This past weekend was the Annual Camping trip hosted by Rainer and Noel Schaels. This was the 7th straight year they have hosted this awesome event. I was an attendee last year for the very first time and I had a blast, this year was no different. The anticipation has been building up to this trip for the last month or so. I had called one of our really good friends, Alex “The Grizz” who recently moved back to Tampa, to see if he was gonna join us. Couldn’t have been more happy to have him being part of the trip. Finally, it was time to pack up our gear and head to the beautiful Everglades.
Pics by myself and Warren Chin.Saturday morning, I woke up, loaded up the truck and headed over to Ryan and Ely’s house to meet up with Warren, Joanna andf the kids, Sean, Delilah, and Kay Kay. We were all excited to get over to Flamingo, probably would have gotten there early if Ryan wasn’t running the show. The reason being is he always takes forever to do things. We wanted to meet up for a Tour that Alex was hosting at Ahinga Trail. But that didn’t happened because we were behind schedule. We jetted off to Walmart to get some food for the trip, because when it comes down, “Camping is all about eating food.”
After a 225.03$ food shopping spree, we got some pallets for fire-wood. Once inside the park we were hoping to run into Alex after he finished his tour in one of the Cypress Domes. Luckily we got there just in time, as he and other people were walking out the bushes. We met up and made our way to the camping sites in Flamingo. B-Loop was reserved completely only for all the attendees of the camping trip. As soon as we got to the premises, we got to work and set up camp.
We did not waste time to get our “FOOD-ON.” Alex had cooked some Sausages and Hot Dogs for us. Even though we had ate back in Florida City we still stuffed our bellies.
Steralizing the point of the sticks for some smores later on the night.
It was awesome seeing people cook, playing tag football, flying kites, doing arts and crafts and last but not least enjoying each other’s company.
Since no one had a boat, luckily I had brought the Canoe just in case anyone wanted to do some fishing. I figured maybe do some fishing before sunset and maybe have some shots at fish. Warren and his girlfriend Joanna wanted to join me on the Canoe. We were out for about an hour and had one bite. A good strip strike by Warren and put a Juvenile Tarpon to the Boat.
We were hungry again and made it back to the camp just in time for some Steak and Smores. All fires went up as the cold weather crept in. Mosquitoes were not an issue since there was a bit of wind and decent temperatures. Ryan Accursio and his cousin Klay joined us at our campsite to stay the night. Alex and Ryan went to work at the Grill while I just sat and ate as much as much as my stomach took.
Delilah had her front tooth dangling all day, thats until it was dinner time.
We sat around the fire for a while then decided to do some night fishing. We really wanted to put the kids and some of the girls on fish but there was nothing show for except a couple of hookups and foul hooked Jack. Not long after that some one came and ruined the party for everyone and decided to head back and build another fire. We shared stories and jokes and possibly some flips over the campfire and everyone decided to sleep except for Alex and myself. We stayed up until we burned all the firewood as we sipped on some beer.
Alex and I shared a tent, thats until he realized how bad I snored and decided to sneak out the tent in the middle of the night.
Sunday was a beautiful day as oppose to the day before were it was dark and gloomy. As much as everyone ate, we couldn’t wait to eat breakfast. We headed over to Rainer’s Rv, where pretty much everyone in the campsite ate at. Bagels, Egss, and Pancakes were popular choice for breakfast. Sitting around the RV kids played, Adults talked and some of us took pics of everyone enjoying the trip.
Sadly it was time to go, we packed up and headed to do some bass fishing on the way back to Homestead. On the way PK and his little brother called me that they were gonna go to the Keys to do some fishing. I told them I would meet them later on in the day. I didn’t know it was the Seafood Festival that same day if not I would have not gone. I was stuck in traffic for 2 hours.
After all the wait I finally met up with Pk and his little brother on the water. Only to fish for about an hour or 2 before the sun went down. We got some shots at some fish but didn’t make it happen, oh well there’s next time. 
It was an perfect ending to the weekend as we were blessed with breath taking sunset. Overall I can’t explain how thankful we are for Rainer and Noel for putting this trip every year. The kids have such a blast they will definitely be talking about this trip to their fellow classmates for the days to come. Just like last years event it was a total success and I can’t wait to be back there again next year!!!!!
-Dan Decibel