Friday Morning on the Beach

Florida Trip Travelog #9
Getting lunch at the hotel - Fri, 23 Sep 2022, 1pm

When people say "Florida vacation" you think of two things: 1) Disneyworld, 2) beaches. We're not the Disney sort, so that leaves beaches. Except we're also as much water slides and lazy rivers as beaches. Friday morning we did both. We got down to the pool area right after it opened so I could take a few rides on the big water slides— I even shot video, but it didn't turn out great— then boarded a boat for the beach.

Yes, a boat. I was a little mislead by the advertising when I selected this hotel. They said it was a short walk to the beach. What they meant— and deliberately obfuscated— is that it's a short walk to the dock where you ride a boat to the beach. At least there are no fees for it. Though the boats run on a limited schedule and must be booked in advance. We booked after lunch yesterday for 9:45 this morning, the first trip of the day.



Big Hickory Island is a short boat ride away; short being about 15 minutes. As we sail through the bay there are often dolphins in the water. They were quiet this morning but might be more active in the afternoon.

Once on the island things were kind of quiet. This private beach (private to our hotel and a timeshare property) is fairly Spartan. There's no restaurant here, no chair side drink service, etc. Just beach chairs and umbrellas, picnic areas, and a bathroom. Actually we like it this way. The combination of the boat to get here and the lack of services keep out the riff-raff. 😂

Oh, and the loooong stretch of white sand is unmarred by discarded drink cups, hamburger wrappers, chips bags, etc.



We picked a pair of beach chairs, then Hawk immediately went gathering shells. I stayed on my beach chair, enjoying the relaxation... and also enjoying a few bottles of beer I packed along in a small insulated bag. 😋

Eventually Hawk came back from shelling, and together we went out to wade in the surf for a while. The water here is so warm we could walk right in. And even on the open coast here the waves are so mild. We were getting, like, one-foot swells even when the tide turned and started coming back in. Gulf of Mexico FTW!

We caught the 12:15 boat back to the mainland. "Y'all look hungry, like you're goin' back for lunch!" the captain roared. Indeed we were. Indeed would any sane person having been out on a beach for a few hours with no place to get lunch.

Lunch today is at the hotel's pool-side cafe again. Yes, it's a little pricey for what it is, but it's also way more convenient than going upstairs, changing out of damp swimming clothes, and driving somewhere slightly cheaper. We'll order different dishes today so it doesn't feel repetitive. 😅

More Water Slides, More Beaches, and a Nice Dinner

Florida Trip Travelog #10
Back at the hotel - Fri, 23 Sep 2022, 10pm

Friday afternoon and evening we've continued our "We're on vacation!" mentality. After eating lunch at the poolside cafe we went back in the water for a while longer. I rode the water slides a few times then joined Hawk for several laps around the lazy river pool. Soon enough we packed that up, though, as we wanted to go out and visit more of the beaches in the area.

We drove a loop down through Bonita Springs, out to the barrier islands, and up to Ft. Myers Beach before coming back inland and completing the loop back to the hotel. I could post pictures from the beaches we visited but honestly they all look the same in a boring-amazing way. White sand everywhere, shells everywhere, clear water that's so warm you can walk straight into it.

We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner this evening, at a Brazilian rodizio restaurant. Rodizio is Portuguese for "meat parade"[1]. It's the style of restaurant where waiters bring skewers of grilled meats (and pineapple!) up to the table and slice off a bit onto your plate if you want it.

The meat parade is never cheap, but we had a special occasion. ...Actually, two special occasions. One, our anniversary is this week. We had already planned to treat ourselves to a nice dinner some evening while on vacation. Two, Hawk learned this afternoon— in a last-minute, must-attend management meeting she had to join from our table at the poolside cafe at lunchtime— that an asshole peer she and many colleagues find difficult to work with is being discharged. It was like a weight was lifted from her shoulders with that news, so we decided we'd enjoy our nice dinner tonight.

[1] The word rodizio has no direct translation from Portuguese to English, so I've coined its English equivalent as meat parade.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat on Vacation

Florida Trip Travelog #11
Chillin' at the hotel - Sat, 24 Sep 2022, 10:30pm

It's been sort of a "Lather, rinse, repeat" day on vacation today. Like yesterday, we began the day with a trip to the pools when they first opened at 9am. I did several runs on the water slides before it was time to walk through the mangrove forest (aka swamp) to the pier to ride the 9:45am boat out to the beach at Big Hickory Island. We stayed at the beach until just after noon, then ferried back to the hotel for lunch, then went to the slides and lazy river.

One thing different from yesterday is that we didn't go out hunting other beaches. We stayed longer at the lazy river and water slides. By the time we got back to the room after 3 we were pretty tired.

Another difference is no fancy dinner tonight. But hey, we don't expect fancy dinners every night.

This has been our last full day here. Tomorrow Hawk flies home and I drive to Orlando (3.5 hours away) for a conference that starts Tuesday. But just because tomorrow's a travel day doesn't stop us from enjoying the pools a bit more. We plan on packing in the morning, cramming in as much time as we can at the water slides and lazy river, and then cleaning and checking out. Hawk's flight isn't 'til after 4:30pm, so we could easily stay at the hotel until 1pm— if they let us.