Weekend Adventures: Swimming in the Gulf Coast

This weekend we decided to try our luck out by going to the beach right around 11am Saturday morning. While the Hubster was convinced everyone else in the town was also going to the beach, it turned out not to be the case. It took us less than 20 minutes to get from our house to the beach parking lot. It takes me longer to get to Target! And let me tell you, the beach did not  disappoint.
Last time we went on a weekday afternoon and there were hardly any people there. This time, while there were more people than a Thursday afternoon, it was still pretty empty. We found a spot and hopped right in. The water was impeccably clear. It was so clear you could see all sorts of fish swimming around. I’m pretty sure we even saw one of these little guys:
The water was so clear that within the first few minutes, I spotted a pair of goggles drifting around underwater in the sand. I managed to grab them and we took turns swimming around with our new goggles looking at all the fish.

Speaking of fish. I ended up catching one! Don’t ask me how… pure luck, I imagine. I had been joking with Kyle that I wanted to catch a fish since it was so clear you could see them all around you. That and they’d swim right into your feet. Well, while floating around I sat with my hand out in a school of tiny little fish, which attracted the bigger fish, and ended up catching one of the bigger fish! It caught me so off guard that I immediately let him go, but it’s still a pretty cool story.
Emmie had a great time “swimming” with her Dad. Her favorite was when they would sit in the water and float/jump over the waves. The water itself was the perfect temperature. Just cold enough to cool you off, but warm enough to stay in without feeling chilled.
The crystal clear, blue, warm, seaweed-free water paired with the super fine, soft, white sand got Kyle’s stamp of approval. In fact, at one point he even exclaimed, “This is by far, the nicest beach we’ve ever been too… and that includes our Caribbean honeymoon!” We ended up leaving after about an hour since it was getting close to lunch time and nap time. It’s so nice to know that we’re incredibly close to an amazing beach. We can just hop in the car for a quick beach trip, and it’s not a big deal.

If we don’t end up staying in this area long term, I can definitely see ourselves coming back to vacation here. What’s your favorite vacation spot?

PS: Those saggy bottoms kill me! The struggles of dressing a tall, but skinny, 2 year old. The bottoms fall off but the shirt’s too short.

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