The penultimate day

YES. I got to use the word ‘penultimate!’ Always a good day when that happens.

Our plan was to try a kayaking adventure on nearby Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon, but after a morning of sitting outside in the sun and reading, the clouds moved in around noon and we got some rain. It didn’t really clear fully until late afternoon, so we decided to do the kayaking next time.

We still made a trip down the island to visit our special manatee spot, at a small local park on a little inlet. You used to be able to get down closer to the water and get right near the manatees, but they have it all roped off now. That’s okay...you can still get close enough to get a good look at them, and we saw at least eight of them. We also got a bonus dolphin sighting! We didn’t get to see them leaping out of the water, but we could see that they were chasing something underwater, and we could see their fins bobbing up and down. It was neat!

Then it was over to J.B.’s Fish Camp, one of our annual stops. This is also where you can rent kayaks. Since we weren’t doing that, we had some appetizers and a pitcher. Raw oysters (I only had one...too rich for me anymore), shrimp cocktail, and a crab cake. Their crab cakes are to die for! We also encountered a trick we hadn’t seen before: float a cup of ice in the pitcher of beer to keep it chilled in this heat and humidity. How brilliant is that?!

Unfortunately, I felt really crummy after this appetizer meal. This is the second time this has happened to me after J.B.’s. It’s not food poisoning, because it hits me very quickly, and food poisoning takes a few hours at minimum. I think it’s a matter of the richness of some of the food...in this case, the oyster and the crab cake. The time before, it was because I had a deep fried platter, and ohhhh, I felt so awful. My tummy doesn’t do deep fried anymore! I was careful this time, but it was still a little too much for me. I took a nap after we got back, and it eventually eased up. I lived to fight another day!

I also lived to eat the swordfish that Ken grilled tonight. It was delicious! Old Bay seasoning is a good addition. We watched a couple of Soprano’s episodes, and had several laugh out loud moments. Tonight’s favorite was Carmela saying to A.J. “Be a good Catholic for 15 fucking minutes! Is that so much to ask?” Ha! One more night of grilling. I think we can both say that we’ve gotten our fill of fresh seafood this time around! Tomorrow, Ken will get in another round of golf in the morning (weather permitting), we will have lunch at Norwood’s, a great old school place that dates back to the ‘40s, and I will get my annual piece of Key Lime pie! Mmm...Key Lime pie....

Fingers crossed for decent weather tomorrow afternoon, so we can get a last dip in the ocean and a little more time on the beach!

I hope your day was as pleasant!