Skip to main content

An Underwater Adventure

Saturday, March 19th – Key Largo to Little Manatee River State Park, Tampa, Florida – Day 40 

 Even though it was a travel day we decided to take our time and maximize the day at John Pennekamp State Park. We phoned in the morning about the snorkelling tours that ran out of the marina. We were told that if we showed up in person, we might have a chance for the 10am snorkelling tour so we ran out of the camper and to the beach area. Unfortunately, despite Gen and Mary’s best attempt at getting on the boat, we were denied. We did manage to get a booking for all six of us on the 3pm tour. We went back to the camper to eat and get packed up. 

Once finished, we headed out to the second beach at the park. It wasn’t as nice. The kids went for a swim. I helped Charlotte and Aisling finish their junior ranger activities. We proceeded to go back to the surf shop to pick up rentals and wait for the boat. 

 The tour was awesome. We took a boat 3 miles out into Florida Bay to the reef. John loves boats so he was a happy little guy. The tough part for John was he doesn’t like putting his face into the water so snorkelling is hard. I started snorkelling with John. He held onto my back while I swam around snorkelling. He had goggles but refused to put his face in the water despite my encouragement. Regardless, he said he was enjoying himself despite his blue lips. 


After a while, I traded Charlotte for John hoping that Gen would have a better chance to get John to do something. Eventually she had to bring John back to wait in the boat. We were told he was just sitting on the bench happy as a clam and eventually started to fall asleep sitting there. It was amazing that the tour operators were willing to watch him while we kept snorkelling. Charlotte was an amazing snorkeller. She was so keen on exploring the reef and seeing all the fish. She had no problem breathing and clearing her snorkel. We were constantly pointing out fish to each other. We saw parrot fish eating coral, barracudas with their mouths open while other fish cleaned their teeth, multicoloured fish galore, and a small manta ray. We kept moving farther from the boat but I worried that Gen was stuck on the boat with John, so we headed back. 

Along the way we found that Aisling had left Mary and teamed up with Gen. We switched kids and Aisling and I got to snorkel together. Aisling was as fantastic and keen as Charlotte. We are so lucky to have these wonderful girls (and John) that are so curious and take to new experiences so readily. Aisling and I explored more of the reef until we finally heard the three horn beeps to head back to the boat. We were the final two snorkellers in the water. The whole experience was amazing. Everyone had a good time and Mary even saw a four-foot shark. 


 When we returned to the marina, we headed to the beach. The kids still wanted to swim, amazingly. I went to the trailer to start making dinner. We have a propane stove that attaches to the side of the trailer, so I pulled it out, chopped up some ingredients and made bean wraps. It was a beautiful day, the beach was in view, I had music playing and people kept coming up to chat. Great day. 



 We finally needed to jump in the car and leave the Keys. Gen drove most of the way to Little Manatee River State Park. It was a four hour drive and the kids fell asleep quickly; exhausted after their busy day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Desert Forest

Saturday, May 28th – Joshua Tree National Park - North to Joshua Tree National Park - South, California– Day 107 Our campsite was a large open dirt area with some scrub around the outside. In the dark we had managed to park beside the pile of horse poo and shaving. Horses were allowed in this site. Gen stepped in the middle of a pile.   The Joshua Tree National Park visitor centre was a five-minute drive away. The town of Joshua Tree was packed with college age millennials communing with nature. There was a market with kombucha, organic greens and a few small tortoises. It was all very pleasant but very busy. The laundromat was at the edge of the market, I charged the devices and did the laundry. Gen bought some produce from a guy loading a truck. I even snuck in to buy some watermelon kombucha.   The drive into the park was ten minutes followed by a ten-minute line to show our pass. A quick stop to fill up our water bottles and we were into the park. Th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meow Wolf and O

Wednesday, May 25th –Lake Mead National Recreation Area to Las Vegas, Nevada – Day 104  We woke up in our roadside turn out and got ready for the day. Our plan was to go for a swim at Lake Mead, see the Hoover Dam and head back into Vegas. The morning was stifling hot, we were looking forward to the swim.   We drove to the visitor centre at Lake Mead Recreation Centre. We could see Lake Mead on the way. The water was well below the high-water line on the rocks. At the visitor centre we got our passport stamped, filled our water bottles, and received junior ranger booklets. The air conditioning was so nice we set up the kids to work on their booklets and hung around. The kids finished up enough activities that they were sworn in by a very nice ranger before we left.   We decided to go see the Hoover Dam first. We dropped the trailer in the parking lot. We heard it might need to be opened at the security checkpoint and we couldn’t be bothered. The H...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canyonlands is Another Planet - Pt 1

Thursday, May 12th – Moab, Utah – Day 91  Utah is another planet. I cannot do justice to the sights that I have seen in Canyonlands National Park. They are beyond compare. I would encourage everyone to visit. The pictures we have taken do not convey the beauty of the scenery we witnessed.   We woke up in the morning after a late night. The kids did some schoolwork. We ate our oatmeal. We tried to clean up the dust that was all over the trailer. The wind had subsided in the night and the morning was pleasant and warm. Aisling had made us promise that we would climb the rock that they had all been climbing on. We strapped on our hiking boots and started towards the rock. A quick climb later we were at the top; on the way down, we were looking for pretty rocks.  The road to Canyonlands sits between two buttes with their cliffs rising on either side. The drive was thirty minutes to the entrance. The visitor centre had displays that detailed what each layer of the canyo...
Post a Comment
Read more