Orlando FL Area 11/11/13 - 11/24/13

 

Orlando FL weather in November has been beautiful, mid 70's most days.  Each morning in our campsite we were visited by a trio of Sand Hill Cranes.  These majestic birds stand about 4 feet tall, were not phased by our presence a bit, and their bugling and rattling calls were both haunting and beautiful.  On a few occasions they performed a wonderful dance outside of our windows, a treat to see.  We also had a resident tortoise that crossed over our campsite every day.  We were amazed at how fast he could transverse the campground during his daily visits.

While in the area we did some bike riding and also got in a few 9 hole rounds of golf at a local executive golf course.  One day we drove out to Lakeland, FL and did some hiking in the Circle B Bar Reserve, a former cattle ranch that today boasts a wide variety of plants, animals and birds.  At the reserve we saw over 20 alligators, various bird species, raccoons and armadillos.  It was an enjoyable morning.  The Anhinga and the Roseate Spoonbill are especially beautiful.  But the Roseate Spoonbill is incredibly shy and we hope to one day shoot a better picture of one.  We topped off the day at a vintage theater built in the 20's where we were first entertained by an organ concert (30 min prior to every movie show) and then to a documentary film that we had gone there to see.  The theater had so much charm.  The history of the theatre is a short, yet interesting read. http://www.polktheatre.org/history.asp

We are headed to Odessa FL for Thanksgiving week staying at the Silver Dollar Golf club.

Orlando, time to slow down

FL Sand Hill Crane Visitor

Resident Campground Tortoise

Armadillo...these guys are quick!

Alligator

Smaller Alligator

Turtle

Raccoon

Anhinga

Roseate Spoonbill

Great Blue Heron

Ibis sitting high in a tree

Red Shouldered Hawk

Limpkin

Sunset at the campground

States Visited Since Retirement

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Western Caribbean Carnival Cruise out of Tampa, FL 11/3/13 - 11/10/13

Our home went into storage in Orlando on 11/3/13, Tiger went to the Kitty Condo and we headed from Orlando to catch the Carnival Legend out of Tampa, FL for a week.  It had been almost a year since we had been scuba diving and this cruise was planned to give us the opportunity to dive 4 countries, 3 of which we had not dived in prior.

Day one was a fun day at sea. There is always something fun to do on a cruise ship with entertainment, trivia competitions and the opportunity to slow down and read by the pool.  The night before we were upgraded to a balcony which besides the view and another great place to chill, turned out to be a wonderful place for placing our dive gear to dry out each day.

This is the first time that we have done 'your time dining' and for us, it is what we will continue to choose in the future.  The Legend is a smaller ship and was not at full capacity.  This gave us the opportunity to see people we had met on excursions and at dinner throughout the cruise.  While we choose your time dining, we chose to share a table each night as meeting interesting people is an important part of the whole cruise thing for us.

Our first port was Cozumel, Mexico, an island off of the Eastern coast of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula.  We have dove Cozumel before and it ranks at the top as one of our favorite places to dive.  While it was raining when we got on the dive boat, once to the dive spots, this Cozumel dive trip once again did not disappoint.  The port time with the diving was tight, however, with us returning to ship immediately after diving.  But the diving was great and the water was warm.  So nice to dive in dive skins instead of 7 mil suits in November.

Our next port was Belize.  Belize, a country on the northeastern coast of Central America is the only country in the area with English as their official language.  A small bit of Trivia....Belize is the birthplace of chewing gum, originally made from Chicle, derived from the juice of the sapodilla tree.  But of more interest to us, Belize is the home to the second largest barrier reef in the world.  The reef was so full of color, variety and fish.  Wow! This was some really nice diving and Hugh Parkey dive shop is the best shop we have ever gone diving with.  They came to our ship and took us to their private island.  From there we headed out to do two wonderful dives. Both were almost an hour in length and on return to the boat they rinsed us off with fresh water (never had that happen before, and nice), provided watermelon, chips, salsa and homemade cookies.  They even rinsed and cleaned all our gear for us (another first and nice!).  Back at their island we had Lion fish ceviche (a first for us and quite tasty).   We were returned directly to the our ship and never got into Belize city but were able to get a couple of tee shirts on their private island.

On to Roatan, Honduras the next day.  Roatan at approx. 37 miles by 5 miles in size, is the largest of the Honduras Bay Islands.  As the cruise ship approaches the Dixon Cove (re-named by Carnival Cruise lines as Mahogany Bay, after a huge monetary investment) one sees the lush tropical mangroves of the island and also the shipwreck of the Tulum and the Alexander.  These ships sank approximately 40 years ago.   In attempt to haul them back out to sea, they broke apart and remain in the cove attracting fish for snorkelers.

There had been a storm the day before we arrived in Roatan which created poor water visibility.  While we still enjoyed the diving, it was at the bottom for quality in regards to the four countries that we dove on this trip. The island of Roatan is quite poor, but this is not seen by most that ride an aerial tram from the port to a 10 acre private island developed by the cruise lines.  This private island is only open to cruise passengers and workers.  While we are sure that this private island is probably quite beautiful, we felt fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel across a good portion of the island where the locals reside on our way to the dive shop.  This gave us the opportunity to see the 'real' Roatan and not some cruise line creation.

Last country.....Grand Cayman.  Grand Cayman was incredibly hot but the diving was spectacular.  The diving was up there on par with Belize and the dive shop was great as well.  We saw lots of Snapper and even a few bikes on the ocean floor next to a shipwreck.  We were told that some of the dive masters have a tradition, at the end of their stay at Grand Cayman, of riding their bikes off the deck near one of the wrecks (instead of shipping their bike home).

Our last day, was a day at sea. The four days in row of diving, in four different countries was very full and action packed.  We were ready for some quiet time at sea once again as well as having time to enjoy some of the ship's entertainment.

