Dan and I celebrated our 13th anniversary on August 1st! Thanks to my mom coming down to visit that week, we were able to get away to Sarasota together without the kids. It was the perfect anniversary!
On Saturday morning, we got up early and headed out for a kayak tour of the mangroves. We had a great guide named Kelly and he kept us entertained the entire 2.5 hours.
We got a little mini lesson on kayaking from Kelly and then we were off. It was a bright sunny morning but it wasn't too hot out on the water when we were moving. The first area that we paddled to was where they often see manatee. We were lucky enough to see a mom and a baby together but didn't get too close so that we didn't push them out into the channel where all of the boats are.
Kelly took us around to another area where he got out of his kayak and found a sea cucumber and star fish for us to hold. We also saw stingrays swimming around under us and the craziest birds that would swim right under your kayak and come up with a fish. They were very fun to watch once you got used to them popping up out of the blue and didn't almost cause you to flip your kayak. Kelly saw a five foot shark too but I'm happy to say that Dan and I did not!
The last part of our trip took us kayaking under the mangroves. This part was amazing! It was like being in another world under here. It was peaceful and quiet and absolutely beautiful.
The trees were covered in thousands of these little tiny black crabs. They were everywhere!
One of the main reasons for heading to the west coast of Florida for the weekend as opposed to the east coast is for the amazing sunsets. They did not disappoint!
On our last day we headed north up the coast, picked up some food for a picnic and checked out a couple of other beaches. The weather looked as though it might storm and we heard lots of thunder rumbing around but it never rained on us. It was a relaxing day of floating in the Gulf, walking along the shore line and picking up seashells. Just perfect!
