Birding & Nature Tours, Sunset Cruises, Sailing, Family Fishing Trips
Meet the Captain
My name is John Michael Chappelle, I do go by John Michael. I am 43 years old. I'd like to give you a brief summary of my life and the events that got me here to this awesome profession.
I was born and raised on the Eastern Shore in a time when Point Clear was full of little bay houses that pretty much just included an enclosed kitchen and maybe a bedroom or two. The porches were screened in and had make-shift roll down curtains to create enclosed porches. Most of the porches were full of beds so that the children had a place to sleep. It was great! It gave the feeling of camping out with few amenities. The whole point of being on the bay was not to be inside soaking up the A/C, but being out on the pier enjoying the water!
We spent countless hours out on the pier. We would play hide and go seek on the pier. We would go from friend's house to friend's house just to see who was in town and what all we could come up with to do. I remember that we could not go swimming if the tide was high or if the waves were over our head. We would turn a scoop net upside down and use the handle or grab a cane pole and stick in down in the water down to the bottom and hold it up next to us to see if the water line was above our head. I learned water ski and hydro-slide behind a 13' Stauter. When were 13 years old we were allowed to take the Stauter out by ourselves. We had a boundaries though! We could go 7 piers to the South and 7 piers to the North. As we got older the boundaries grew.
Our family's house was across the street from my grandparents. My biological dad (Mike Chappelle) built it himself and in 1983 it was featured in Southern Living! Oh what a great place Point Clear was to be raised! I can remember catching my first flounder. When I hooked him on my cane pole, boy did I think I had a fish! When I raised it up out of the water and saw all those teeth I was scared to death. I set my cane pole down and wedged it between the cracks of the deck of the pier and took off running to get my mom. I can recall my Uncle Cooper having a Negus 17', a well known local boat of the time, taking the man I call my Dad (Bob) and my cousins out to Middle Bay Lighthouse to catch some speckled trout. I was near the age of 5 or 6. They had equipped me with a Calcutta cane pole which is a very very big cane pole used to catch black fish or "triple tail" back in the day. They were catching trout and I was just fishing away when all of the sudden, my cork went under and it was all I could do to hold on. My dad quickly grabbed the pole and helped me muscle the big fish in! It turns out, it was a sand shark! The shark was as tall as me. Granted, I was only 3' tall, but when the fish is as big as you are tall, you think that you caught the world record. I was so excited!
One of the fondest memories I have of growing up on Mobile Bay was sitting in my grandparent's sunroom on the front of the house overlooking the bay. About 10 minutes before the sun would set below the water, my grandfather (Chumbo) and I would look at the sun, raise both hands up above our shoulders and we would give a trembling action with our arms and hands as we strained so hard to push the sun down. We would repeat this over and over until the sun disappeared below the waterline. I could have sworn to you back then that were actually pushing the sun down with our hands.
I could share many of my experiences that are truly irreplaceable memories that come from being raised on Mobile Bay. I could tell you of my Uncle Robo telling us scary wharf stories of the Bosephus or about Jimbo Meador, before he was Forrest Gump, teaching me the techniques of fly fishing on his pier at night when we caught speckled trout. I could tell you about Jimmy Buffett hanging out at our house or that my mom and Lucy Buffett always did gumbo cook-offs together.
My Dad loved sailing. He had a Hobie 16' that he would take us out on. We thought it was so cool! A Hobie is a small catamaran and when you go really fast the windward side pontoon raises up out of the water. If you were testing fate, sometimes you would catch too much wind and not be able to sheet out fast enough and the boat would capsize! But, have no fear, it was designed to do this! We would just climb up on the pontoon and use our weight to stand it back upright. As kids, we thought this was so much fun! Getting older, we found out you could do this intentionally. I can remember there was a crossbar under the trampoline and when the wind was calm, we could drop off in the water and hang-on to the crossbar and let the boat drag us through the water. We used to go hangout with my Uncle David, my dad's youngest brother, when he rented Hobie Cats and jet skis at The Pink Pony Pub in Gulf Shores, AL. My dad had a picture in our house of him and Uncle David literally jumping a Hobie Cat in the waves crashing on the beach during a hurricane. My Dad taught me at a young age how to sail a Sunfish. We have always had small sailboats. My mom knows how to sail too. We were by no means 'Salty Sailors', but we do have a love for being at the mercy of the wind! Being on the water will teach you that you are only in control of what you can control, which at most times, is very little. God has all the control! I think sailing is a testament to that.
My grandmother (Grandmere) was the most wonderful human being I have known! She never raised her voice, yet when she spoke, all would listen. She was prim and proper and I never saw her when she was not carrying herself to a "T". She taught me about nature, but most of all she taught me about birds. I cannot remember a time when we did not birdwatch together. She always had her binoculars and monostick fold out seat. When I was 8 years old she took me on a trip down to the Fort at Fort Morgan. We were going to an event where they caught and banded migratory birds. As we walked up to this tent in the woods where there was a group of people gathered, I was introduced to the next most special people of my life. Their names' were Bob and Martha Sargent. And boy, did they love my Grandmere! Bob was an enormous man! Not a single hair on his head and hands the size of a blacksmith's anvil. But those were some of the softest most delicate hands a surgeon could have. Bob was not a surgeon but an electrician. He could take those hands and so delicately hold the birds he banded. You would not think he could even hold a hummingbird, much less a hummingbird's leg, but he did it with precision. On that first trip, I was allowed to release a yellow-bellied sapsucker after they banded it. Boy, what an impact that had on me! From that day forward, I did not miss a spring or fall banding session. I was part of the crew! I was allowed to spend the nights on the weekends in the house on the Fort that they call the Bakery. Bob and his family and crew took me under their wing. Bob Sargent always said one day that I would find out what 'girls' were and I would leave the banding. He was right, although to this day I wish he had not been! But I did not leave the birds, Birds of a Feather are a Friend Forever. I have always bird watched. Although I have been poked fun of for being a birdwatcher, I have found that those who poke fun are just actually curious about the weird thing that you do. I share bird knowledge with most everyone I come in contact with. God has blessed us with so much beauty in nature, it would just be rude not to stop and take a moment to acknowledge it! They always say everything comes back around, and so it be true that though Bob Sargent has since left this earth, 29 years later I have reunited with a new group of bird banders, Kyle and Emma. They were also mentored by the one and only Bob Sargent!
Some may call me strange, some might say that I am different, some may say like my mom used to tell me "you need to pick one hobby and stick with it". I like to say that I am unique and why would I stick with one thing when there are so many things out there to enjoy! God did not create such a wonderful Earth for us to just sit inside and experience it by watching the Discovery Channel. After all, he created us to get out and be apart of it. To gaze in awe and to wonder of His beautiful creation. Next time it is sunny outside, go watch a bird hover effortlessly at a flower's bloom, get on a boat and experience another side of life on the water. Instead of waiting on the sun to set, why not wake up early and watch the sun rise! When it is windy outside, why not go sailing! There is always something new to experience and do. God always provides. So, this is where the water can bring life to a slow down. Where the busyness of society cannot reach. The only time that exists is where the sun is located in the sky. I like to say that you are on "God's Time"!