Boarding - Passed

We had a nice time at the Hampton, dined out drank well & anxiety built. Reiser feber as Nanny C would say. Shuttle to dock was good, shared with some Winnepegians. We expected security and checkin to be mayhem with 5000+ people. It was not the case & we all done & on board in 20 mins. We got our "wine" on OK. Linda's happy, just needs spme Scweppes now. The cabin is great & we are wandering & preparing for evac practice, just up Lin's street if only she could remember which way to go. We have no internet package so I will be silent on blogs til we get to Spain. We have booked a guided tour round Barcelona which may take the pain out of Bank Hol weekend. TTFN

Fort Lauderdale

This is Linda blogging. We left the villa today & drove to Ft Lauderdale. We arrived a couple of hours early so went Sawgrass Mills shopping mall. It was fantastic 2.5 million square feet, 500 stores, even the big 5th Avenue stores have discount outlets. Unfortunately Wally went mad & I had to shoot him. Hence I am blogging.

To Infinity and....

Beyond the infinity pool is a canal that takes you out into the Gulf and beyond. If you are so inclined. If you have a boat. Its a hell of a swim if not. I have been fishing this morning off of our bank.  Done well,  lots of blue gill up to .75lb. Got into a bigger fish, but straightened my hook & lost it. This villa is fantastic & the pool area is one of the best I have seen. We have some Royal Palms at the edge of the canal & red shouldered blackbird has a nest of 3 young she is feeding. Very protective & mob me when I fish. Speaking of that the canal is full of turtles that know people feed them. It's a battle to get the bait into the water. Some of them are 45cm across & would be tough if you hooked one.

More St Petes

Coming up to our last day here at St Pete, soon moving to Cape Coral. The stay here has been great. Today we lazed around & then went out to lunch at Ted Peters smoked fish place. This is a roadside restaurant, shack really that was featured in Diners, Drive Ins & Dives. They smoke their own fish in racks & do a roaring trade. It is cash only. We had mackeral & mahi mahi, really delicious, there was also mullet. Perhaps it was m fish day! After lunch we sat on the beach and watched the fish teasing the fishermen by jumping out all round them, never once taking a bait. After that it was back to the condo pool for evening cocktails. That building was just behind our condo & Linda was convinced that Tower of Terror had followed us from Disney & was stalking us.

Ding-a-Ling Ringling

Visited the Ringling museums down in Sarasota, about 45mins over Tampa bay. Ringling family owned the massive travelling circuses of the last century. 3 rings in one tent holding 14000 punters. There are all sorts of circus stuff in the museum inc a huge model constructed over 30 years. Sarasota was where the circus used to spend the winter & the Ringling's built a massive Venetian style house overlooking the bay. The whole house, gardens & art collections are lovely.

Bradenton

Went out for walk & lunch at Bradenton. It is a coastal town with nicely prepared sea front walks with shaded seats, toilets, bars & restaurants. You can see Lin lounging & studying the wildlife. Its a nice drive from St P, over Tampa Bay on a toll road £0.80 cash. You drive about 5miles over the bay & over the Sunshine Skyway bridge which is about 100ft high. Its very pretty, the setting for many ads and suicides.

St Petersburg - No Not Russia

We're not in St Pete's Beach either. We are on a lovely condo in downtown 100yards from the marina, beach,, supermarket & restaurants. The condo is ultra-modern, all shiny black tile & wood floors. Granite hi-rec kitchen, the appliances took some sorting out for old folks like us! St Pburg is just our cup of tea. Lots of nice parks to walk in, beach promenades, restaurants & cafes overlooking the front, museums & theatres. All in walking distance. The condo has a great gym & infinity salt pool on 5th floor overlooking the bay. Really enjoying ourselves here. The building has a 30ft high water feature. A textured wall that water pours over at varying rates. The flow & texture creates white & dark patterns on the wall. We just had the St Pete's downtown Indycar Grand Prix and they have been clearing the barriers & the yachts have been leaving.