Day 4

This morning we all went on a jetski tour of the Everglades.  Yeah, we actually got to drive jetskis around the Everglades and see all kinds of stuff.  Our guide knew where some dolphins live, so he took us there and we got to watch them swimming around a few feet from our jetski.  Totally cool.  We also got to see some manatees, although not as close-up.  All we could see was their snout sticking above the water.  But manatees are actually kind of ugly, so it wasn't a huge deal we didn't get much closer. :)  The guide said that if we had motored over, we would scare them.  I can understand that.

Amy and Jaymie

Dad, Mom, and Jason

Three dolphins swimming close to our jetskis

Who will be the King (or Queen) of the jetski?

Queen of the Jeski!

The fleet coming into port

That was the morning.  The afternoon was more roasting by the pool and playing the golf tee game.  Pretty standard by this point. :)  We also debated when we wanted to leave.  We would either leave at midnight or the following morning around 6am.  After much discussion, we decided to leave at midnight and drive through the night at the beginning of the trip.  Personally, I don't think there is a "good" way to drive 25 hours straight,  so I didn't really say too much.

Since it was our last night, we went down to the beach to watch the sunset.  Unfortunately, Bridget was still not feeling well, so she stayed back.  But the sunset was pretty neat and we got some good pictures. :)  There was a pretty decent thunderstorm that went through the area a few hours earlier, and it was still visible off to the southwest.  It was a pretty impressive storm front.

Storm front... good thing it had already passed us...

Sunset, obviously... :)

Lindey and Jaymie

The fam (minus Bridget, who was resting)

After the sunset, we headed back and started cleaning and packing.  Well, most of us did.  My youngest brother still had some fish bait that needed to be used, so he went down to the dock to fish.  And since he couldn't go alone, my older brother went down with him (he was devastated to not be able to help clean...).  After getting everything organized that I wanted to, I walked over to where everyone else was working to see what else I should do.  But I heard Jason come running in, saying that my dad caught a huge fish.  I had heard some "fish stories" about some big tarpon near the boat stalls, so I was naturally curious.  This is when the story gets interesting.  So, I walk over and sure enough, there is a 25lb tarpon sitting on the dock in a net. 

The tarpon

When I got there, the fish started flopping around and jumped out of the net.  I grabbed the net and swing it over to trap the writhing fish.  My dad took a step backward and tripped on a little hose.  Unfortunately, the hose was attached to a pressurized freshwater line.  The brittle PVC connector snapped off, and we instantly had the Fountain of Youth shooting 30 ft. in the air.  We were all stunned for a moment, and then couldn't hold back our laughter.  It was hilarious. 

The Fountain of Youth

Then my youngest sister walked over and asked, "Hey, what's the water for?"  We were rolling on the ground at that point.  My mom then comes over to see what the commotion is all about and her first question was whether we were trying to shut off the water.  My dad says that we are taking pictures first.  So, she takes off and starts banging on doors asking if anyone knows how to shut off the water.  Once my dad finishes the photo shoot, he runs off too.

Dad and Jason with the tarpon (and the geyser just out of the picture)

The only problem with banging on doors is that most of the snow birds had already left, so there weren't many people around.  But eventually a guy walked by and showed me where the shutoff valve is.  So, by the time the water was turned off and we were done laughing, we tossed the fish back in and headed back to wrap up the cleaning.  But luckily we have pictures to back up this "fish story"! :)