Florida #3

Thursday morning, we loaded up and headed for Destin Fl. There was supposed to be an art festival in that direction, and Jerry remembered some beautiful beaches. We drove the local costal route going there to see what there was to see and avoid the traffic on route 98. What we saw was 1. They don’t seem to learn much from hurricanes on the gulf coast, and 2. There isn’t a square inch of Florida coastline that doesn’t have something on it or someone getting ready to build something on it. All along the beautiful white sand beaches between here and Destin (about 50 miles away to the West) was development after development, and high-rise after high-rise. We also saw some of the older original cottage style homes, but most of those appeared to be ready to be offered soon to the gods of profit and development. We saw houses on the roadside of the road (as opposed to the beach side) w ith banners on them proclaiming “For Sale only $895,000”. We saw signs for coming developments “Reserve yours now, starting at 1.5 million”. But what we also saw was literally thousands of for sale signs. It appears the real-estate downturn and credit crunch have caught many of the speculators and flippers holding the bag. It is for sure a buyers market. As to my # 1 and 2 above: 1. Jerry was telling me much of this coastline has been devastated by hurricanes over the years. Destin gets hit or brushed by a hurricane on an average of once every three years. Yet they still continue to build palatial high rises all along the coast. #2, Jerry remembered Destin as having pretty white sand dunes and beaches. The only way we found them was driving past Destin onto the Air Force base that prevented any development for about 5-7 miles along the coast. As soon as the base ended, the development started again non-stop. He was very depressed to see his memories covered by chain restaurants, Wa lly Marts, high rises, and water slides. We did find a Public Beach Access that allowed us to thread our way through the houses to the admittedly beautiful white sand beaches. We never did find the art festival but had an interesting day exploring the gulf coast.

On the way back, we stopped for dinner at Sonny’s Barbeque, which is a Florida institution. They have good food reasonably priced, and predictable barbeque. After dinner we headed home via the Winn Dixie to land for the evening.

Friday morning, we got up, and made reservations for a cruise to Shell Island. The girls were really excited about finding shells there. While we waited for cruise time to arrive, we drank Bloody Marys and played 9 holes of Wii golf while watching real golf from the screened in porch. Vickie and I both scored our personal best rounds. Around noon we headed out for the Ashley Gorman where we were to get lunch, a cruise to Shell Island, and dolphin watching. We were greeted by Captain Larry, Mate Randy, and another Mate in preparation for our cruise. I couldn’t stop singing the Gilligan’s Island Theme. We had a succulent lunch of ham sandwich on a bun with chips and a drink, and headed out. Along the way we saw the shore sights, and enjoyed the perfect weather on the water. (Oops…Jerry lost his hat less than a mile out right after he said, “Might be a day to hold onto your hats”). Vickie was hoping that I WOULD lose my dork hat but I had my hat string securely tightened under my chin so I was safe. We arrived at Shell Island in about an hour, and docked with instructions to be back on the boat in an hour. We hiked across the island on an elevated wooden walkway to the beautiful beach. Shell Island was part of St. Andrews State Park (physically) until a hurricane washed a new inlet between it and the park. The locals liked the new quick access to the Gulf, so they petitioned to have the new inlet dredged; it was approved, and became permanent. The island is still part of the park, but not attached. Vickie headed off to look for shells, Brenda and Jerry opted for lying in the sun, and I went swimming in the Gulf. I love swimming in salt water and take advantage of it every chance I get. It feels like something therapeutic. The water was not intolerably cold, and Jerry joined me for a stint before we left. When our hour was up, we hiked back to the boat, and h eaded around the end of the island out into the gulf to see dolphins. Because of the high winds the waves were pretty big in the gulf. Since the captain was circling to keep the dolphins in sight the waves, combined with our own wake, threw us around requiring a death grip on something metal to keep from being thrown overboard. Not to mention trying to keep our lunches at bay. We were rewarded with a family of 7-10 dolphins hanging around the point of the island feeding. After dolphin viewing, we headed back to port.

I wore my Blues Brothers sunglasses on the boat. When I got home I couldn’t find my real glasses at the condo and put out an APB to search for them. Vickie was completely tearing our bedroom apart and I searched everywhere else. The ones lying by the computer were not mine as they were black. I asked Jerry if he had picked up the wrong glasses, and no he had his. I was very upset; I told Jerry he would have to drive home since I had no glasses. After I insisted the ones by the computer were not mine, I tried them on and ooops they worked pretty well. I can’t seem to live this one down.

We stopped at the Winn Dixie on the way home and picked up hamburgers and shrimp for the grill for dinner. The shrimp were truly colossal jumbos, already split and de veined in the shell. WD had them on sale for $8.99/lb. and they were too pretty to resist. We marinated them in some olive oil, limejuice, and Lowry’s Garlic and Parsley Salt for grilling. We had some corn on the cob left from the other night, and fresh veggies from the produce stand the other day. We made a great dinner from all the above, and enjoyed great wine (white Chilean chardonnay), great food with great company. After dinner between the sun, touring, and food, we all conked out for a good nights sleep. (after seeing an incredible sunset that made the sun look like Jupiter landing on the high rises to the East of us)

More later.

Wes