One of my favorite things to do during our visit is to kayak down the creek to the far bay and look for shells. Also, there is an area full of sea biscuits, which are basically a thick sand dollars. CK and Chip stayed behind to meet with Tony and get a tour of FBV. FBV has been for sale technically for a few years and I think Chip and Lisa would be amazing at running the resort. Last year the four of us hatched a plan on how to buy and run the resort. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure I could live on the little island for longer than a few weeks at a time and I think such a resort would need someone to be there full-time, so I can't imagine how it would really work, but it's fun to talk about. So, during this visit Chip and CK met with Tony and got a full tour of the facilities and a behind-the-scenese view of how it all works and how the finances work. While they did their tour, the three kids decided to stay in the big house and play Roblox together, make new and fancy drinks and basically be kids.
Lisa, Chris, Allen and I each grabbed a single kayak and headed for the creek. Getting across the bay to the mouth of the creek was hard, but once inside the creek it was a lot easier. Plus, having only ever been on a double kayak with one of the girls, I was amazed at how much easier the single kayak was to paddle and maneuver. It was actually a lot more fun and not quite as exhausting. We made it to the far bay in maybe 30 minutes and didn't see any baby sea life since the wind started up as we were in the creek, which caused the water surface to be rough and difficult to see through to the bottom.
Once we arrived at the bay, the wind and the tide were both pressing us back and it was incredibly difficult to make it to the shore. I finally made it after paddling hard for maybe 15 minutes. I arrived first, then Lisa and then Chris. Allen really struggled to get to the shore, but he finally made it. Unfortunately he fell in as soon as he got to the shore, but at least he'd made it. We combed the beach and found some nice shells. I'd brought our masks and snorkels and Chris and I snorkeled around the bay. I found few sea biscuits, but they were old and many of them were broken through. I did find a few that were decent and brought them up for Chris and Allen. I kept two and they took two. We have some really nice ones from last year, so I'm not sure what I'll be doing with the new ones. We hung out for awhile and then decided to head back for some lunch. We'd certainly worked up an appetite. Going back was so much easier thanks to the outgoing tide, so it took very little effort to paddle back to the bay. Once in the bay it became pretty difficult and it felt like we were never going to make it to the big house. But, we finally did and it felt great to pull the kayaks up on the beach and take a break. We changed quickly and met back at the big house for lunch. I had our dry bag that included all of our phones.
We sat on the patio and enjoyed the best cheeseburger of the week! It was so delicious after the kayak trip. After lunch, the kids got into their swimsuits and decided to make sand castles. CK helped the girls built their sand castle while Chip and Charlie made their sand castle and Lisa and I hung out and read or took pictures of their creations. Chip and Charlie's ended up being pretty amazing and impressive. The girls built their castle and large pool and then decided to kick it down.
We got ready for dinner and I'd brought some outfits for us to wear and have family photos taken by Jason, however, Jason and Tam are now living full-time in Ft. Lauderdale, so that wasn't going to happen. Instead, I asked Chris and Lisa if one of them could take some half decent photos of the four of us and had us all dress up in our cute clothes for our final evening. I'd bought both girls' dresses from Old Navy and couldn't believe how great they both looked, but especially the blue dress for Sofia. It literally looked like it was made for her! She looked fantastic in it. I also found my white cotton eyelet dress at Old Navy and it fit perfectly and was super comfortable. We actually looked pretty good and we were all showered and scrubbed, something I'm not sure was happening for both girls regularly during the week.
We headed to the big house and Chris was more than happy to take pictures of us. They turned out to be pretty good and the lighting was perfect. After our official family photos, we headed up to the patio and talked until it was time to enjoy the sunset, which ended up being the nicest of the entire week. We were also rewarded with the best meal of the week: steak and lobster with a fresh garden salad. So delicious!! We are bummed our vacation is coming to an end, but what a great day to end on and such a delicious meal! We hung out for a bit after dinner and then headed off to pack up and sleep before having to say goodbye to our beloved FBV.
Rain in the distance but beautiful here!
Chris kayaking into the little bay.
The little bay we came to and explored on the far side of the creek.
Stacked rocks.
The bay from the far end.
The girls' charges in the gift shop!!
The girls and CK working on a sand castle.
Chip and Charlie working on their compound!
The girls in the castle's "pool"
Sweet girls.
Checking out the two castles.
Sofia and Mommy selfie
I will never get tired of this view!
CK and me!
The four of us.
Close up!
The fun crew for the week!
The best sunset of our visit!
These three - Sofia, Charlie and Olivia. Such cute friends.
Enjoying the sunset together, and taking lots of pictures.
Our whole crew!
lobster and salad - the best dinner for our final night.
