I Never Even Considered that a Fishing Trip Would Lead to a Dislocated Shoulder

Grandma and Grandpa D came to visit at the end of March, but unfortunately I didn't have the time off to spend the entire week with them. However, Maddie and Em spent the entire week running around the island, visiting the beaches and enjoying their time with the grandparents. Considering how late I am with this blog entry, I don't remember exact days when we did things, but I will sum up the highlights. Sorry for the lack of pictures. Cindy and Big Den - send me your pics and I'll post them. On a positive note, Maddie learned how to do some nude modeling and we did get pictures of that.

They arrived midweek and made a couple trips to the beaches - Mahaulepu, Baby beach, Sheraton, but primarily just relished their time with Maddie. Maddie learned about the so-called North Carolina pool which consists of a hole in the sand, lined with garbage bag and filled with ocean water. It made for warmer water as well as greater safety.

Em and Grandma D went mudbugging which is a dune-buggy ride along some of the sloppy trails on the southeast side of the island. You essentially get doused with mud and speed around running stuff over. I declined the invitation since, as some of you may know, I've had a head injury in the past on an ATV. Thus, I am no longer allowed to pilot modes of transportation such as ATVs, dune buggies, waverunners, etc.
We spent a cloudy, occasionally rainy day at Hideaways beach and got a little snorkeling in. It was below average, but at least we out there rather than sitting at home watching TV. One day, the five of us hiked the Kuilau trail to Moalepe with some decent views of distant waterfalls and Waialeale with its surrounding mountain range. Of course the top was obscured by a dense layer of clouds, but pretty nonetheless.

What Big Den and I anticipated to be a highlight of the trip turned into quite the debacle. We made plans to go deep sea fishing despite warnings from the captain that it would be a bumpy ride due to the recent high winds and rain. The day was nice enough, but once we got on the water our captain's prediction became reality. We were having a good time just being on the water, but it was bumpy and the fish weren't biting much. Then one bit and Big Den worked so hard reeling it in that he dislocated his shoulder...well that might be a little bit of a fish tale. So what really happened? You might have seen The Perfect Storm - well it was kinda like that. I looked through the windshield of the boat and all I saw was a wall of water, I couldn't even see the top of the wave. We hit it HARD, crested it and then dropped into the hole behind it and hit even HARDER. When I saw the wall of water, I dropped to the deck so I didn't get tossed from the boat, while it caught Big Den a little more off guard. He was holding a rail inside the boat when we hit so hard that the sheer force dropped him off his seat to the deck while his grip on the rail remained tenacious. As they say, something's got to give and it happened to be his shoulder. I didn't realize that anyone had been injured until he mentioned that I might have some doctoring to do when we got back onto solid ground. After a few minutes and quick field evaluation (meaning the look on his face told it all), we asked our captain to turn around. Each wave we hit on the way back was a wave of agony for Big Den. We got back to the car and I made the ride to the hospital as smooth as possible. In the ER, they X-rayed his shoulder, drugged him up, laid him on his belly, put a weight in his arm and pop, the shoulder was back in place. On the way home, I talked to Big Den a little about his shoulder, but about the only thing he concluded (or remembered) was that Versed (like Valium) is some good stuff! The bum shoulder put a little damper on the activities for the rest of the trip, but we still had a great time. If any of you have heard the story from Big Den about the "Big One that got away and dislocated my shoulder in the process", at least you know the truth now.

Maddie shows Big Den how to catch fish without dislocating her shoulder