On Tuesday, Jim took us out on his sailboat all day. Meg loved getting to use the radio to call the drawbridges to open so we could motor out the Intercoastal waterway to the gulf. We all enjoyed the relative peace of the wind and sun once we cut the motor and unfurled the sails on the Gulf of Mexico. It was a very calm day so the kids could climb out on the front deck and take turns at the helm. They liked yelling out the locations of crab pots to avoid - mostly because it gave them a chance to boss around the sibling steering at the time. I don't have any photos of the trip as I decided not to chance a camera on the water. I thought just coming back with all 4 kids would be enough of an accomplishment.
On Wednesday, Jim and Barb treated us today to a "Sea Life Encounter" boat tour sponsored by the
Mote Marine Aquarium in Sarasota. We toured the Intercoastal waterway on a pontoon boat with a marine biologist guide, spotted dolphins off bow, and trawled a net behind to haul in a "catch" to inspect before tossing it back in the shallow waters. After the boat ride, we went in the aquarium, where we enjoyed dolphins, manatees, a shark, jellyfish, and many smaller sea creatures.
After the aquarium, we visited a new beach - Siesta Key. It was voted the best beach in the USA last year, and not without merit. The sand there was incredible (soft and white) and stretched for miles. The kids swam again.
The best treat of the whole day for me was that my cousin Brian was able to join us for the day. It was great to see him for the first time in over 20 years!
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| Jim and Barb, waiting for the boat trip with us. |
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| Helen exploring a small island in the gulf, and learning about the mangrove trees and palmettos. |
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| Our boat, at the island where we took a short walk with the guid. |
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| We cruised (quietly) past this protected bird nesting rookery. It was crowded. |
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| One thing that continued to astound me on the trip was the real estate. Along the waterways (two banks of the intercoastal, plus the ocean/Gulf facing shore, there were miles and miles of beachfront property, all of it crammed with these multi-million dollar homes. Where are all of these tenants coming from? How many millionaires does the world hold? Jim says most of them are only occupied a few months each year...which doesn't help at all in answering my question. |
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| Helen gets up close and personal with some small crabs fished out of the ocean. |
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| John, Meg, Aunt Barb watch to see what else our marine biologist found in the net. |
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| Cousin Brian manages to not look too overwhelmed at meeting all of my wild kids at once. |
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