Florida: Day 2 — Monday

Temp: Hi 70/Lo 60
The locals where wearing their jackets! We were in shorts, and t-shirts

We all woke up early this morning after a good rest. Abbey was actually the last to get up today! I think all the seagull chasing tired her out! It was even cooler out this morning, than yesterday morning. It was also nice and dry – almost no humidity (I love it!).

Abbey and Holly went for a little walk on the beach. I filmed Abbey picking out some shells, and running around for a bit. We then ate lunch, and I went to see Grandpa Garlock, while Abbey napped. I picked up some tickets for the Mote Marine Aquarium from Grandpa. After Abbey’s nap, we headed to the Mote, and saw all kinds of fish. We even saw Nemo, Marlin, and Dory! I took some real good video of all kinds of fish, and I found the cuttler fish interesting. Salt water fish that live among the coral, have so many colors. They are also very pleasing to watch. Maybe some day, if Abbey is still interested, she can get a salt water tank, and keep some coral fish. Some of the colors are so vibrant, that you would almost think they are fake.

Abbey then had a few chances of touching a sting ray, in the ray tank. She was very patient, and kept trying to touch one, but they would never come close enough to her. I took some video of her trying, but she just was not tall enough to be able to lean over enough to touch one. We then decided to head over to the turtle, and manatee tanks, and see what was happening over there. The Mote has a nice little paved path, with painted logos of a turtle, and manatee, which lead to the building with the tanks for the manatees and turtles.

I still don’t understand how a manatee can grow so large, by just eating lettuce, and other plants. They must have a very slow metabolism. The are nicknamed the “sea cow”. We also watched a turtle that was saved in the wild, that had it’s eyes penetrated by some sharp object. He was blind. He got around pretty well in the tank, and he is well taken care of. The Mote is probably the best place he can be right now.

After the Mote, we headed out to dinner. We originally were hoping for a grouper sandwich on the pier, but the pier was under construction, so we had to find some place else. We did find a nice place, tat had real good food. After dinner, Abbey got to pick out a little “treasure” from a big treasure chest they had. She found a little plastic turtle, and was happy.

We drove out to the Coquina beach nature walk. Abbey was so excited, that she was singing made up songs about our walk! She was so happy to be walking on the various trails that went around the protected salt water flats. Both Holly and I really enjoyed the walk as well. There were plenty of trails that zig zagged all around the place, and had many points of interest, and even some signs that had information on the animals that inhabit the area.

After the nature walk, we came home, had some desert, and did our nightly audio recording of our journal entry for the day. Tomorrow, we are off to Sea World! WooHoo!!

Here’s some pix for today:

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