Look at those gloomy skies! We had a full day to figure out how to keep busy until our kayaking adventure. First, we went and really did some legitimate exploring through the surf shops--coffee and chai in hand. The stores were super busy because everyone else was doing what we were doing . . . wondering how to fill the day without the beach playing a major factor. I decided to wait outside, without my mask, with a few of the kids . . . and suddenly, a song my friends and I listened to endlessly in 8th or 9th grade, made sense . . . "A1A BEACHFRONT AVENUE" It's Vanilla Ice. He's talking about Florida. A1A isn't a clever lyric, it's an actual road! Lol! It only took me 30 years to figure that out. See, travel expands people, hahaha!
Because it was slightly warmer when the sun broke through the clouds, Caelan and Graysen were willing to brave the waves--there were some big ones! Brennen built a . . . castle? . . . and Buck took a nap. Later, we tried to see the national dog surfing championships at a nearby park/beach, but the dogs were the next day We saw a couple of little kids surfing, while listening to depressing Jamaican music (I didn't even know that existed!) from a dj who seemed totally into it.
Seeing that the weather wasn't all that much better than the day before, we were a bit concerned we'd receive a repeat phone call cancelling our kayak adventure for the second time--but, nope! We arrived enough before dusk to see how to buckle our vests, use our paddles, and put our glow sticks on the front if we were in the front of the kayak and on our backs if we were in the back of the kayak. It also gave us a chance to get the hang of paddling while there was still daylight. Buck and Brennen were a team. Caelan and Gabby were a team. Graysen and I were a team.
We paddled for 2.5 hours against the current of a canal, across a lagoon, out into what seemed like the open ocean (it wasn't :) and through a mangrove tunnel to a mosquito pond. We saw tons of herons, cranes, and lots of manatee noses! One popped up right in front of Graysen and my kayak. We were earlier informed that manatees often flip kayaks. This was not good news as G$ and I were the least proficient rowers in the bevy of boats. The end guide radioed the front guide and they both seemed surprised that a manatee was out that far. We later heard from college/last town we lived in friends that they took the same trip early the next day, and they were told there are alligators in the water. We're just going to stick with the manatee sighting and not consider the alternative. Eeeek!!
The area through which we paddled belongs to NASA (Kennedy Space Center was a few minutes down the road). Originally nearby dry grounds were plantations, then these were confiscated to became potential astronaut training grounds, and then the astronauts said "no thanks" to the giant, aggressive mosquitoes helping them train, so now it's a wetland. We paddled under the bridge where the injured dolphin, Winter, was rescued (from the movie A Dolphin's Tail/Tale fame). We watched the sun set, all pinkish orange, into the water. We paddled through growing darkness to see bioluminescent critters in the black backwater. The bio-things were between seasons, so we saw some neon-blue flashes and dots, but not full-on glowing jellyfish. However, in total, it was pretty amazing, unique experience! I'm glad Buck spotted it, booked it, and rebooked it for us :)
We took this picture the next morning--Buck and Gabby really wanted to attend a sunrise service on the beach, but our kayak tour ended well after dark, we had an hour drive back to the hotel, we hoped to eat at The Waffle House (but it was only take-out, take out waffles? What?). We ended up at IHOP at 11 PM, had a big breakfast, and got to our room about midnight. We watched our home church on my phone as we drove to our friends' house for Easter celebrations. Of course, the sun came out and it was warm and lovely at the beach (we couldn't resist one last visit and picture before we left). But all of that is the next post, I'm getting ahead of myself!
One crazy thing that I already alluded to, a friend from college, who was in my Bible study, who helped plan my video-recorded wedding shower (I was in CA), randomly showed up in our church nursery one day, probably 10 years ago. It took me sorting through my files of faces to figure out that she and her husband had moved to our little town! We once again found ourselves in Bible study together, worked together to develop a mission ministry at our church, and then kind of fell out of touch again when we moved. She saw the pictures of us kayaking and was like, "Hey, where are you?" Through a bunch of rapid-fire messages, we realized they were staying at the SAME hotel we'd just checked out of, at the SAME time we'd been staying there. How we missed bumping into each other at the pool, in the lobby, at breakfast, at the beach, I have no idea! It seems like just about everybody is heading to Florida for spring break this year :)
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