Many years ago we made the discovery of the joys and untold pleasure to be gained by visiting the Gulf Coast and in particular the beaches of South West Florida,   There is something unique about still being able in this busy world  to walk along an empty beach of clear white sand with the occasional appearance of a dolphin  freely swimming close to the shore line looking a for meal, the only company.

We have encountered this scenario many times along South beach  Boca Grande and  and Stumps Pass Englewood to name a few, the locals do not bat an eyelid when the dolphins meander past, they are just used to it.  Whilst the visitor myself included will alert to the wife in excited way that dolphins are off shore, I can just visualised the locals muttering to themselves, typical tourists.  You can see dolphins along any beach on the gulf coast but there is no doubt they like quiet areas and when they come close to shore to feed.

The peak Gulf coast vacation rental season on the gulf coast is the winter months December to April when the North Americans and Canadians flood into South West Florida especially to escape the cold temperatures and snow in the Northern States.  The months of May and June are considered the off season which has always amazed me, I have been sat on a sun chair on a quiet beach in hot and sunny weather with the temperatures in the 90s and reading the local papers which talk about the busy season being over. When on some of the beaches in Europe in similar conditions you would be climbing over people to get to the sea.

Yes some of the beaches will still be busy, the likes of Fort Myers and Sarasota but there are still plenty of beaches to explore which offer the type of experience I have described above.

Being completely new to this we were unsure what the dress code should be but it sounded like quite a smart affair so we returned to the hotel and showered and changed ready for the evening. We embarked at 4.30, the day was beautiful, blue cloudless sky, sea like a millpond and the sun slowly setting behind us. We took a seat in the middle, quite near to the front and prepared to enjoy the experience, champagne in hand!

The men were enlisted to unfurl the sails, we set off and it was absolutely wonderful. The ship ploughed smoothly through the very light chop whilst we were in the lee of the island then suddenly we were out into the open sea and there was much more movement and as the bow of the ship dipped into the water it sent lots of spray onto the boat, this was all good fun until suddenly a huge wave came over the top, right over us. We were absolutely drenched from head to foot, my hair was soaked, my white trousers had become transparent. I couldn’t do anything but laugh, everyone else was laughing and cheering so I stood up and took a bow to a huge round of applause! I was congratulated for being such a good sport and although i did feel a bit a silly for not being appropriately dressed it was great fun. The only thing to do then was to carry on drinking champagne and not to worry about it.

When we got back into harbour did we go back and get changed? No - we had realised by then there is absolutely no need - in Key West anything goes!