Scottishnellies 5th Element 2019. Day 6 AMI. Beach Walk, Captain Kathes Boat Trip

[scottishnellie]

Before I had gone to bed last night I had used the Cortizone 10 cream on my bites. Well I woke this morning after a great nights sleep with no itching, the swelling all down and no pain! Yay!

In fact I had slept so well I had missed sunrise and it was 8am

And last night before we went to the beach I had used this combo

and this morning I only have 2 new bites which I may have actually got before I used the new spray. I've a feeling it's the off deep woods stuff that's working.

Couldn't believe how much better my legs felt, so after my shower I put the cortisone stuff on again. And now I just can't feel them at all. No itch. No pain. Fabulous relief!

Kevin and I decided to go a big walk. The girls were still asleep and Kieran was on his iPad not interested in coming.

Then turned back, right round Bean Point again.

then we sat on the pier and watched the dolphins. We think there were 3, perhaps 4

Difficult to tell when they pop up at different times in different places in a vast space.

So lovely to watch them. It definitely seems like mid morning at rod n reel is the place to see them.

It was 10am and we had been walking nearly 2 hours so we headed back to the house and had some breakfast. By this time all the kids were up and about.

I wanted to get ready assuming we were going to captain kathe at 12 so we got the towels, snorkels, bags and coolbag all ready but by 12 we hadn't heard anything back despite me sending a wee nudge text at 11:15. Not looking good 😐

Then At 12:05 I get this

aaargh - now I KNOW the arrangement was she was going to text me to say whether she could make it. So I was a bit annoyed but a shorter trip was still better than no trip. So we dived into the car and were on our way. Only problem is you can't hurry anywhere on AMI. We were stuck behind an 18mph golf cart for aaaages.

Got to the dock (same dock as starfish co - see what's coming?), jumped out and made our way round to the front. It was now 12:32. A wee girl introduced herself as Kylie, saying that she is 12 years old and would be our first mate. She said we would be with captain Katie today (kathes daughter) who appeared a moment later. We climbed aboard and off we went with captain Katie catching up to captain Kathes boat.

On board we also had Skipper. He is 8 years old and trained to alert the captain when he smells dolphins or manatees around. On the other boat they have another dog at 1 year old who does the same

We hadn't gone too far when skipper started jumping up and whining to show he could smell something

Now just to note. The dog does jump all over the place. On you. On the seats. On your bags. So if you can't handle that this is not the company for you. I don't really like dogs but I tolerate them because everyone else loves them and it just makes life easier.

At skippers whining we pulled up just at the entrance to a canal where we could see Dolphins. Katie explained they were mums teaching their babies to fish. Stayed here a while. We could see them much more close than we had at rod n reel.

Then we headed off again. This time Katie took us out to a sandbar where she anchored up. Her mum kathe had the other boat anchored there too. We had brought our own snorkels, but they do provide full face snorkels. They also provide wee nets for you to catch stuff.

We jumped off the boat and snorkelled around. I even had a go with Kevin's snorkel and managed better than I ever have before.

Katie set up what she called the bin, with water and a pump going into it. Anything found alive was to be put in here so we could have a good look at them before we put them back. Katie and wee kylie also snorkelled around finding things and putting them in the bin for us.

Captain Kathe on the other boat however, sat on her mobile phone yelling 'put that straight in the bucket' every time anyone surfaced with anything. I was quite glad we were with her daughter Katie instead! She hadn't set up anything like that on her boat so she sent her family over to look at what we had found.

We stayed here more than a good hour and we loved it.

Kieran found a live sand dollar

And a Florida Fighting Conch

The girls both found starfish

Caitlin found a perfect sand dollar (which she is going to try to get home intact)

Caitlin also found a tiny jellyfish

Kylie found a huge crab, a sea urchin, and a wee thing like a seahorse that I've no photo of.

Kylie found a huge crab, a sea urchin, and a wee thing like a seahorse that I've no photo of.

Captain kathe took her family away first but Katie hung around with us a bit before putting all the things from the bin back in the ocean and getting ready to leave.

On the way back she stopped off in the bay to show us a family of manatee when skipper whined. She took the time to point out the babies and told us lots about them.

Then we made our way back to the dock at 2:30 so we did get the full 2 hours despite the confusion about the arrangements to start.

This cost $30 per person and I was really happy with what we got for that. I'm not sure I would have been so happy on kathes boat to be honest.

When we got off at the dock there was only one thing to do - crab cakes!

I went hearty this time so I could share with the girls who both said they weren't hungry enough for a full dish.

Kieran had a salty dog

Oh my. They were still as delicious as before. Hannah ate the fries and Caitlin shared the other crab cake also agreeing they are delicious. Pure crab meat

Walmart is only 4miles along the road from here so we picked up rolls, salad, more water (we are going through 25-30 wee bottles a day as well as the big ones from the fridge)etc.

Out and home. It was now 5pm and I stretched out in the upper deck while the others played waterpolo.

Later kevin fired up the BBQ while I chilled

dinner was burgers, salad, and potatoes baked on the BBQ. Just perfect. I actually prefer these lazy dinners on the deck to eating out.

Something's gone wrong with the app so please see 2 comments below for the rest of the photos of when we went to the sunset later!

[app]

New Photo Added by scottishnellie - 28 Jun 19 12:27 AM.

[Floridarules]

Wow, sounds excellent. Really looking forward to our longer break at Anna Maria this time. It looks bliss👍😄

[scottishnellie]

[DollyDimples]

Looks like a lovely day apart from the rush for the boat trip. Great that you still ended up with your full 2 hour trip.

Glad you have got your bites under control now, must be a huge relief

The sunset pictures are great.

[sotagals]

Another fabulous day - thanks for taking us to the beach.

The first time I encountered noseeums and or chiggers on Marco years ago I was bitten lumps out just like you.

If it's any consolation I never had a bad reaction like the first time again. Your immune system should be set up against them now.

[4fromsuffolk]

I love waking up and finding out what you all have been up to! Such a fab trip so far.

So glad your bites are better. What a lovely boat trip you had. Soon be time to go to Barb and Randy’s villa.

[princess allie]

Another lovely day and today’s sunset photos are fantastic. I’m like you, I prefer a relaxed meal too.

[OB1LukeLucas]

A great day, the boat trip looked fun. Pleased you’ve had a bit relief from the bites!

[JenD1]

Perfect end to a lovely day 🐬