rusted.  Life was not existent, it was business.
This year is a bit different with the spawning of the Dukes of Harbor and I being at the mercy of fate losing my teaching position. But, when life gives you lemon's.. yep, you make sweet delicious lemonade. When life gives you waves.. you pick up your board and hit the beach!  Tropical storm Lee lingered in the gulf for many days and gave us a glimmer of hope here on the gulf side. Labor day weekend was filled with mediocre gulf side waves and trip to a new shorter-drive location, Bradenton florida. A perfect location for a sunday trip. Enough to get your stick wet and get a couple short rides. The week that followed was rain filled, and when you have a part-time gig painting, not much gets done. The labor day weekend just kept going and on the other coast Katia kept on pumping. With Beau Duke out fighting to keep the Duke farm going, I took off to cocoa to see if Katia was really this hot little bitch everyone was talking about. I was armed with a 6'8" Jeff Klugel especial. Getting out to the break was harder than getting into a virgins britches. Wave after wave battered surfers like coach fisher on evergreen week.  The Jeff Klugel especial was quick and responsive and the seven foot drop wasn't to be taken lightly. A mid day pizza hut run and it was back to the action.  Jellyfish were everywhere. On the beach and in the water. Big ones, like beach ball big. Was this what the little red itchy bumps were on my body?? who the hell knows. Fish were everywhere. "That was a Tarpon that jumped behind me"?? Who the hell knows.  Just tell yourself it was a Tarpon.  A pelican landed five foot away getting a mouthful of whatever baitfish. What the hell was that black fin I just saw?? Who the hell knows. OK, that's enough surfing for today. When the pelicans, baitfish and fins out number surfers its time to get the hell out.  Exhaustion set in on the truck ride west, and a fiery sunset lit the way. Man, did my bed feel good.

                                                   come and get me, come and get me

                                                        " Hey buddy, want a peanut?"

                                                 "MMMM.. peeeaaanuttt..."

                                                             "Hey, that's my nut, bitch"

                                            Somebody say something about a peanut?

                                                                  Fiery sky at night
                                                                     Sailors delight






                                                               SEE YA NEXT TIME!!

come on irene

Hey there party goers this is Luke Duke comin atcha with another addition of the Dukes of Harbor.  Summertime in florida is soggy and hot. You sweat, you drink, you sweat, you drink. Notice I didn't say urinate. Nope, you just sweat.  The days are long, the days are hot, and just when you think there ain't no cure for the summertime blues", a category 3 hurricane comes up the gulfstream pushing 20ft waves on to shore and so with this it was time for an east coast trip. Cocoa beach is one popular location for florida surfers. No need to consider yourself a surfer at this spot. If you have an appetite for chill'n in the water and get stoked at the thought of riding the ocean you'll do just fine. The call was for a possibility of a surf day of epic proportions. Upon my arrival the waves were peeling beautifully. Irene had made her pass on the gulf stream the day before. The wind had shifted from the east to the west producing smooth, very ridable conditions. I chose a 7ft stick (surfboard) as my compadre for the day. We dipped into the 82 degree atlantic water and enjoyed a day which I deemed "epic". Being out in the water and looking down the line of surfers reminded me of the old days fishing in the maumee river during the spring walleye run. After so many waves I needed a rest, but resting on the beach only lasted momentarily. The sand was blazing hot, and the sun beating from the other direction was just as bad.  The water felt great and the swell was consistent, no need for the beach blanket today. An afternoon storm ended the epic day, and it was back to the west side to grill up a steak, pop a couple brews and of course, relax.

                                          

See ya next time!

Summa Summatime

After a long break in posts from the Dukes of Harbor, its time to get back at it with some more adventures from the lives of the Dukes. Missing entries in the later spring months are Beau taking a trip to mexico with Abby, Big Lar, Con, and the Klines. Also, in June we had previous guest cast member of "melrose place", John Doan make a visit to the Harbor.  There were fewer casualties from the sun this year. The only thing out this year were a couple golf balls, mostly from the lead cart jammin the tunes. Of course the four days flew by like a drunk friday night and it was almost time for the Wertz clan stemming from the deep roots of rural Ohio to make the long journey down 75 for a week stay on St. Pete beach. But we couldn't make this a true sibs week without everyone, so abby hopped on the next 707 headed for Florida to join the crew for a seven day sibs week on SPB

Mr. and Mrs. Wertz

 Evening stroll in the Grill

 A little timid at first on the gulf side waves.. to him they were monster's..yeah beach!

 hey brah!

 the sand doesn't move like the water does

After a solid week of soaking up rays, fishing, sand castle building, and playing in waves, the wertz clan headed back to the heartland. Now it was time for Luke Duke to buckle down on the books and get the long dreaded, last segment of his teaching certification completed. "Hey, it takes alot of people ten years to accomplish stuff".."yeah, they're called doctors". But somehow by the grace of god a passing score was just what was needed. It was finally time to say "Adios" to florida, pack up the truck and head up to the heartland without Beau Duke (he had to stay back and make sure boss hogg didn't take over Harbor). A long drive was followed up with some margaritas at Lomas, a jam session, and a round of golf with a good ol' buddy at valleywood. Then it was time to pile in the tuscany captained by big Lar, pick up some old fishing buds for comic relief, and get back on the road to head further north through michigan. A stop at Kewadin casino in the upper peninsula allowed the norther bear (EB) to join in on the experience of a night of the finest establishments that Lake Superior State has to offer. The next day was still more road haulin to white river, ontario where finally after almost 2,000 miles traveled the air was cooler. Another stay at a hitch n' post called white river motel, and it was time for the final leg of the journey. A ride in a single prop float plane to our final destination, Kaby Kabins.  Luckily, the plane was air worthy despite the negative connotations from a fellow passenger, we'll just call him, Weasel.  He could barely breath in their. 

