Saturday-Homeward Bound

The van is packed, time to take our last stroll on Mexico Beach. I'm so gonna miss the coffee beachside. I didn't spend near as much time on the beach, at daybreak because these balconies were perfect for coffee without having to step onto the sand!

The kids look forward to staying at a hotel on the way home so they can swim "indoors" and have continental breakfast in the morning. We plan things this way so that we can see my brother and family on the way home, along with their pets! lol!

Friday- the last day

We woke up, ready to make the most of this last day. The water seems quieter, but there is officially a riptide caution, so we headed down to see the BIG Mexico Beach Chair, canal and pier. We ended up stopping at the canal park to let the guys do some fishing. Taylor and I trekked over to the east end of the beach, it is the dog-friendly section, so we got to see some pups enjoying the waves!  This secluded part of the beach was wonderful! The water was turquoise, clear, and since it was a bird sanctuary, it was super quiet! We loved exploring this side of the beach. I wish we had done it sooner because I bet we would have spent some more time here. 

We went back to our "neck of the beach" and still squeezed in a bit more water time. Taylor decided she had had enough swimming and would rather go up to the house and play on her tablet, until she decided that we looked like we were having fun and wanted to join back in..lol! We made the very most of every last second. The boys cast their last casts, we crashed all the waves we could crash, and took our last Mexico Beach selfies. It was finally time to head in to pack up. It's always sad when the vacation comes to an end. We will be happy to get back to our Sofa pup, that's for sure.

Thursday- Another Rainy Day

Storms again. Rough water again. It would be REALLY easy to get bummed, but we aren't. The kids are so happy to just hang out at the condo. Billy and I are the ones that get disappointed by not getting to do everything we planned. We haven't been able to do much fishing or for that matter, even enjoy the water much...but, we also haven't been at home, with chores, errands, cleaning, working, school work etc!! This is still vacation, outside or not. We relaxed, I downloaded pictures, the kids played electronics...it was another lazy day. 

When the sun popped out, we got motivated to go grab lunch at the famous Killer Seafood, which is also right across the street. We ate more fish, some soft shell crab, and Blake's new fave...scallops again. We got swimsuits on and headed beach bound. In that moment... Billy is fishing the rough water, Blake just wants to "battle" the waves, Tay is doing research on the Bottle Cap Jelly Fish and I'm writing my blog...lovin' this!

 

We made gourmet bacon cheeseburgers, even though it was kinda late. After all, we're on beach time, right?! We sat around the table asking each other questions, laughing and cracking up. We went out to see the pink crest on the waves from the leftover sunset, it was a beautiful sky.

Unfortunately, we witnessed what looked like a rescue effort taking place down by the pier. We saw ambulance, spotlights, and rescue watercraft out searching with big spotlights and flashlights. Billy and I immediately began praying for safety over all involved. It literally sank my heart at the thought of someone being lost out there. The waves and currents were unusually strong and seemed different than they had the days before. The undertow was so strong that Billy made us get out of the water. The waves would roll in and then you could feel it pull you to the side, so hard that if I held Tay from being taken sideways, you could see the current flowing hard around her. We continued to go out on the balcony to check on the rescue, just wishing there was more we could do to help. Sad end to the night.

Wednesday- Not quite a Wash

We woke to a raging sea, storms on the horizon. We spent the better part of the morning, sipping coffee, watching the weather roll in. Thank goodness we aren't scheduled to be out on a boat in the bay today! The stormy weather didn't keep Billy and I from doing our walk to search for shells, we got rained on as we ran back though.

We had a slow morning due to the rain, but decided to take a drive to the Cape San Blas peninsula. It cleared up just in time to see the beautiful sand dunes! I love sight seeing on new beaches! This beach directly faces the gulf, has tall tall dunes, and is located on the edge of a thin long peninsula. It's the border of St. Joes Bay. The Cape is absolutely beautiful, mixing lots of nature with million dollar beach homes.

We walked around the bay side, then crossed over to the beach. We found some really cool jellyfish creatures here! They were scattered all over the beach, we took pictures and couldn't wait to research them. Thanks to google, never being more than a swipe away, I checked on my phone and found that they are a button style jellyfish and are harmless...shew, we're safe!

 

We stopped at Toucan's for dinner on the way home. The kids have been begging to go there because they have a cool tiki-bar theme to them. Similar to a Margaritaville restaurant, totem poles everywhere with a beachside playground and volleyball net. We had some fish, scallops, and beachy drinks before heading home to cool off in the waves.

And waves THEY WERE! The kids can't get enough of the crashing, I'm making Taylor wear her lifejacket...she is like a bouy out at sea, bobbing all around. I don't mind the rough waters, until it makes my tummy a bit icky. Billy is downright sick of it, so we took a break to bury Blake in the sand...lol!

We spent the evening catching sand fleas for fishing, chatting with our beach neighbors, as we watched another sunset.