Destin Day 2...

Our second full day in Destin started out pretty early. We threw on swimsuits, grabbed towels and snorkels and headed over to Panama City for a dolphin adventure.

I have to say, this little excursion did not really turn out how I had envisioned. I did a lot of research on dolphin encounters in the Destin area and I stumbled across what I thought was going to be the jackpot. The website was covered in pictures of people swimming with dolphins out in the wild and I was instantly hooked. In my mind, it was going to be the dolphin version to the stingray in the Cayman Islands.

We divided up onto two pontoon boats and set out into deeper waters. We saw quite a few dolphin and when we did, we were instructed to hop into the water and let them swim around us... if they felt like it. The water was pretty murky, so it was really hard to see them swimming around us and though I did see 4 giant dolphin swim just inches from my face, many of our crew didn't get to see them in the water at all. To top it all off, we got caught in a storm. One boat went back to dock and one stayed to avoid dangerous waters. All the moms and three kiddos happened to be in the boat that weathered the storm out in the middle of the ocean- it was cold and the rain was hard- but hey, we set out to have an adventure, and an adventure we had!



(covering up from the storm- we were freezing)

I think Remi and I had the best experience getting to see some dolphin up close and personal. They were beautiful and honestly, it is the closest I have ever been to a creature of that size! Remi snapped this picture right as a dolphin passed in front of him. His excitement at not only seeing this dolphin so close but capturing it on the GoPro made this little excursion worth it for me!



Before the storm hit, we did a bit of snorkeling around shell island and the rock jetty. We saw some sea urchins, sand dollar and scooped up some seashells!












I have to really keep on eye on Remi. The ocean is his happy place and he loves to venture off in search of anything he can find!









We were all very ready to get back to shore where we could dry off and warm up! We ended up eating lunch in Panama City at Schooners. It was a very laid back restaurant, right on the beach and the perfect place for the kiddos to play while we waited for our food. Remi loved his crab claws and my shrimp-n-grits were pretty amazing too!







After making it back to Destin, we stopped at Alvin's so that we could grab some essential beach gear- nets and shovels! We let the kiddos take their goods down to the beach for a bit to dig and hunt. For dinner, the guys picked up a local favorite, Merlin's pizza and it was a relaxing way to end our busy day!