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It's sea turtle nesting season here on Marco Island. Pictured here is a nest that is about ready to hatch. We've been checking on it daily... in an unofficial capacity of course, though the official turtle-lady volunteer seems to appreciate our interest! We're hopeful that she did not mistake the kids' sand masterpiece as a "false crawl"... it was very realistic!
Click here for photos from our beach walks the past couple of days. It's extremely cloudy here this week, and there have been a couple of crazy-windy thunderstorms, but what kind of Oregonians would we be if we let a little wind and rain keep us from the beach!
It's such a nice way to start and end the day!
It had to happen... a cloudy day here in sunny Florida. After a morning beach walk complete with rainbows and dolphins, we decided to take a drive into Naples while some storm clouds passed through Marco. After a walk on the Naples Pier, Jake suggested mini-golf, which proved to be a lot of fun. Click here for photos.
In the afternoon, we had a nice swim with cousin Kaylee, followed by a family dinner at the Snook Inn - more dolphins, great shrimp, live music and dock-side seating... thanks Grandpa Carl!
Strong winds the last couple of days have made our morning beach walks extra interesting. Today, we came home with 3 pairs of googles, 2 snorkel masks, 1 pair of sunglasses and several dozen amazing shells!
Click here for photos from our day at the beach. We got a little paddle boarding in, in spite of the wind. Also watched some very talented skim boarders take advantage of the waves.
Welcome to Florida, Uncle John, Aunt Nikki, and Cousin Kaylee.
We wrapped up our time in the Florida Keys and are now back on Marco Island. The drive across the southern tip of Florida along Hwy 41 took us through Ochopee, home of the smallest post office in the United States. We counted 41 alligators on our way back to Marco, all swimming in a canal alongside the highway.
We made it back in time to take in a lovely sunset, which Drew photographed very well. He gets credit for the great bird photos, as well! See for yourself.
P.S. One of our Portland blog followers will be receiving a post card very soon, postmarked from Ochopee.... hmmm, who could it be?
Click here to see video clips from our underwater adventures in Key Largo. We visited several reefs - including Dry Rocks, where the famous "statue of Christ" pictured here can be found, the Minnow Caves and Grecian Rocks - over the course of a couple of afternoon trips.
We saw quite a variety of fish and coral, including a nurse shark, eel, puffer fish, angel fish, parrot fish, grouper, and much more. The minnow caves were especially cool!
It was a big day for the kids... they got to swim with dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center on Marathon Key. Their session included hand-shaking, kissing, swimming, mimicry, and signaling, plus we got to spend the day at the center checking out a number of training sessions for the 22 dolphins and 3 sea lions who call the center home. Flipper, from the original 1960s movie lived at DRC and Flipper's daughter and grandchildren are among the current residents.
Although we all have some mixed feelings about the concept of swimming with dolphins as entertainment, we liked the non-profit center and its staff a lot, and the kids thought their experience was nothing short of amazing! Click here for photos. AND... Here to see a video.
What a difference a year makes. Last year at about this time we were on the furthest northwest point in the U.S., Cape Flattery, on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Yesterday, we made it below the Florida Peninsula to Key West, the southernmost point in the continental U.S.
We're probably not going to make it to Cuba on this trip. But, it's nice to know that we could sail there from Key West in about a day. Driving was pretty easy. We made it from Mile 99 in Key Largo to Mile 0 in Key West in about 2.5 hours.
On the way we stopped to have a look at the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key. We found what we were looking for, Key Deer! They were pretty friendly. One even tried to get in the car with us but we only had room for five. While in the refuge we also found some gators. Turns out the kids have taken a liking to these guys. Breaded with a bit of lemon seems to be their favorite. Click here for pictures.
We went from Marco Island on the west coast of Florida to Key Largo on the east coast. We're staying at a very laid back place, The Key Lime Sailing Club. The attraction here is that they have a lot of water toys and sailboats for us to use. So, we're trying to make sure we use them all! Here are some pictures of what we've been up to so far. Click here for the album.
The kids tried their hands at windsurfing today while we were hanging out at Tigertail Beach. It was the perfect spot to learn, and they all did very well! Click here for photos.
Yesterday, we took a beach break and visited the Edison/Ford Museum. Emily will be blogging about that soon.
The kids have been practicing their snorkeling skills in preparation for exploring the Florida Keys. Here they are in action.
Windy today! A storm spoiled our sunset, but not our dinner on the deck at the Snook Inn. Today is our 20th Anniversary, so we decided to take the kids out to dinner to celebrate. The food was good; the scenery even better - pelicans, dophins, etc.
On our 10th Anniversary, Pat made a wonderful video montage of our first decade together. For our 20th, I made a photo book with highlights from our 14 month sailing trip. Click here to view the book.
Click here for a few photos of our day. No, I haven't been hitting the key lime pie too hard. It's just that my face swelled up yesterday for reasons unknown - sun, sand, salt water, sunscreen or a reaction to a combination thereof?!
Drew's Block Class celebrated the end of their 2 years looping together with a student showcase.
Poems were read, photos and projects were shared, and families got a chance to say thanks to the kids' amazing teacher, Ms. Rouse.
As of tomorrow, the kids will be done with 6th and 8th grades. Now... who's ready for vacation!
It's such a nice way to start and end the day!
