Christmas in Cape Coral

We had a lovely time staying in the house in Cape Coral. We were able to swim every day, and there was only half a day of rain the entire time we were there (there was some rain over night a couple of times, but that didn’t bother us any). The kids got a big surprise on Sunday night when I left around suppertime and came back with Doreen (their babysitter for the past 10 years!). Doreen stayed with us for a week and we had a busy time with a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa, lots of shopping, and a trip to Sanibel Island Beach for some sun and sea shells. The second week in the house we decorated for Christmas (we found a 4’ tall live “table top” Christmas tree which was just a great size for decorating!), and did some Christmas shopping. We also had two long “park” days – the first was a trip to Sea World in Orlando. The highlights for me were an interactive ride on the “Polar Express” – We were buckled into our seats and sat in front of a movie screen. When we took off, the seats moved in concert with what we were watching on the screen! It was amazing. When we arrived at the North Pole, Santa was there, as were the Beluga Whales, Penguins and the Polar Bears (no kidding). I also really enjoyed the night time Christmas Shamu whale show with great lighting and sound and Kristen and I fed the Dolphins. Annie and Dave went on Kracken one of the top 10 rated roller coaster in the world (twice). Kristen found a roller coaster that was just right for her in the Shamu fun park (and I had to agree that it was pretty fun too.) Later in the week we went back to Busch Gardens and had a great time on all the water rides (even Kristen!) and re-doing some of the fun things we had done with Doreen. On Friday, Dave and the girls drove back to Tampa to pick up Dave’s parents. It was so great to have them with us for Christmas. Christmas week was a busy blur of last minute shopping combined with lots of time around the pool and a visit to the Ford/Edison Winter Estate. It was especially nice as it was all decorated up for Christmas. After our first tour through in the late afternoon we went for supper, with a plan to return to look at the Christmas lights but it was a really cold evening and we rushed through the second time. Santa was able to find us in Cape Coral which was a relief. I think it was the eggnog and cookies that Kristen and Annie left for him… On Boxing Day (the day after Christmas for all you Americans) we had to take Dave’s parents back to the airport and we were alone once again. One day we went on an exciting kayak adventure. At the place where we rented the kayaks they warned us that it was really shallow at low tide, but I had looked at the tides and felt we would be through the shallow place an hour before low and I figured we’d be okay. They also said it was really narrow in the canals and that made it challenging to steer the boats – I’d seen the canals in Cape Coral, they were really wide – what did they mean?? They said it wasn’t for beginners… But we aren’t beginners – we’d had that extensive training back at the zoo in Melbourne! Anyway, off we went. Narrow! Oh my gosh we were going through this little tunnel in the trees that wasn’t three feet wide. The paddles are about 6 feet long. We had to keep ducking not to hit our head on the overhanging branches. We had to keep backing up the kayaks when they got caught up on the wrong side of little sticks poking out of the water. It took us about 40 minutes through this narrow canal to get to the portage. There you had to pull the kayaks out of the water and drag them over a long twisting boardwalk and then relaunch them on the other side. When we got to the other side we saw there was only about 3 inches of water – oh and the map had gone missing-- and the double kayaks were so long they didn’t fit around the corner in the canal… But we persevered… we found a old tattered map on the portage and then we dragged the kayaks through the mud when they wouldn’t float – it really wasn’t that far – I’m sure was glad that there weren’t any mosquitoes though – that would have been the end of me! I knew that by the time we got back we would be well past low tide and there would be more water and we wouldn’t have to do it again. Shortly after all this the canal got deeper and wider. Then it opened out in to the most wonderful wilderness, full of birds. At one point there were 7 egrets fishing in the canal right in front of us. At every turn in the canal we would see more birds. It was beautiful. We got to the end of the canal and decided it was too windy to go out into the river so we pulled the kayaks up on a little beach to have a snack. Just as we were thinking about leaving we saw this reptile swimming down the other side of the canal (probably about 35 or 40’ away). First we saw it’s head and figured it was a small alligator. They Annie turned away and Dave and I saw the distinctive slithery kink of movement you only see with… snakes…. And this was not a small snake – probably about a 6-8’ boa constrictor that someone could no longer deal with as a pet. Anyway, Dave and I decided it was probably about time to leave… so we kayaked back up the wonderful winding canals towards the portage. Unfortunately, the tide was still going out, so there was actually less water than when we came through the first time. We got covered in mud. The kayaks got covered in mud. Surprisingly our spirits remained intact and we stayed pretty cheery about it all. We pulled the kayaks out at the portage and pulled them back to the other side and relauched into inches of water. It was so nice to float again! We made it back safely to the rental shack and hosed off all the mud. We asked what happened to the father and son (probably around 12-13) that left right after us… “Oh – didn’t you hear him screaming?? They didn’t make it 10 minutes before they were back here”. Funny thing is that was one of the most fun days I had on the whole trip!! Guess I must be a little bit crazy!
Our last week in the house was pretty quite. I bought lots and lots of dry groceries (enough for 8 weeks in the Bahamas) and stored them away in the boat. The kids went to a day camp for two days put on by the City of Cape Coral at the Yacht Club. They had a busy time with fishing, bowling, swimming, tennis, kayaking (yes they did try kayaking again J), and a trip to Mike Greenwell’s where they have games, paint ball, go-carts etc. They were so tired they didn’t even want to do anything for New Years Eve so we stayed home. There were lots of fireworks and firecrackers set off all around us at midnight so we didn’t miss much that way.
We got safely moved back on the boat and spent the next week getting back into the routine of school. The marina is great with the pool on one side and the tennis courts on the other. We’ve been making use of both each day – the girls even bought tennis racquets and have had a couple of tennis lessons. We returned the rental car and are using the bikes to get back and forth to the grocery store. We are busy planning the next leg of our adventure to the Florida Keys and beyond.