St. George Island with Mema and Papa

The next two days were spent on St. George Island, a beautiful, quiet barrier island.  There was a lot of fishing (everyone except me, since the closest I came to catching anything was a crab that was snacking on my bait) and the kids got an extra kick out catching unusual fish such as Eliza's trout or the many baby sharks everyone caught. 

Ben and I brought our masks and snorkels and tried to see some fish in the water but the water was so murky we couldn't see anything except one tiny fish that swam within inches of my face.  The most exciting marine life we saw, other than the things the fisherpeople were catching, were the dolphins jumping in the distance.

 The kids had a lot of fun on the boogie boards together and they played in the sand.  

When we were ready to call it a day on Monday we also made a stop at the one ice cream shop on the island before going back to the condo.  Ben and Papa had an encore fishing adventure from the pier at the condo when they caught an enormous stingray that probably had a wingspan of 3 about feet.  It was too heavy to reel in so they snapped the line and let it go.

On our way off the island on Tuesday we made a quick stop at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve Nature Center and checked out the stuffed animals and animal bones on display.  There are usually a lot of live animals in tanks but the center hasn't been able to get everything back to normal since Hurricane Michael hit last October.

When we headed home Tuesday afternoon, we had a good haul for a fish fry.  But Ben decided to supplement by picking up some more goodies from his good friend Matt at the fish market where he used to work.  We ended up with a FEAST.  A delicious all-you-can-eat seafood buffet.  Mmmm.