We fold our laundry from last night, fill our water containers (gallons, camelbacks, and bottles), and repack the food bags so we are more prepared to leave tomorrow morning. We’ll have a snack and read while we wait for the girls to get ready. We’re joining them for breakfast but not sure if we’re leaving at 9a or if that’s when we’re getting to the restaurant. I’ll continue to add stops to our return trip while Addison cooks herself some eggs. The route to George’s is a bit flooded, and though most vehicles on the road are between 4-10″, it’s nothing our medium-clearance 7.5″ vehicle can’t handle.

Not surprisingly, Addison is the only one to not finish her meal as I help Fallon eat her pancakes and am too full to help anyone else. We get to The Florida Aquarium at 1030, wait to pay for parking, and learn that the pavement is porous so that the ground and plants can filter out the pollutants before the water runs into the bay. In what appears to be the center of this multi-floored building is a moon jellyfish petting tank. Here you are allowed to gently use two fingers to feel their bell. This species has a harmless venom for those kids with more curious fingers.

The Yellowhead Jawfish uses its mouth to dig its burrow, move things around, spit rocks at aggressors, and males will incubate eggs until they hatch. The Coral Restoration Foundation is helping to plant coral trees, a pipe structure, that keeps the fragments from breaking or getting smothered in the sand and keeps them in the sun and current for better growth. To volunteer as a diver, costs start at $110/day through the dive charter, which changes each time, and a $50/pp donation is required on each trip; not something we could afford to do often, so I’ll keep looking for a more cost-effective opportunity.

The aquarium has a 15-foot-deep habitat that visitors can pay $95 to walk around in for 20 minutes after 55 minutes of training, prepping, and a safety brief. Perhaps these people can also afford to plant coral. The fluorescent flower hat jellyfish are nocturnal and are seen between December and July, as adults only live for a few months, near Japan and South Korea’s part of the Pacific. Then there are the upside-down jellies, up to the width of a frisbee, that spend all their time on the shallow lagoon bottom amongst mangroves feeding in the sun.

We sit in front of the largest tank awaiting feeding time, in which the staff feeds the larger animals, a turtle and the sharks, first so that they’re full and the little fish can get their fill too. I’ll sit on the floor and have a look at the creatures hidden behind the rocks, but soon there are kids with sticky hands and hungry mouths on the glass, so we decide to move on. The painted frogfish (aka coral blob fish), found in the Indo-Pacific area, live solitary lives except for mating and don’t tolerate each other after, which is ironic because hermit crabs are very sociable but their name means loner.

There’s a group from the New England area looking at the lionfish and I inform them that they make good ceviche and shark snacks as an invasive species. One guy says he would try them while a woman says she’ll stick to her lobster, once only a cheap daily for the poor before the 1880s when demand increased. The polka-dot batfish looks like it expanded the wrong way and as a result has to use its pectoral fins to walk along the ocean floor. There’s a hands-on station where you can attempt to see what the four-eyed fish, Anableps, sees – above and below the water surface simultaneously to hunt for prey and monitor for predators.

I learn something new about catfish too. Most of them are electroreceptive to sense their food, and only a few species are electrogenic and can stun their prey, ward off predators, and communicate with other electric catfish. I get to see the cute axolotl, a pedomorphic amphibian that I first read about earlier this year, that doesn’t metamorphose to land but retains its juvenile features as an adult. The paddlefish, an awkward filter feeder, is described as having a shark-like body with an elongated snout that looks like it belongs there, unlike the platypus, a beaver/otter/duck, that got its face stuck in a Crocs shoe.

The male platypus has venom-filled glands in hollow spurs on their hind legs that are used in defense and to kill small animals. When I think of poison-filled animals it’s snakes, frogs, and spiders that come to mind, but there are other venomous mammals such as shrews, vampire bats, and slow lorises. There are more fish tanks outside, with resident birds, and an alligator pond. We’ll walk in a balcony-like area upstairs and around the kids’ splash park, let the girls throw snowballs at a target, and see the saddest penguin exhibit ever; regardless of preference for rocks or ice, of which 14 species prefer the former for their warmer locations.

We watch an otter perform tricks for snacks, a conversation between tortoises, and a duck napping. It’s past our usual lunch hour and our appetite has us ready to leave, but after the girls get a chance to pet the moon jellies again. A late afternoon lunch will be had at Sonny’s BBQ in Palm Harbor. I notice the peach cobbler egg rolls, something new to try, and it reminds me of the southwest eggrolls I got from Chili’s with their two-for-one drinks at happy hour; no longer a go-to meal or restaurant. Fallon orders the cinnamon sugar donut holes with sweet tea glaze and we all get some dessert to feel just the right amount of stuffed.

We drop off Fallon and the girls and drive to Craig Park to set out on a key lime pie hunt adventure, something of a Florida tradition that I started when we visited The Keys on dive trips. Our first stop is Rusty Bellies Waterfront Grill which also sells glasses, shirts, and keychains. We forgot the military discount so the waitress threw in another slice for free. I know that’s in appreciation for Caleb’s service, but it made me feel like it was my birthday, since I knew he wouldn’t be eating any of my dessert. I like to pick up a slice from two places, so I can compare them.

Dock’s WaterFront was next on the list, but they’re closed for cleaning for the day, due to the flooding this morning, so I’ll have to wait to try their sea salt cheesecake. Lucky for us, there’s Captn Jack’s Bar and Grill across the water, and less than half a mile walk, so we order a slice from there. The bag is lopsided because the restaurant only has one size of to-go container that easily holds three pieces. My wants being met, we can finish our walk by exploring more of this lovely town. We see a shop with a dive flag in front, Mac’s Sports, closed on Sundays; and though we’re bummed to not go inside I’m glad that people can take time off.

Just down the street, a bright blue and white boat-shaped bookcase catches my eye and we’ll talk with the guy who has been building other furniture and mailboxes down the street for 23 years. I didn’t think to ask how long he’s had this place, but it was up for leasing in March. He uses recycled plastic in all his products and has a guy who helps him with larger orders (not sure if that means product size or quantity), but given his friendly demeanor and the colorful tables, chairs, and flowers I would definitely decorate a yard or porch, especially in a high termite area, with these bright eco-friendly options.

There’s an event going on at the Saint Nicholas Community Center, and without putting our faces to the windows, from across the street it could be cookie decorating or just a celebratory meal without the attire of a wedding reception or baptism. The house is locked when we get back, one of the girls lets us in, and Fallon tells us she was parked behind us when she returns. We wash a load of laundry so we have clean clothes for the week to drive back to San Diego. We watch Leave the World Behind, over two hours long, about the horrors of an Airbnb rental (I’m not the only one who’s had my reservation canceled last minute or shown up to a gross room) at the end of the world.

The actress who plays 13-year-old Rose is an 18-year-old with 21 roles in her portfolio. I mention this because there have been a lot of generational talks — Millennials bringing about the “30 is the new 20” as far as aging goes and I still get compliments on my looks but I do see adults from Gen Z that look like high schoolers; some of them go to my gym. At the other end of this, is 65-year-old Kevin Bacon who reminds me of my 38-year-old brother, as far as the hat-wearing and gun-toting go. I suppose time will show us how the vape and face cream play out on the skin of the young as cigarettes and stress did for the Boomers.