The BIG Florida Comeback - 21st August 2018 - Ginny & Jane E's, Chilled day on AMI & Harry's Bar

[smithlane]

Day 6

I was awake at 6.45 today. I tried to get back to sleep but it wasn’t happening. Jim was asleep on the couch again, he is really struggling with the jet lag this holiday. He keeps waking up at about 3, getting up to watch TV then falling back to sleep at about 6. I’m however completely oblivious to this as I’m in the land of nod

I took this time to unpack properly which was lovely after living out of a suitcase for nearly a week!
I then sat out on our little balcony with a drink and cereal bar enjoying the peace and quiet before everyone slowly woke up.

Hope was straight in the pool then she and Jim played table tennis for a while.

I had been bitten about a dozen times last night and they were driving me nuts so after I got showered and dressed I drove down to the Walgreens on the island. I bought a mosquito table burner, some repellent and the strongest bite cream they sold! Also picked up some toothpaste and mint M&Ms for Sam.

Altogether it came to $33. The cashier gave me her Walgreens card discount which was nice of her. I think I saved $4.

Popped into the Dollar Tree as it was only a few stores down and I hadn’t visited one before.

Well what a tatty shop! There was rubbish strewn all over the floor, it looked like there had been a burglary in there
I made a hasty retreat back to the car.

On the way back I popped into the US Post Office to pick up some boxes to send the various Starbucks mugs I had bought out with me.
Lovely lady in there, showed me exactly what I needed. They have a great system over here where the boxes are free to take then they just charge a flat fee regardless of the weight. The large boxes are $18.25 and medium boxes $13.25 and can be mailed anywhere in the United States. I wish we had this system!

I also bought some bubble wrap and packing tape. Also spotted the Goodnight Anna Maria Island children’s book that I was meant to buy last year but forgot, so picked that up. $32 altogether. It was about 10.30 now so I made my way back to the house.

We all chilled out either in or out of the pool. I did 4 loads of washing, it soon mounts up!
I also started putting together the boxes and sorting the mugs into the right ones. I had 30 mugs to send out to 5 addresses

At about 1.30 we went out to get some lunch. Drove up to Ginny and Jane E’s, obvious choice for first day lunch.
I LOVE this place

I ordered an egg and cheese croissant with bacon and sausage, Jim a crispy chicken and bacon sandwich and the kids a children’s hotdog meal. $54 including tip.
There was hardly anyone in here. Last year when we came it was rammed!
Food was freshly cooked and was all really lovely.

After we had finished we had a quick browse around all the lovely things to buy. I made a mental list

We walked over the road towards the beach down Magnolia Avenue to see if we could see any evidence of Red Tide.

It was deserted! There was a faint smell in the air that wasn’t particularly pleasant but wasn’t overpowering or made any of us cough. The sea wasn’t its usual turquoise colour though instead had a tinge of brown. Along the edge there was a few dead fish and eels, not very nice to look at. We had a paddle, it was so warm.

Didn’t stay long, the sun was really beating down on us.
We were back at the house by just after 3pm, the remainder of the afternoon was spent in and out of the pool and playing table tennis. Some of us had a few cocktails

Jim had now decided he was going to put his big boy pants on and come with Sam and I on the kayaking tour on Thursday. Luckily they still had space so booked him and Hope on for $117. His face was a picture when I told him he needed to electronically sign the damage waiver they had emailed me to say he wouldn’t sue Happy Paddlers in the event of injury or death

At about 7 we took a wander down the street to the beach from our closest entrance on 81st St.

The smell as you got nearer was quite overpowering . We walked down to the shore and it was lined with dead fish all the way along. Imagine being at a fish market in an enclosed space, that was the smell. Not nice at all and I am very thankful we can’t smell it at our house.
It still looked beautiful with the sun starting to set though

After we got back we all got showered and changed then headed out for dinner about 8.30pm.
Tonight we were trying Harry’s Bar & Grill which is right by Ginny and Jane E’s.

