Maryland to Florida – Day 23

Three and a half hours each way was too long a drive for us today, so we didn’t go to Orlando. It would have been fun to visit Disney World but that will have to be in a future trip!

I found a dog beach online and we planned to take Hugo until we saw there was a “marine life” warning, which probably meant there were nasty stinging jelly fish in the water. The surf was huge and would have scared poor little Hugo, so we gave up on the idea.

Crystal and I laid on the beach in the sun for an hour while Kent and Hugo visited the dive show. We then walked a mile or so, stopping in various shops trying to find a little pirate bandana for Hugo. In St. Augustine every store had tons of ‘pirate’ stuff, but down here there is very little other than beach towels.

Kent found the freighter, the PAC Athena anchored outside Port Everglades. We could see it from Fort Lauderdale beach and it had 2 or 3 boats on deck, which were loaded in New Orleans. It’s a big ship!

Kent bought a great dive gear bag for Sean – it’s a ‘Cressi’ and extra long to hold fins and a spear gun if he wishes. Of course Kent bargained until he felt the price was right and he was very pleased with himself! He visited every dive shop we could find between Pompano Beach and South Beach before finding the exact bag he’d been looking for.

By 1400 we were tired of walking, tired of the heat and poor little Hugo was yawning through his grinning. Again, in late afternoon we napped, sunbathed, worked, did laundry and sat out on the dock watching boats come and go. It was so hot we were all happy to eat nachos with sour cream, salsa and guacamole for dinner. Once it cools off we might have something more. The heat is enervating and I’m lazy enough as it is without any additional reason to lie around and blog instead of cooking!!!

One more day of playing then it’s time to load the boat, stay the night in a hotel and be at the airport bright and early for our flight home. I have more video to upload and a few photos – then I’m off to bed.

BTW, if you have time check out charlesinspace.com – Charles Simonyi is the businessman who went to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Gerry’s nephew works as Captain for Mr Simonyi aboard his yacht, so we were very interested to track his voyage and hope to hear more of his story once we are back in BC.

Ohhhhhhhhh, and one more very important item to note – Sean texted us a message to say he completed his open water free dive yesterday – to 101 feet. Yikes, crazy huh??? I’m glad he told us AFTER he was finished! That really scares me – I remember completing my Advanced Scuba dive to 100 feet and feeling narced and silly while that deep – and that was with air. In BC waters, it’s cold, dark and barren at that depth – with only sea cucumbers to play catch with when you’re feeling giddy. I can understand diving deep in clear tropical waters as there is so much more to see… but then again, I’m a Mom and it’s my job to worry…

Thanks to all of you for your wonderful comments and encouragement. I’m so glad to know you’re out there