We really enjoyed this trip, so much so that we are talking about possibly doing a 4 day to the Bahamas in February, making that trip not a dive trip but just a relaxing kick back getaway.  We are kicking it around at this point.  We got back to Orlando and picked up our kitty.  He was not very happy, but within a day, he is pretty much back to normal.  We are in Orlando for 2 weeks now where we plan to enjoy the weather, the pool, the bike trails and maybe get in some golf.

Scorpion Fish - Cozumel, Mexico (yes they are always this ugly)

Spotted Eel - Cozumel, Mexico

File Fish Cozumel, Mexico

Isle of Roatan, Honduras

Shipwrecks Tulum and Alexander -
Dixon Cove in Isle of Roatan, Honduras

Private Island -  Isle of Roatan, Honduras

Turtle - Isle of Roatan, Honduras

Grouper - Isle of Roatan, Honduras (these guys were about 4 feet long)

The colors of Belize

The colors of Belize

The colors of Belize

Teri holds a starfish in Belize

Snapper in Belize

Grand Cayman Island

Snapper in Grand Cayman

Bob just has to ride that bike, even in the Grand Caymans

Looks like dinner to us -  Grand Caymans

Angel fish -  Grand Caymans

Passing by Cuba in the distance at daybreak

 

Woodbine, GA 10/21/13 - 10/25/13

Woodbine, GA...was intended as a 'stop over point' on our way to Orlando, but as those that follow our blog know, we find something just about everywhere we travel to. 

We were here a short while and met new friends our first day, which was rainy (and had them over for BBQ ribs).  We traveled to St. Mary's GA one day, visiting this quaint town and also went to their submarine museum while there.  Their submarine museum is the largest in the south and the 5th largest in the US.  It is located near Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, one of only two Trident Submarine Bases in the world.  The museum is a reunion site for former submariners.  The city of St. Mary's has many well restored old buildings.  As an extra bonus, we were there during their Hay Days,  and enjoyed walking amongst  the various scarecrows, decorated by the local merchants.

Our last full day, we drove to Jekyll Island, GA, where we had an enjoyable day.  Jekyll Island is rich in history, being most notably known for the Jekyll Island club.  Munsey's Magazine in 1904 described the club as "the richest, the most exclusive, the most inaccessible club in the World."  Members, among others, included J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, Vincent Astor, Joseph Pulitzer, William Vanderbilt, George Macy, Frank Goodyear, Marshall Field, Cyrus Hall McCormick and Edwin Gould.  The club lasted 54 years, closing at the end of the 1942 season.  The club was a winter resort for the rich and famous.  Most built winter 'cottages'.  Most of the 'cottages' were over 7,000 square feet and had multiple full bathrooms (sometimes over 6) at a time when many in this country did not have inside plumbing.  The cottages also had electricity, although only 10 hours each day, during the time the generators ran.  Almost all meals were eaten at the clubhouse, where they would travel to in their 'red bugs' that went 35 MPH.  While touted as a  vacation getaway, even with most cottages having 12 or more servants, and with the men hunting on the island this still seemed to us as more like an opportunity for the rich to show off their attire and tell their 'rich' stories to those of like class structure.  Eventually the war came which created access to the island issues, including German Subs hanging out off shore.  After the war, the state of Georgia, really wanted the property and managed to acquire the Island, through condemnation of most of the properties.

We toured the museum and also took the tram tour while on the island which included being able to tour inside 3 of the cottages.  No inside pictures were permitted.  These cottages, their size, décor, modernisms for the day are impressive.  We also learned a few trivia things.  The Rockefeller house had one of the first living rooms.  We learned that parlors, besides being used for entertaining, were also where the dead were put.  Thus, Mrs. Rockefeller wanted a 'living' room.  Most of the cottages also had coffin windows as it was considered bad luck to carry the dead out of your front door.  Some of the cottages had their own servant quarters.  The island also had a servant village, with included dining hall.  There was a church on the island.  Attendance was mandatory, however, a servant could be sent to sit in for you.  Because of the high concentration of the movers and shakers at that time, Jekyll Island was the location of various historic events, including the first transcontinental telephone call.  More information is found at: http://www.jekyllclub.com/about-us/club-history/  and also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jekyll_Island_Club

We also traveled to the north end of Jekyll Island to walk along Driftwood Beach.  Driftwood Beach, we think resembled a tree graveyard (If there is such a thing).  Lots of huge driftwood, everywhere you turned. It really was a neat adventure.

We are headed to Orlando where we will pull things together for our Caribbean dive cruise.  Next posting will be sometime after we return from the cruise on 11/10/13.


Bank of Camden 1911(St. Mary's, GA)

First Bank Catholic Church 1840

(St. Mary's, GA)

Inside St. Mary's Submarine Museum
Dolphins were chosen as the submariner's symbol
because of how the dolphin dives and surfaces
http://www.aboutsubs.com/dolphins.htm

 

We especially liked these two Scarecrows

from the 'Newcomer's Club' in

St. Mary's, GA (very appropriate)

St. Mary's, GA Waterfront

 Jekyll Island - Crane Cottage

Jekyll Island - Indian Mound: Rockefeller Cottage

Jekyll Island - San Souci Cottage
(a first in condo development)
6 cottage for those that did not want to build their own

Bob lost in the Driftwood at
Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island

Lonely Driftwood

Great Egret at Driftwood Beach

Dinnertime at Driftwood Beach

Local Jekyll Island Bird

St. Simons Lighthouse from

Jekyll Island

Maybe you need to be from CA to see the humor.
  Yes, we bought gas here in GA,
not to be confused with CA.
Too funny!

Green!  In GA, it is the new color for caution.

States visited since retirement