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This summer has been an interesting one to say the least. The extended family of my girlfriend, Elizabeth Larson, recently beckoned us to Florida for work and play.

The work was fun because it included a party at the clubhouse at TPC at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla., home of the PGA. One of her cousins was getting married, and we were hired as the photographers.

From golf to gulf

It only got better. After that, we traveled from the northeast corner of Florida across the state and down to beautiful Sanibel Island near Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast. We stayed with Elizabeth's Aunt Bettie, who plays a big role in the conservation of sea turtles on the island. We visited the nearby J.N."Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, where we enjoyed a morning of wildlife observation.

The highlights included a roseate spoonbill, yellow crowned night heron, a scissor tail kite and a lone rambling raccoon. Of course, no trip to Florida would be complete without the opportunity to wet a line or two. We had been looking forward to sharing an angling adventure with another one of Elizabeth's cousins, who just happens to be a local guide.

We met with Captain Rob Modys of Soulmate Charters the next morning at the Sanibel boat ramp. He had been out earlier netting shrimp for bait. "Kindred Soul" was the name of his sleek, center console, 22-foot Skeeter bay boat.

We cast off and motored out to the edge of some mangrove islands in the pristine Matlacha National Wildlife Refuge. Large mullet periodically punctured the glassy calm as we anchored some 15 or 20 yards off the edge of the trees.

Captain Rob reached into the live well and showed us an ideal way to hook shrimp on a weighted jig. Using spinning rods, we cast our lines to the edge of the mangrove and let them wiggle.

Before long, Elizabeth detected movement on her line and set the hook on a nice, shiny redfish. Soon we caught a few mangrove snapper. Captain Rob explained that these toothy, juvenile fish use the cover of the mangroves as a nursery, eventually moving out to reach their maturity as gray snapper on the reefs. He said mangrove snapper in the 12-inch range are considered delicious table fare.

It reminded me of a Jerry Jeff Walker song about tropical life from a fun album called Cowboy Boots and Bathing Suits.

Fish with your first mate

It was Captain Rob's wife, JoNell Modys, who came up with the idea of using the name "Soulmate Charters." She knew it would influence more women to initiate fishing trips for (or with) their significant others.

We worked our way deeper into the maze of mangroves and learned more about Captain Rob. His great, great grandfather had captained steamboats on the Misssissippi. Captain Rob had been a rescue diver for the U.S. Coast Guard. He is an Orvis- and I.G.F.A.-endorsed guide and a BASS Pro Staff member, so we knew we were in good hands.

We liked his laid-back style. He rigged up a float attached to a shrimp that we cast under the edge of the mangroves and waited. Soon the float disappeared, and Elizabeth reeled in a sizable silvery fish almost to the boat before that darn snook shook the hook.

Magnificent Frigate birds circled the sky. As the tide and temperature rose, we moved out to the breezier flats of San Carlos Bay to fly fish for spotted sea trout. Exotic-looking rays swam effortlessly above the submerged grasses as we drifted. Suddenly, a prehistoric-looking anhinga popped out of the water beside the boat, promptly gobbling down a fish.

Captain Rob demonstrated the casting technique on the bow of the boat using an 8-weight fly rod. The "double haul" is a technique that employs both hands during the cast to catapult the maximum amount of fly line through the guides.

While the right hand casts, the left hand tugs the slack line at the beginning and again at the end of the cast. The benefit is a longer cast that propels the fly farther away from the boat and allows more time for the angler to entice a fish during the retrieve. The angler keeps the rod pointed low toward the water, and the retrieve is a series of short tugs using a fly designed to mimic a swimming or fleeing shrimp.

After a few casts, I landed my first fly-caught spotted sea trout. Captain Rob assured us the waters we were fishing could produce anything from tarpon to cobia, including redfish, bluefish and sharks. That is why we love fishing the saltwater; you are not sure what you might get. It is like being on a treasure hunt. We did not want to leave.

Ghost hunt

Before we left southwest Florida, Elizabeth and I decided to drive to Collier County northeast of Naples to visit Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Captain Rob's wife had told us about a rare ghost orchid that had been blooming in a bald cypress tree off a boardwalk that snakes through the largest remaining virgin bald cypress forest in North America.

Eventually we came upon a spotting scope set up to view the ghost orchid bloom on a plant more than 30 years old and 45 feet up in a tree that was over 400 years old. This endangered species is native to southwest Florida and Cuba. As we rounded a turn at the end of our two-mile trek, we stopped to watch a red-shouldered hawk perched on the wooden boardwalk fence feast on a frog.

That was an awe-inspiring finale in a natural sanctuary managed by an association fittingly called Audubon.

Anthony Vinson Smith is a freelance photographer and writer. He lives in Gibsonville. Contact him at avsphoto@bellsouth.net or visit his Web site at anthonyvinsonsmith.com