Florida has been great, warm sunny days, open window nights, lots of sit down family meals with nephew, new great nephew, wife/mother of nephews, sister and bro-in law, so nice not to be eating out of my lap or in the car. Settling into a new house and neighborhood I am going out looking for the public library in the morning a bit old fashioned but I still enjoy holding a book in my hands and find it makes a great sun shield while reading outside.
A quintessential Florida experience is a tour of the back bay in a small boat, you are guaranteed to see wildlife, suck in the sea air and might get lucky enough to see some dancing dolphins. You can rent a large variety of vessels, captain yourself or pay for a tour with a local guide. Up and down the coast nearly every marina provides these services making Florida's waterways accessible for all who desire.
We rented a 24' deck boat out of Monroe Marina on Pine Island, the new digs are only 10 minutes off Pine Island, after getting a bucket of grilled KFC , we hooked up with Florida nephew Ken and his wife Kate for a day of water touring. The weatherman had predicted sunny skies with moderate wind but instead it was cool with a steady breeze of 10 to 12 knots gusting to 20. With the wind blowing a steady chop 2' white caps were prevalent on the intercoastal waterway.
Motoring out of the marina down the channel Kenny immediately spotted an osprey munching on a mullet perched high up on the branch of a swaying pine. We aimed for Tween Waters and pushed through the rough and chilly intercoastal until we could slow down, cruising the channels eating chicken, gawking at mansions and animal watching.
It is really cool that you can intimately and easily engage with nature in many ways in Florida.
