Saturday: Hanging Out at Marineland

Yesterday and today we spent checking out the area around Marineland Marina.

There was a very nice bike path that started at the main highway and wove back through an old campground.

The paths took us through many trees with overhanging branches with many of the trees labeled. One was a coffee tree whose beans gave decaffeinated coffee. Seems like they called it a fake coffee tree or something - I don't really remember.










The back end of the campground was the waterway we were on just yesterday as we made our way to the marina here.

We saw the tiniest little turtle ever! Right on the sidewalk by the picnic area. I moved him into the grass as we almost ran over him with our bikes. Yikes! That would have been bad! He's SO CUTE!









Across the street from the marina is the ocean side. It was so close that we could hear the waves breaking on shore from the boat. It's a really fun beach with lots of rocks.






Unusual for this part of Florida as most beaches are just sand.






A late lunch at the Snack Shack topped off the afternoon. The history of Marineland is interesting as it was the first of a kind - and opened in 1938!

For more information on it, click here.






This morning it was a kayak eco-tour run by a company that operates out of the marina here.

Kayak around the salt marshes for 2 1/2 hours??? Sure - why not as long as I'm in a tandem kayak :-)



First instructions by our guide Danny and then we were off!

Peter and Cheryl were not to be left behind! You'll note the jackets and long sleeve shirts. It wasn't for protection from the sun ..... so much for the warm weather :-) Anyway, it was quite nice and Danny was very knowledgeable about the plants and animals that are in the salt marshes as well as the importance of keeping these areas protected.

It was really a nice time.

One of the coolest plants were the "dead man's fingers" that were pretty much everywhere.











Doesn't it just look like a hand in the water? Fun stuff.

After the kayak this morning, we said our "see you later" to Peter and Cheryl. They are storing Surona in the St. Augustine area until they return south next winter from the frozen tundra of Midland Ontario.

In the meantime, we'll hook up with them in Canada in their stomping grounds of Georgian Bay this summer. We'll be on Guppy and they'll be on Deja Vu. Or you never know when they'll show up - a phone call saying they are in the area and over they come :-)

As always, we had a great time traveling with them - Steve has been twiddling his thumbs most of the evening as he's not sure what to do since we aren't playing Euchre with these guys ....