Dec 20-23 - Tampa

We checked into Tampa East RV Park just off I-75 & I-4. Great park with 3 pools & a hot tub (finally!!) We drove down to Appollo Beach to a manatee viewing area where we finally got to see manatees -30-40 of them in the inlet along with sharks, 2 spotted eagle rays, tarpon and lots of smaller fish. This is a wonderful facility -a 900 ft pier, wooden boardwalks through the mangrove trees, a manatee museum, butterfly gardens, retired power company workers acting as information hosts. This is adjacent to TECO -Tampa Electric Co -a very Green coal burning power producing plant. The water used in the process is heated and dumped into the bay creating a haven for the manatees. They sometimes have upwards of 300 manatees. The most amazing part -it was all free !!! Pictures include 2 from inside the museum. There is a website you can access and actually see them on a live web cam. www.tampaelectric.com/manatee

We golfed 18 holes at Diamond Hill GC with 2 BC couples from the park. Had a fun day and joined them later for happy hour. They were just ahead of us on the trans-Canada trip so there are lots of stories to share. We were asked to join them for Christmas dinner so we gratefully accepted on the condition that we could contribute Norm's 14 lb turkey that has been taking up big space in our freezer for several weeks. Looking forward to happy holidays.

Dec 19 - Ave Maria

We drove out to Ave Marie, a new planned town founded in 2002. It is based around the most incredible modern Catholic church and a Catholic university (moved here from Michigan by Tom Monahan of Domino's Pizza) working together with the Collier group who donated the land. They have 600 students this year but are working towards having 6000 students and offering degrees including Masters and Doctorates. We watched a Romanian stone carver working on a very large white marble face for the church (the Angel Gabriel asking Mary to be chosen mother to Jesus). There was a beautiful Christmas wedding going on inside so we had to wait for that to conclude before going inside. The entire community is based around family so there is lots of recreation -parks, waterparks, gymnasiums, indoor pools, etc. There is a small downtown plaza with the essentials -book store, coffee bistros, restaurants, etc with one large grocery store just opened. Also a nice golf course with reasonable rates.

We then drove out to Ft Myers Beach, Bonnito Beach and Estero Bay -a funky, busy, beach holiday resort area. Everyone out walking around in shorts & swim suits checking out surf shops, tiki bars, etc. Definitely a young persons hangout !! Lots of HUGE homes along the waterfronts (as in pictures).

Dec 14-19 - Fort Myers

We checked into Shady Acres RV in Fort Myers, a smaller, older park but very friendly and lots to do. Have been enjoying the pool. Golfed at the San Carlos GC, a reasonable pretty little course ($31 each with cart). Drove out to Sanibel Island and Captiva Island, much like the Keys with huge plantation type homes on the waterfront. Everything is brightly lit with Christmas decorations. Lots of boutique malls and quaint eateries, as well as Nature Preserves, parks and public beaches. This has been a time of R&R for us. The fellow who told us it NEVER rains here in the winter was dead wrong. We have had some torrential downpours turning much of the park into a lake system. Tomorrow we head for Tampa, where we will spend a week over Christmas.

Dec 11-13 - Naples, FL

We drove back up the Keys to north of Homestead where we connected to Hwy 41, the Tamiami Trail, which parallels the Tamiami Canal, which is full of alligators. We counted at least 50 as we drove along. Also present are hundreds of birds, lots of them wading in the canal. There are dozens of airboats for hire as this is cutting across the Everglades and through Miccosukee Indian communities. There are also a number of wilderness state parks along with "panther crossing" warnings.

We checked into Lake San Marino RV Park in Naples where we stayed 3 nights. We took the Naples Trolley Tour which took us through Tin Town, the area of the fish packing facilities which were prevalent when Naples was only accessible by water, and now are quaint boutiques and wharf-side eateries. Then off through Old Town, pre-1950 when Naples finally became a city. We toured near some beaches, all of which you pay to use and pay for parking. There are 23 billionaires living here so we saw some pretty fancy mansions along the way. Also plentiful are the big luxury high end hotels. According to our commentator, it never rains here except in July, August & September making it the ideal snowbird haven. We ended our tour with seafood baskets at Pinchers Crab Shack on the wharf.

Dec 10 - Marathon

We started out having veggie pizzas on the deck at Porkies before heading out to the Sombrero Coral Reef (3 miles) on the catamaran Spirit for an afternoon of snorkelling. It couldn't have been a more perfect day with bright clear skies and 84+F. The water was incredibly clear and warm and various shades of turquoise, and you could see the reef clearly from above most of the trip. It is truly magical swimming amongst so many fish -so many sizes and so many colours. Those who dared venture further from the boat saw baracudas and rays. We also saw sea turtles, dolphins (unusual to be inside the reef), man-o-wars and purple jellyfish, along with a multitude of sea birds.

