Legs, Nerds & Wings Oct 2012 - Day 14 - Anna Maria Island

[miss_mouse]

Trip Report Index

Just to start, I'm Lisa - the planner and reporter. Ade is my hubby and he's our driver and there's Hollie who is 13 and partial to the odd teenage moment and Louis is 10 and our fussy eater. This is our third Orlando trip.

Wednesday 24th October 2012
Day 14 - Anna Maria Island

We slept in until 7.30 and the kids 8.30am.
We checked the weather channel and were concerned about the hurricane passing today. We'd had no rain so far at all and wanted to avoid it. So we decided to get ready and head over to the West (Gulf) Coast to Anna Maria Island. This was planned for the weekend, but there was no rain forecast for the coast today so it made sense.
This also then free'd up the weekend.

I found out about Anna Maria Island (AMI) from the Dibb. I once spent a whole evening to the early hours reading up about it. There was so much info to be found here and I couldn't stop reading. I really wanted to visit. I tried to book an over night stay but struggled to find someone who would take a 1 night booking.
In the end it all worked out perfectly though.

We got sorted and packed. Beach stuff, towels, map of the island someone here kindly posted, nibbles and drinks. Mum skyped before we headed out. I showed her around the condo. I love skype!

We left at 10am, we knew it would take a couple of hours to get there. We needed fuel and cash. Ade wanted to do this at Super Target, I didn't. We were leaving on the 27, it made no sense to go back in the opposite direction to the 192. It made sense to me to get cash out at Bahama Bay and grab fuel near where we were on the 27. I just wanted to get on our way.

He did give in, in fairness and grabbed gas at the local station but
they didn't have an ATM so he had his way and went went off to Super Target. I was feeling stressed out now.
I thought I'd make the most of it and whilst he went to the ATM I queued at Starbucks... and queued and queued and queued.
It took sooooooo long.
I ended up giving up as we really needed to get on our way now.
I gave up as it was so slow and we went back to the car where Ade put AMI in the satnav, or he tried to. The satnav froze
It's our satnav and it's done it before but not for a long time.
Why did it have to do it now?
I had printed off every map under the sun before we left the UK but didn't do one from ORL TO AMI.
I didn't feel confident that I could get us there without a map or the satnav. After trying and trying to get it started and I was wishing I'd stayed in that bloody queue now, we decided to head back to Bahama Bay. Ade needed to reset the satnav.
I was a very unhappy bunny at this point

We drove back to Bahama Bay and I suggested he dropped the kids and I off at the play area and let him go back to the appartment to fix it. I grabbed a big pack of oreos and my trip report before leaving the car



I needed this time to chill out again. The morning ended up really stressing me out. I found I love oreos. I don't usually do cookies.



Ade came back, satnav sorted, me chilled out. We 'made up' and we left Bahama Bay at 11am.

It wasa very overcast today and quite stuffy.
The drive was straight forward and pleasant enough. Ade loves driving in the US so that helps. We chatted lots and the kids had a dvd in the back.





Lots of water to drive over when we got further down.







We threatened Louis if there was any bad behaviour we'd drop him off here on the way back.



And this put a smile on my face.



Almost 2 hours later and we were almost there. 12.45pm



And finally we arrived.





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[miss_mouse]

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I knew what I wanted to do and where to go. We headed to the north of the island. It was very pretty and colourful. Rather rustic, not neat and tidy, but in a good way.
It was lovely noticing lots of places and hotels that I'd been reading up about all this time.

We drove up to the north on the right hand side and stopped at the old pier. Anna Maria City Pier.



We parked up and had a little wander. Parking is all free on the island.












We walked a little up the pier, but it was so so windy. We had visions of Louis blowing in to the ocean, so this was as far as we got.



So many birds!





We decided to head out for lunch now as time was ticking and we hadn't eaten yet. We stopped off at the public loos first. The island seems to have a fair few dotted about.

We then drove over to the other side of the island to the other coast line which took all of about 2 mins

We pulled up here.



I'd read fab things about the Sandbar Restaurant. We all love seafood and couldn't wait to eat.
We were seated straight away. There were renovations going on but this wasn't quite what I'd pictured.



Talk about chilled out!
It was right on the beach as you can see.



(we saw 2 weddings going on over there over the afternoon)

The plastic table and chairs, laminated menus... , but it was one of our favourite meals. It was so laid back, the food was so fresh and good and our server was so sweet and so chatty which we loved. Perfect!



We stupidly ordered 2 Calamaris to start between the 4 of us and seemed to barely make a dent in them, but it was GOOD!



Ade and I both went for the seafood platter for our mains. The food was excellent again but I think we filled up too much on the calamari and all in all there was just too much fried going on.



The kids went for kids popcorn shrimp.



Far too full for dessert.



But the kids had ice cream with their meals.



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[miss_mouse]

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The server was telling us about the island. I'd hoped to see dolphins in the ocean but she told us that they tend to only be seen from shore during the summer months.

The bill came to just over $60 and we left a very nice tip.
We left via the beach and had a wander.



