Thursday, January 14, 2016

Quick Florida Getaway!

Following the advice of a church deacon, I took my wife on a quick Florida getaway to a remote island for 3 days. We made a lot of wild and tame friends along the way (human and animal alike!) These photos are now part of our fond memories. I would be happy to tell you all about it so you may enjoy similar adventures with your loved ones. One of our funniest moments was my shock at turning over a morning seashell to find an octopus emerging! We threw our found wildlife back after getting acquainted with them.
Click here to be taken to our Google Public Album of the trip.
Public Album


Following the advice of a church deacon, I took my wife on a quick Florida getaway to a remote island for 3 days. We...
Posted by Christopher Wiles on Wednesday, January 13, 2016

"Praise the Lord, my soul. Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small." - Psalm 104:1,24-25

Here are some of the trip breakdowns:
$50 Membership to Frontier Airways to get cheaper flights for a year
$30 Cost of roundtrip flight per person to Ft. Myers from Indianapolis
$25 Cost of checking one bag full of camping gear
$49 Cost of Thrifty rental car at airport for 3 days
$20 Cost of one night of tent camping on Cayo Costa Island
$45 Cost of round trip 6-mile ferry ride to get to the island per person
$9 Cost of Marina parking per night
$30 Cost of food & camping stove fuel at Walmart in Ft. Myers (Can't carry fuel on an airplane)
$10 Cost of renting a kayak on the island for 1 hour as I hunted for manatees to photograph
$17 Cost of Florida fishing license for 3 days.

https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Cayo-Costa
https://www.flyfrontier.com/
http://tropicstaradventures.com/cayo.htm

Now that I have a frontier airline membership, I get a cheaper discount all year long and can get that discount for as many as 6 people who go with me, so I can take my whole family cheaper. The economic kicker on this whole trip was the cost of the ferry ride. You can only get to the island by ferry or boat rental, and I couldn't find a boat rental cheaper than the ferry for two people. We're looking into making the travel to the island cheaper on our next trip with the boys.

The campground was amazing and secluded. They have tent sites and cabin sites, right there next to the beach. This was our favorite place in the world to camp so far. There is so much woods hiking and beach hiking to enjoy. The shelling on the island is superb as it is so remote. The dolphins were wonderfully playful, coming within 20 feet of Ashley to get a good look at her. And the fishing, wow! It was great fun all the way around. God's glory was definitely on display!

On the island, we met people from Spencer IN, Cookeville TN, Canton OH, Seattle WA, Nebraska, Venezuela, South Korea, and England.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for your input. May you be blessed today!