North Captiva Bound! We flew Southwest, and the kids are used to Allegiant, so when they offered the kids pop and a snack mix (they don't give you anything on Allegiant), they were seriously the MOST excited. I first went to North Captiva Island with my best friends in college. Then the next year we went again, and took the "guys" with us, Patrick included. It's been 19 years and we were so excited to go back. Hardly ANYTHING changed! No cars, no rush, no crowds, no fuss, no mess...sooooo laid back. Here we go!
We had to travel by plane, car, and boat to get to our destination. No vehicles on this island, only golf carts.
I remembered this ferry ride like it was yesterday. Came right back to me.
We walked off the dock and right into our townhouse...dropped our things, threw on our swimsuits, and headed to the pool! No time to waste!
Ofcourse within just hours, Carson and Patrick stumbled upon this adorable manatee just outside the pool by tthe boats. Us girls missed it, and we wondered if we'd even get the opportunity to see one at some other point that week. Well, we ended up seeing our manatee friends every single day. It was so much more than I could have ever hoped for!
Our first morning we found a great spot to look for shells. We ended up finding a crab and tons of starfish. I don't think I've ever seen them in the wild. It was so cool, like we were at an aquarium. Look how crystal clear that water was!
Ice cream and drinks at 10am, SURE! It was like a YES day all week for these kids.
This is the view from our screened in porch. I had my coffee and Laney had some hot chocolate. We'd sit there looking into the bay just waiting to spot a dolphin fin. When someone would see one they'd yell "RUNNNN!" and we'd all sprint out to the dock to watch them. On our second day, we all sat on the dock and this playful dolphin was throwing a fish around and catching it right in front of us, maybe 15-20 feet out. It was AMAZING. We ran out to fast and we didn't grab our phones for a pic or video, but I told the kids I'd alwasy remember that moment with them.
There was so much to explore on the island. So many sea creatures, birds, and turtles to see. There's nothing off limits and nothing formal, no tours or anything. Just a bunch of houses, trails, beaches, and a couple pools. There were two restuarants that were more like Tiki Bars outside. Check out that tree down there...it's like it grew along the ground for 10 feet and then shot up to the sky. Super strange.
A couple days were really windy, which made us a little chilly, but it was by no means cold. We had weather in the 70's all week.
This is another dock where we kept finding two manatee. Down below Carsons face is right above him. He was spinning and playing right there just looking up at Carson. We could have easitly touched them, but we aren't supposed to.
We all went kayaking a couple times. We were searching for dolphins which we did not find, but still had a blast. Saw some flying fish and Laney some more manatee!
Cheers! Barnicle Phils became our favorite spot. Food, drinks, and ice cream. Everything we could ever want!
This big bird came right over to Evie, I think he wanted her lolipop.
Our 2 manatee buddies.
Found a big turtle! We stayed and watched that thing for so long. It was so nice with no schedule and no play to be!
Where's Evie?
Hard to see, but there's a manatee popping up right in front of her.
View from our dock, there's a dolphin fin way out there too.
This was my FAVORITE day! I was outside watching some dolphins with the girls, when suddenly this HUGE manatee started moving right next to us. It was camoflauged so we didn't even notice it at first. Laney started screaming and I just couldn't believe when she showed me. It had to be a mama ready to give birth, the pictures don't do it justice. She was at least 7 feet long and she was just so wide, just humongous. She was in water probably 4 feet deep and she just swam around us for a good 30 minutes. Later, we saw her far out in the bay. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences of my life.
We had some serious Connect4 tournaments...when we were inside, which wasn't often.
Waiting for the ferry to come pick us up to take us to the mainland for our venture home. Tear, tear. We sure got used to the laid back island lifestyle. We had the most fun just driving around exploring. We NEVER had a plan for the day. Just went with whatever we felt like at the moment. It was so simple to go from the pool, to the beach, to another beach...and we packed WAY too much because we honesly never got our of our swimsuits. I wore running clothes 3 times when I went out running, and other than that, I only wore swimsuits and cover ups. There was no dress codes, no expectations, no reason to do my hair or make-up, y'all, it was WONDERFUL. I will go out of on a limb and say it was our favorite vacation yet. We hope to go back again someday. There's really nothing like it.
Our taxi ride to the airport. I guess the island took it out of them.
Thanks for the memories, North Captiva, yet again. What a special place.
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