Last week Mom and I went to Florida for a few days to visit my aunt and uncle. The weather was still a bit chilly but we still had fun soaking up the sun.
Al took me out on his boat into the intercoastal waters. My goal was to see a manatee but unfortunately we never spotted one. However, we did see some dolphins and one came right up to the boat and was playing in our wake for a few minutes.
Al tinkering with his boat.
The red tide is high right now and I've seen quite a few news reports that Florida has had a record number of manatee deaths this year. The red tide is an algae and when they eat it the toxin in the algae paralyzes them and they are unable to keep themselves afloat to breathe.
We stopped at this little sea side restaurant for some drinks and snacks.
Al and Nancy's 'tinaminium'...it's very cute and beachy inside! I'm definitely looking forward to retirement :)....however, I realize that's probably not going to be possible for my generation.
Saturday we drove down to Venice to do some shopping and then spent the afternoon on the beach. It was a bit windy and chilly on the beach. Their area of Florida is the prime area for shelling and finding sharks teeth. I found about 20 sharks teeth in just the short time we spent on the beach.
I figured I was finding teeth that had recently fallen out. Turns out....not so much! The teeth are fossilized and are usually black or tan in color. They fall out and sink to the bottom of the ocean where they fossilize and so the teeth you are finding are at least 10,000 years old! Pretty cool!
Spanish Moss hanging from a cool tree in their park.
Definitely looking forward to going back!
