50 Shades of Grump: Day 9 - Vero Beach

[BONZO]

Day 9 – 5th Sep – Fifty Shades of Grump – Vero Beach
Shaun (52) – Grumpy old man – moderatrix / geriatrix
Alison (47) – Chief planner, long suffering wife of grumpy old man – moderatrix / arbitratrix
Alexandra (20) – isittimeforatwix?
Laura (18) – creatrix

Link to trip report index:

Here


Most of us were up at 8.30, although I was up significantly earlier as Alison didn’t close the curtains properly last night and I had a bright beam of sunlight straight on my face first thing!

Oh well, curb that grump in this lovely place then, can’t be having that! Alison and I got dressed and we popped out to Publix to get some supplies for breakfast and lunch, taking a quick look at the “International Aisle” for UK items before heading back.





The girls next door were awake by now so we all had breakfast on the balcony overlooking the beach! Absolute bliss

We decided to spend some time on the beach today rather than round the pool and possibly hire out a sea kayak or Skid-do for a while. Still not many takers for the beach but we hired - 4 sunbeds and 2 x umbrellas. Total price was $65. It wasn’t very busy at all!



Sure, we could have picked up some cheap loungers at the supermarket but we can’t take them with us and they wouldn’t have been half as comfortable as bed mattresses they provide.

Phwoar! What a scorcher! So hot down here and you have to be really careful about not getting sunburn. The cooling breeze can lull you into a false sense of security. All nicely chilled with cold drinks in a cool bag, holiday novels and a swim in the sea. Pure heaven!



From the film “The World According to Garp” – I always think “Beware the Undertoad” when looking at the beach safety signs – well, makes me laugh and that’s all that’s important. (Alison: too right!)

We all went back to the rooms for lunch with the rolls and crisps that we put together from the supermarket shopping trip this morning. Alison made her roll and took it down to the beach – rest of us ate in the room. Ham and/or cheese rolls, crisps, fruit, muffins. Not trying to “penny pinch” but trying to stay away from the burger and fries combo available from the snack bar.

The rest of us followed her down after we had finished and kept to the “no swimming until 1 hour after you’ve eaten” rule that dogged me throughout my entire childhood. I wandered along the beach for it waiting for the obligatory hour to pass but I did notice some translucent objects on the beach. I didn’t pay too much attention but I did remember that the sea was quite a bit rougher last night than on previous occasions.

Suddenly, a small boy let out a scream and was generally being rather annoying. I did think “parents, curb your child!” but it soon became apparent that he’d been stung and the objects that I’d seen were in fact dead box jellyfish. Not life threatening but packing a nasty sting even though dead.










Two things occurred to me at this time: -

(1) I was too dehydrated to offer to pee on his leg

(2) I’m not going swimming in women’s tights


Well, that put paid to anymore swimming in the sea which was a bit of a shame and the longer you looked you could see more of the damn things around.

Notices and announcements were made although word quickly got around but not before a few other people got stung. We were glad we’d swum in the morning!

Never mind, we left the beach at 5 and went back to the pool for a last swim of the day. Whilst we were there we had a couple of games of shuffleboard and mini-golf in-between jumping in the pool to cool down.

We had to have an ice cream (of course!)




It was another of my “Random Choices” for dinner tonight and I’d carefully selected Beef O’Bradys for dinner (Laura kept calling it Beef O’Billys for some unknown reason! ). Well, the website looked good and I knew it was a locals place so what the heck!

We found it eventually after a bit of faff as it was in a parade of retail stores. Initially it was one of those places were you walk in and the music and talking stops and people look round, well and truly off the tourist trail.

Cue music from Deliverance!

Not that bad really but it was basically a sports bar with tables tagged on the side, each with a TV screen showing sport. I rose up to my full 5’ 8”, strolled in, took a seat and ordered food – that showed ‘em!

Alison: Beef burrito
Alexandra: Boneless wings and fries
Laura: veggie bowl (rice, veggies – like a stirfry)
Me: steak bowl (as above but with steak)








Beer and sodas to drink

Total $68 (incl tip)

Well, that was fine as a different experience away from the chain restaurants but wouldn’t rush back without a beard, flat bed truck and shotgun!

We drove back home and settled down with a coffee and muffin before turning in for the night at about 11 or so.

[curry1402]

Really enjoying your trippie - thankyou for taking the time

[miss_mouse]

That last bit made me laugh : )

That's cool seeing the jelly fish like that. I got stung in St Lucia ( the only time I actually ever swam in the sea) but I've never actually seen them on the beach like that.

[Tartan Tigger]

Nice relaxing day. Shame about the jellyfish stopping you from swimming.

[collybird]

That jellyfish looks disgusting!

[dodgeintrepid]

Loving your trip reports.

[Pussycat Doll]

Lovely day again, shame about the jellyfish. Pussycat

[mick]

Good day shame about the jellyfish

Joan

[orlandosgr8]

Another relaxing day, pity the jellyfish stopped you from swimming in the sea again.

[Redrach1903]

Lovely day again. Eeek scary jellyfish! I remember having the same problem in Egypt, they were EVERYWHERE! Creepy horrible things!

Haha sounds like a fair experience at that restaurant