We left the car where it was and decided to explore the island using the free trolley.
How cool!



The trollies run from the morning until about 10pm at night, up and down the island.



We decided to take the trolly to the south of the island.
Shame this pic is blurred, it's so sweet.



We really enjoyed the ride. It felt so fun. The locals just attach their bikes to the front on the trolly and get on.



It was a great way to see the island. At one point on the southern tip you have the ocean on both sides of you.
We got off at Manatee beach, but we didn't like it as much here, so we got back on the trolly when it arrived and went back up to the car.



We got off here, the car was in a parking sandy lot where I was stood to take the photo. I had read good things about this place Ginney's and Janey'es.



We went in to have a look.
It was a little like thrift shop meets bakery.
Not Ade's cup of tea but Hollie and I liked it.
It had abit of everything in and the cafe area did look good. It was however closing. Ade had a natter with the owner, the kids and I waited outside.









After Ade had finished his chat and let the lovely lady close the shop up we wandered over to the beach near where we had lunch.
We much prefered this part of the island. It was much quieter.
We walked through some beautiful beach houses and arrived here.



Louis found a little Universal bag in the car to collect shells.

The beach is beautiful and so peaceful.



We spent some time playing, splashing, collecting shells and enjoying the beach.



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[miss_mouse]

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The water was quite warm and very clear.











There were loads of these teeny birds around.



Louis asked if he could photograph us, he ended up taking loads. This is my favourite.



(I love my husband! )

There were some lovely properties along the beach.



We decided to call it a day. It was now 5.30pm.
We went back to the car and cleaned off.
We sat the kids in the back of the car, feet dangling out and got the big bottles of iced water that we'd bought with us and washed off their feet. Well Ade did as he's the mean one.
Boy did they scream!
But they got in the car with clean feet.

We left the island after a really lovely and chilled out day.





After we'd driven off the island we passed some beautifully kept green grass verges. I spotted a mummy racooon with her babies and they were playing. So sweet! We turned the car around as soon as we could to go past again but they'd gone.

About 20mins in to the drive the heavens opened and in true Florida style, it poured down.
I remember feeling worried about the long drive ahead with the visability being so bad. But thankfully within 5mins it had stopped.
And that was the only rain we saw for the whole 18 days in Florida.
We did good!

It was dark when we got back to Orlando and we were tired.
Ade wanted his breakfast cereal for tomorrow.
Noooooooooo
I just wanted to get back home now it was almost 8pm.
He would not get his 'special cereal' from anywhere else but bloddy Super Target again.
What is it with him and that place?
Now I love that place too, but I did not want to drive past Bahama Bay to go shopping for his 'special cereal'. I wanted baths, supper and bed now.

He won!

The three of us disowned him and did our own thing. We then crept up and made him jump in the 'special cereal' isle.



He' such a kid!

Naturally we shopped. We can't not in this place and we go around the whole place.
More nerds, more beef jerky, more buds, snacks...
(and not forgetting the dammned 'special cereal')

We finally get back to Bahama Bay at 9.30pm.
It felt like a really really long day.

We had suppery snacks, baths and beds.

We had made the right decision, it had rained today in Orlando.
The roads and paths were all wet and we missed it.
It had been hot, overcast and windy but at least it was dry.

We loved AMI. It's so different to anywhere I've been to on Florida so far. Really laid back. I don't think we'd go back again though. We aren't really beach people. We like the beach but get bored.
When we visit the beach in England we got to the Jurassic Coast and hunt fossils, we aren't the sun bathing type. I think we'd get bored.
Glad we've been, but it's ticked off the list now.
We'll try somewhere different on the coast next time.

We highly recommend the Sandbar if you like Seafood. It filled us up for the whole day. It was really good and very friendly.

Tomorrow we have a 'behind the scenes tour' booked at Seaworld.
Bags are packed and ready

Thanks for reading and sorry about the long wait xx

[disneylover]

Ah this brought back somany happy memories of ami. We loved that place. Glad you had a great time. What's the 'special' cereal?

[moosha]

Great read as always, Lisa. Thanks for sharing

Glad you had such a lovely day after a tricky start. Anna Maria Island looks beautiful. I'm now considering switching our planned beach day at Clearwater for AMI as I like the idea of it being very 'natural'... hmmm...

Well done for avoiding the rain

[Avani's_mum]

Just as good as the rest of the report!

[First Timer 12]

Great day. Pictures are great It looks gorgeous there.

[Guest]

Loving the report, has answered a few questions I had ! Halloween party...
Was defiantly going to stay in a villa with a pool, but i think you might hve just convinced me to stay at BB!

[miss_mouse]

Originally Posted by jokr

Loving the report, has answered a few questions I had ! Halloween party...
Was defiantly going to stay in a villa with a pool, but i think you might hve just convinced me to stay at BB!

See more...

Thank you, I'm glad it's helped. That's made me so happy

We love BB. We always book through bahama-bay.co.uk
We are just booking our 4th visit with them and they've been fab each time. If you want the one appartment we stay in it's the Gran Bahama.
Thanks for reading.