 The Mack Daddy, "Look down through the grates, you can see the water..thanks..weasel"

 Could do without customs

 " What if we crash..I heard these things don't fly very well"

 Cockpit

 The pilot came over the intercom and said we lost some oil pressure, which was pretty stupid because all he had to do was turn around and say, "hey we lost oil pressure"

 It wasn't a jet by any means.. I think we got passed by a kite, There was a flock of geese behind us.. The pilot signaled for them to go around

 Finally, what we traveled to do,,fish

 Captain Lary maneuvered the S.S. Hal gehrig through some tough seas, a minor miscalculation in coordinates one day..but we made er back to port in one piece..good work capt

 United We Stand, Divided we Fall

 we just pronounced it (A-GEECH'S)

 Late July Temp..BOOM!

 Great Trip, well worth the long journey

 Lawrence, a little timid, we may have told him the little guy with his arm around him and the big guy play hide the sausage.

Thanks again to the sponsor of the trip and the agich's crew for putting up with our shinnanigan's 

Back in Florida....

an insect found a home inside the trash can

 Brown Widow, first one I've encountered

Cool eggs

SEE YA NEXT TIME!

Luke's Latest Video

"Dukes" Do Surfin'

Even though the "Duke Boys" reside on the west coast of Florida where the waves are mediocre at best, we thought we'd give a surfing festival and camping a try on the east coast. To begin with, we weren't sure if there was going to even be enough camping sites available since previous calls during the week proved less than enthusiastic, and our commute to the other side of the state was plagued with a horrible accident on one of the worst stretches of highway in the state causing major detour and delay. None the less, we made it to Jetty Park right next to the Cape Canaveral port terminals for many of the Disney, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival cruise ships and had a nice little camp site. Well those were our initial thoughts, but our only neighbors proved to be much more than just loud Puerto Rican nationals. Oh wait, they were loud Puerto Rican national a**holes that stayed up all night drinking (literally), had way too many tents for one camp site (3), really popular because they had several vehicles and visitors, and kept Luke and I up all night (They sounded like "Univision Telemundo" tv station left on all night).

The drive over was long, but still had fun.

Port Canaveral terminals.

Our first campsite.

Luke drinks and cooks food well... Ladies, he's single...

Statues at Ron Jon Surf Shop are bad ass.

Luke heads up, there's Kelly Slater!

We couldn't see anything standing in front of those lights, but well worth it.

Ron Jon had so much crap.

Despite getting two poor nights of sleep, we weren't about to let some loud mouths ruin our trip as we had surfing to get into, and let me tell you my friends that surfing is one tough workout. Making it out past the break is a test in of itself, let alone be good enough to ride a wave. Luke rented a larger board from (World Famous) Ron Jon Surf Shop, and let me play around on his shorter, more advanced surfboard. I know that I was an athlete in high school and I'm in somewhat decent shape, but holy shit is surfing hard. The people who are good make it look easy, Luke did a good job since he's been out a few times, but I struggled greatly and was proud that I got up for one pretty good run that no one seemed to see. One of the good things about surfing though is when you come out of the water you look absolutely shredded from the workout of almost nonstop paddling, kicking of legs like a duck, and abs on fire from trying to balance. Women seemed to be giving us quite the "eye f***" looks, but then again everyone has sunglasses on so maybe that's just my imagination.

Saw these guys, thought they were way cooler than regular seagulls.

Tide's out.

Center for our campground.

The Puerto Rican campsite.

Close encounters with wildlife.

Original campsite, not bad but the neighbors sucked.

Brothers of Surf.

As luck would have it we were fortunate enough to be able to relocate our campsite away from the Puerto Rican nightmare, and into a more secluded, quiet, and idealistic setting for camping. This enabled us to get some much needed rest from the abuse that surfing and sun can have on the human body. The following morning on our own accord, we both took walks on the beach on what was a beautiful Easter morning. Luke walked towards the loud speaker he was hearing on the beach, which was Sunday church right after sunset. As I was more thrilled with waking up to see the sunrise, and take a walk down the beach and pier. Cleaning up was a breeze and then it was back down the beach near the surfing festival that was being put on at Cocoa Beach, FL. Luke was man enough to surf pretty much all morning and into the early afternoon, but I was kind of a pussy and began to remember how exhausting surfing can be. Finally, we watched a few of the local competitors in the competition, and talked about how one day we might be cool enough to actually do some of those moves on the waves. The drive back was much more relaxing as we reflected on a lot of things from the weekend, and now we both have a better idea of how to surf and where to stay for a reasonable price. We certainly learned a great deal this weekend and there were a lot to remember, but more than anything try desperately to move camp sites anytime there are loud Spanish speaking guests staying next to you at a campground.

Sunrise, a little cloud cover.

That's better.

Easter Sunday church on the beach... Not bad.

Very few people on the beach when we got to our spot.

Luke Wertz ladies and gentlemen.

Who is that? Johnny Utah, Kelly Slater, or Matthew McConaughey?

Nope, it's Luke Wertz, now get him a cold beer for those gnarly shreds.