Now that we are back home I am able to share our cruise to the Southern Caribbean. Yesterday I shared our first stop at Key West, Florida and we are now at sea for two days in the narrative on our way to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I thought I would go back and show some pictures from before we got on the ship in Tampa.
We are fortunate enough to have friends who "winter" in Florida and invite us every year to come down while they are there. This seemed to be the perfect time to fly in early and head down to Naples, (Florida, that is) for a few days before boarding the ship for the cruise.
This is what it looked like in Kansas City when we left. (It was 11 degrees F.)
The plane had to be deiced before we could even take off...
Getting off the plane in Tampa to temperatures in the upper 70s, we decided to upgrade our car rental for this classy convertible...
How do I look?
One day Friend Sue took us to a local Farmers' Market...
We ate out a lot....
Stone crabs at the Havana Cafe...
Loved the view and the food from the Marco Island Yacht Club...
Went to the beach...
Saw some porpoises playing on the way...
Arrived at what Wayne calls Bikini Beach...
Can't bring the food trucks here so they have food boats...
We walked across the end of the island to the gulf side...(I took this picture from the gulf side as we were walking back across to the skiff)
As you got close to the water, the sand turned to shells...
Saw some beautiful sunsets...
Here is a popular place for people to come to view the sunset...
One day we drove (part way) across the Southern part of Florida on Highway 41 through the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Everglades National Park. This was a highlight to our days there as we saw manatees in the water and lots of alligators. How exciting it was to see an alligator feed on fish in its own habitat!
What looks like maybe a disturbance in the water in the background is actually seven manatees.
Walkways like this allow you to walk back into the preserve...
This small tree that looks like it is wrapping itself around this tree is called a Strangler Fig. They will eventually choke the tree to death. We saw many other trees that had been covered completely by the strangler fig.
This anhinga is drying his feathers after having been in the water. It will stay like for this until its feathers dry which can take quite a while.
We also stopped by the smallest post office in the United States...
It was sad leaving our friends and The Love Shack, but we didn't want to miss the ship and our cruise.
Hope you enjoyed this look back at Naples. The ship will dock next at San Juan, Puerto Rico. I will share pictures from there, too.
We are fortunate enough to have friends who "winter" in Florida and invite us every year to come down while they are there. This seemed to be the perfect time to fly in early and head down to Naples, (Florida, that is) for a few days before boarding the ship for the cruise.
This is what it looked like in Kansas City when we left. (It was 11 degrees F.)
The plane had to be deiced before we could even take off...
Getting off the plane in Tampa to temperatures in the upper 70s, we decided to upgrade our car rental for this classy convertible...
How do I look?
One day Friend Sue took us to a local Farmers' Market...
We ate out a lot....
Stone crabs at the Havana Cafe...
Went to the beach...
Saw some porpoises playing on the way...
Arrived at what Wayne calls Bikini Beach...
Can't bring the food trucks here so they have food boats...
We walked across the end of the island to the gulf side...(I took this picture from the gulf side as we were walking back across to the skiff)
As you got close to the water, the sand turned to shells...
Here is a popular place for people to come to view the sunset...
One day we drove (part way) across the Southern part of Florida on Highway 41 through the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Everglades National Park. This was a highlight to our days there as we saw manatees in the water and lots of alligators. How exciting it was to see an alligator feed on fish in its own habitat!
What looks like maybe a disturbance in the water in the background is actually seven manatees.
Walkways like this allow you to walk back into the preserve...
This small tree that looks like it is wrapping itself around this tree is called a Strangler Fig. They will eventually choke the tree to death. We saw many other trees that had been covered completely by the strangler fig.
This anhinga is drying his feathers after having been in the water. It will stay like for this until its feathers dry which can take quite a while.
It was sad leaving our friends and The Love Shack, but we didn't want to miss the ship and our cruise.
Hope you enjoyed this look back at Naples. The ship will dock next at San Juan, Puerto Rico. I will share pictures from there, too.
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