Thursday 18th and Friday 19th February

The days are flying by so fast (unfortunately) that I've decided to cheat and do two at once.

Thursday 18th February was the day we booked way back in November to do Discovery Cove. It really is the most magical (and expensive) of the Florida parks. We've been before, and we loved it just as much as ever. We snorkelled through shoals of exotic fish, through beautiful grottoes, and over stingrays and sharks. We fed birds and saw otters. Grandma and the girls swam with dolphins called Coral, Reef and Hutch. It was a perfect day, and I'll let the photographs speak for themselves. Everyone should do Discovery Cove if they get the chance.

Fun in a hammock.

Feeding the exotic birds - which turned out to
be pigeons.

The girls and Grandma having a briefing from the trainer
before meeting their dolphins.

All food and drink was provided for the entire day, in
unlimited quantities. Hari took full advantage of this.

This bird eats pretty well too.

On Friday the Edeys and Hari, Ceri and I went to Aquatica on the shuttle so that Roderic and Grandma could have a day off. The hotel shuttle was free and dropped us at Seaworld, where we took the (also free) shuttle to Aquatica, arriving just as the park opened. I love water parks but spent most of the day lazing on the beach reading my Kindle, with just a little time in the wave pool, the lazy river (which goes past an aquarium and dolphins) and the rapids. No slides or flumes today - maybe next time. I was quite happy soaking up the sun and nattering with Suzy.

There was an all-day buffet option here too which worked well for us. The weather was perfect in that it was a hot but cloudy day so there was hardly anyone at the park. The children reported that they never had to queue for rides, and there were ten empty sunbeds for every occupied one.

On the shuttle bus Peter made friends with a boy his age from Nebraska called Hunter, and the two are going to be pen-pals. So this is a shout-out to Matt and Rachel too!