It was 6.30am when I woke up which was a vast improvement on the day before, probably helped by the melatonin that I had taken before going to bed.
As we were later into breakfast it was much busier. It was cheese omelette day as opposed to the scrambled eggs from the day before. We remembered to take our tea bags with us so we could have hot drinks with our food. It is strange that we must do that, just why they think people would only want a choice of fruit or perfumed teas rather than good old English breakfast I will never understand.
By 9.30am we were in the car with wheels rolling. Our first destination courtesy of a Groupon purchase was to be the Sunken Gardens in St Petersburg. Our expectations were low though as we had never heard of them and the fact, they were selling discounted tickets.
Probably because our expectations were so low, we were very pleasantly surprised. The Gardens are set in a 4-acre site and are one of Florida’s oldest roadside attractions. The gardens are lushly planted with tropical trees and plans intertwined with winding paths. It was quite lovely and we enjoyed our time there. The only downside is that I suffered a bout of sciatica in my left leg whilst there and I needed to sit a while until it passed. I have been told that it is caused through walking differently when my right knee hurts (which it did as a reaction to walking on the uneven sand yesterday).
Part of the plan for the day had bring to drive to a Panera Bread for lunch. We were pleasantly surprised to find one opposite the gardens and so walked across to it. Trying to order though proved challenging as I do not think the person behind the counter had never heard the Queens (or is it now the Kings) English spoken correctly before. Now I get used to people not being able to understand me but Karen had no luck either. In the end we almost ended up with what had tried to order which was Caesar Salads albeit it arrived without any chicken and was a full portion. We ate our food outside in a small courtyard.
Our next destination was a follow up from yesterday’s mystery regarding the Buccaneer Motel. Although the motel had been demolished, the 20ft pirate that had adjourned the top of the entrance had been saved and was now in the Treasure Island community park. We felt it only right that we should go and pay our respects to him. It was a short visit and disappointingly he did not remember us, but it was still nice to see that he was still going strong and is known as a piece of Roadside Americana.
Then it was time to head back to John’s Pass where we had booked an afternoon Dolphin Cruise. Unlike yesterday when nowhere was open, today when we arrived the place was buzzing with people everywhere. I also knew that I had no alternative other than to accept that I would have to pay for parking and this time we pulled into a multi-story car park at Hubbard’s Marina.
We checked in and 20 minutes later we were aboard the flat-bottomed boat as it pulled away from the dock. I knew the trip only went into the inter coastal waterway and was confident that I would not feel seasick.
Within 5 minutes we were able to see our first dolphin swimming to the side of us. I really wanted us to have several close encounters with them possibly heading a ball back into the boat for me to throw back, or if not none at all as we had been guaranteed a refund if we didn’t see any.
Actually the 1 ½ cruise was very pleasant in the sunshine. There was a gentle breeze as we went along with a Jimmy Buffet soundtrack playing over the speakers. The highlights included watching for a baby dolphin play with a stick whilst its Mum watched from a distance and a manatee that came up a couple of times close to the boat. The crew provided an educational commentary and answered the many questions from the other American passengers. We kept our own counsel.
It was then time to head back to the Hotel for a very welcome cuppa. Whilst we had been out the TV had now been fixed but seemed to be precariously hanging on its bracket. We decided not to touch it. The room itself had not been serviced again. We were not sure if it is the policy not to do it every day or if we had been missed. As we keep things tidy and clean, we were not that bothered though.
At 5.45pm we headed out again. Karen wanted a look round a Target so we drove to one that was less than 2 miles away. We were in there for a short while and bought a couple of things. There was another Dollar Tree door so we popped in as there had been a few things that Karen hadn’t been able to get previously.
For dinner we drove back to the Hotel and went to the Texas Roadhouse that was next door. We had a 30-minute wait for a table as it was very busy. We both ordered Steak with a salad to start with. When the steaks arrived, the waitress asked us to cut into them. She shrieked as I did so and immediately took it away as it was ‘well done’ rather than ‘medium rare’. We then had the usual issue of Karen having almost finished her meal before mine had even been returned. The salad wasn’t bad but the steaks were just average.
I was now very full and regretting having eaten so late. We drove the 200 yards back to the Hotel where we chilled for a while watching a now working TV before retiring.
