Sight Seeing Out at Sea

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For the first time since we had been on holiday we had a late, leisurely start to the day. After a breakfast and a while checking-out the iguana that patrolled the reception area, we went to the swimming pool to relax for a while.

Once we had had enough of all that, we visited the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The actual coral park is several miles out to sea, so we went out on a boat tour. Snorkelling would have been fun, but given how far out it was and how choppy the sea was, it would not have been safe for the children. They boat had a glass bottom so we were able to see the coral whilst our guide pointed things out and the boat bobbed up and down in the water.

The way out to the coral and back was through a channel in the mangroves, which seemed to be a race track for all the boy racers with speedboats. Also, the whole time we were out, there was thunder and lightening although, luckily, no rain. There was still a huge problem with the storms however in that they seamed to have agitated all the mosquitoes. We wanted to go for a walk when we got back to land, however after we had been bitten to pieces after only a couple of minutes, we gave up and made a dash for the safety of the car. This was nothing however compared to the mauling we would get when we went to The Everglades the next day.

Once the storms died down, the mosquitoes seemed to calm down and stopped being so much of a problem.

We went to Tower of Pizza for something to eat in the evening and there was yet another power-cut.

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Photos

Iguana
The iguana in the hotel grounds

Coral Reef
The view under the boat in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Coral Reef
The view under the boat in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Day-time Storm
The lightening whilst we were on our boat on the way back from the reef

Night-time Storm
The lightening in the night