Once back to shore, we finished our day back at Chappy's poolside waiting for the perfect sunset which never appeared due to some cloudcover moving in. Then back to the Wreck for "all you can eat" baby pork ribs, beans & cornbread. All in all, yet another perfect day in Paradise.

Dec 9 - cont'd

We had a salad lunch at Porkies Smokehouse open-air restaurant at the charter fishing/snorkelling area of Marathon. Then made a super discovery at Chappie's bar & restaurant.We were scouting out a vantage point for the perfect unobstructed sunset. We found out that happy hour is from 3:00 to 6:00 and they have a lovely swimming pool open to diners/drinkers. Since we don't have a pool at our park, AND it was 82F, AND the sunset view was perfect, we drove the 12 miles back to the park to get our bathing suits. Did have the perfect sunset, great cheap drinks, a swim and stayed for scampi shrimp pasta dinner on the open deck. Some days, life is just toooo good :)

Dec 9 - Marathon

We spent a few hours at the Dolphin Research Center watching the researchers work and play with the critters. Really enjoyed the mom and new 17 day old calf. Several of these dolphins are offspring of Flipper & Co. and have worked in films. Also there are sealions, also doing their stunts. This is a rehab center as well.

Dec 8 - Key West

We drove the 60 miles south to Key West and took a 1.5 hour narrated trolley tour through both old town and the new town. Lots of history dating back to Ponce de Leone in the 1500s, including tales of pirates and the many wars (Spain vs England vs America). The town is ruled by roosters & chickens (protected), left overs from the days of cock fighting which became illegal. They apparently control the mosquito population in the city ?? We enjoyed an interesting lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, he being a local hero for bringing back tourism when the city was dieing. He had a tiny recording studio in the downtown area which was also used by other noteables. We made it to the Southernmost point of the USA. There is an active US Naval Air Base here with various jets flying in and out, sometimes in multiples.
Caught the sunset on our road trip home then went to The Wreck, an outdoor sports bar near the park, for a great seafood dinner. It is like the mid-summer here at over 80F and very high humidity, making it hard to sleep as it doesn't get cooler than the high 70s overnight. We are definitely not complaining (yet).

Dec 7 - Marathon

Took a drive around the Marathon area. Beautiful waterfront homes - most on man-made inlets with boat hoists in the front "yards". Several state parks in the area -with hookups -$43 per night !!

Dec 6 - Miccosukee Casino

We left Davenport and headed out to hwy 1 at the east coast. Followed the coast down to Juniper where we decided to take the hwy 95 to get away from all the traffic lights in the small towns which all seemed to run together. We called and talked to Wendy & Bruno Ferraro & Nick Prebble (friends from Alaska caravan from Port St Lucie) We crossed back west to hwy 27 which took us down through the everglades, avoiding going through Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Just as it started to rain, we zipped into the casino for the night. Didn't realized until the AM that the dinner special was surf & turf for $6.95. DARN !! We did however go in for the 2-for-1 expansive buffet breakfast and $15 each of free gambling money - mine evaporated instantly and Norm, the total non-gambler, walked out with $35.75 in his pocket !! We then headed down to the Florida Keys. Checked in to the Jolley Roger RV Park in Marathon half way down the Keys (Passport America half price is $40.50 per night compared to other parks at over $100). The Keys are a chain of coral islands that go for 130 miles connected by 42 bridges, meaning that almost everything here has water frontage and incredible sunsets. One bridge is 6.9 miles long, originally built by Flagler for his East Coast Railway and destroyed in the 1935 catastrophic hurricane.(sustained winds reached over 200 miles per hour with a sea surge of 20+ feet)

Nov 29-Dec 6 - Davenport, FL

We checked into Deer Creek Golf & RV Park in Davenport (20+miles south of Orlando) for a week ($99 for 7 nights plus 2 golf passes with cart). Nice park with lots of amenities but little chance to use them as we have not had good weather -lots of rain and tornado alerts, altho nothing more than a thunder & lightening storm materialized and some heavy short-lived downpours. We were greeted by Bob & Inga Pratt from Rhode Island, now full timing for 3 years. We travelled Alaska with them on our caravan in 2008. We did manage to get in 2 games of golf -one at this park and the second at Willowbrook GC at WinterHaven, about 20 minutes south west of here($50 for 2 with cart). We finally met the big boys as posted at the course. The biggest gator was 13 feet long !!! More than slightly intimidating when you aren't sure where they are !!! We met a wine cellar contractor, John Sykes, in our park who shared lots of stories of his contacts with Donald Trump, Bill Gates, etc. He brought us out some great Australian wines on two evenings. People are now well into the Christmas spirit -lights & decorations & seasonal music everywhere.