It was karaoke night in there so we chose to sit outside. The bar area was quite busy but there was only one other couple eating. A large American family did come in towards the end of our meal which was good. I really worry about these places staying open when tourists stop visiting.
The poor server was run ragged. He was trying to cover the bar area as well as outside.

For food we chose the chicken quesadillas for Jim and I, bacon cheeseburger for Sam and the beef sliders for Hope. Both with fries. We also ordered some nachos to share. The food took a little while but it was no problem, we were in no rush.
The food was amazing, hands down best quesadilla I’ve eaten. 4 empty plates. I highly recommend this place!

The bill came to $84 so we left $100 including tip.

We made the short drive back to the house and proceeded to collapse in front of the tv. All this relaxing malarkey is hard work

[mick]

Such a shame the RedTide has been so bad and people have cancelled their stay and as you say the restaurants are suffering


Joan

[Goldia]

It sounds like a nice chilled out kind of day where you got some chores done but also had some fab food! I'm looking forward to seeing how you all get on with the kayaking.

[PixieBoot]

Thanks for sharing. It was our first stay at AMI this trip; early Aug so red tide was in full flow. Did an amazing dolphin boat tour (saw dozens and close up), meal by the beach & loved the atmosphere...though it was a pity not to experience the usual gorgeous sea I’d seen in so many trip reports. Still had a fab time.

[WileyCoyote]

Ouch poor you with bites.
The places you are today sounded fabulous and look brilliant.
Such a shame about the red tide for the poor wildlife and the people who rely on tourist trade. It still looks so lovely ( not dead sea life obvs)
Aha, party of four for kayaking. Good stuff.
And 30 mugs? That’s incredible.

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by mick

Such a shame the RedTide has been so bad and people have cancelled their stay and as you say the restaurants are suffering


Joan

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It really is awful for the locals. On the Facebook group I'm in there are regular posts with businesses trying to get people back onto the island with discounts. One guy was selling off a load of his stock at less than cost price as he had lost thousands over the weeks

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Goldia

It sounds like a nice chilled out kind of day where you got some chores done but also had some fab food! I'm looking forward to seeing how you all get on with the kayaking.

See more...

It was a really lovely day and just what we needed after the jam packed time we had in New York!
We ended up having the kayaking cancelled on us as the Red Tide was just too bad to get out which was such a shame as I was really looking forward to it
You'll have to wait until next year to see me make an idiot of myself in a kayak

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by PixieBoot

Thanks for sharing. It was our first stay at AMI this trip; early Aug so red tide was in full flow. Did an amazing dolphin boat tour (saw dozens and close up), meal by the beach & loved the atmosphere...though it was a pity not to experience the usual gorgeous sea I’d seen in so many trip reports. Still had a fab time.

See more...

I'm sorry your first time was marred by the Red Tide but it's still just paradise though isn't it.
You were lucky to see so many dolphins! We went on a sunset dolphin boat trip last year and didn't spot one dolphin OR a sunset . Made up for it this year though

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

Ouch poor you with bites.
The places you are today sounded fabulous and look brilliant.
Such a shame about the red tide for the poor wildlife and the people who rely on tourist trade. It still looks so lovely ( not dead sea life obvs)
Aha, party of four for kayaking. Good stuff.
And 30 mugs? That’s incredible.

See more...

I'm like a magnet to getting bitten, I must have sweet blood . But my god they were driving me insane!
It really is so awful for the locals that live there, they all kept saying they had never seen it this bad and were very worried for the island's tourist industry
Kayaking got flipping cancelled in the end because of the Red Tide! I was so looking forward to seeing Jim yelp like a little girl if he came across any wildlife
I know 30 mugs really is an insane amount to bring over the Atlantic! I did bring more than that home with me though...

[Goldia]

I've never even heard of this Red Tide! I'm going to have to go and look it up!