Marineland FL

Along the ICW, we see many ospreys

Between Daytona Beach & St Augustine is a small place called Marineland, which is the location of the original dolphin research and aquarium.  This place existed long before Sea World got in to the act; in fact, I remember visiting Marineland on a family vacation sometime around 1959 (yes, I know that I don’t look that old, but…)

Just over 2 years ago, when we spent the winter in Sanford FL on the St John’s River, we brought our granddaughter to Marineland for just one day.  As she watched the dolphins do their tricks, and watched the people swimming in the water with the dolphins, she just fell in love with the place & has been saving her money since then to be able to swim with the dolphins.  So next week, we’re meeting our son & his family half way, to pick up our granddaughter for a week.  And by next Tuesday, she’ll get her wish at Marineland.

Kayaks inside the marina getting ready to paddle
across the ICW to the estuary

The rest of the week, we’ll spoil her by swimming in the ocean (this marina is so close that we can hear the surf), going to LegoLand in Orlando, and teaching her about ocean tides and the marine estuary by means of a guided kayak trip.  We’ll wear her out (or, visa versa) before giving her back to her parents.  It should actually be the highlight of our summer.

After entertaining our granddaughter, we’ll head to Chattanooga for a couple days to check on Sue’s mother, then point the bow of the boat southbound to cross Florida at Lake O before heading to Orange Beach AL for the winter.  More about that later.

As the shade of our boat cools the dock in the evening
and the sea breeze kicks in before sunset, we got out our chairs,
put on a Jimmy Buffett CD, got our adult beverage in hand,and watched the sun set.
This cruising lifestyle is tough, but SOMEONE has to do it!

This is what we HAD to look at!