A Home Away From Home

First, I want to thank you all for stopping by! I meant to do it in my last post, but you know how absent minded I can be. Sorry, but I think it's getting worse lol. Old age I guess :)

Hubby and I have been talking about having a motor home for a few years. We always try to find a room with a kitchenette at the beach, so a motor home is perfect for us. We actually thought we wanted a Class C, but after looking at them, and the lack of space, we ended up getting a Class A Coach. It's not brand new, but is in great shape, with low miles. There's room for us, and our 3 fur kids! Which is one of the  reasons we got it :)

Can ya tell I took these from Hubby's Facebook? LOL

It's 34 ft long, not too big, not too small.

Sometimes we have an amazing view of the ocean! This is just a little way above Flagler, in Beverly Beach. 

This is a really nice spot in Crystal River. It's 4 miles to the beach from here. We will be using the canal that runs through the park to take us to the bay for scalloping this summer. We've reserved our spot for the entire season (for the weekends). We are so excited! 

Of course, men LOVE gadgets, so hubby bought this fancy navigation, full color back up camera (besides the black & white it came with) radio, CD/DVD player. And whatever else it does. Oh yeah! It's blue tooth and plays our iPods and iPhones. Our son in law came over and installed it. 

You know I had to put my personal beachy touch to it to make it really feel like home!

This comforter covered in coral and shells makes me very happy! And it's white! Which means when we have the fur kids with us, we keep the bedroom door closed to keep them off the bed. A set of Egyptian cotton sheets make us feel right at home :)
I've already done away with the black pillows. They had some red on the other side. They did not make me happy. I'm looking for accent pillows, and I'm still looking for something to hang in the big blank space over the bed. Finding these will make me happy, too :)

I've hung some starfish, and put some shells and things on little shelves, but I'll have to show you the rest of the inside after I take more pictures. Hubby is getting ready to lay some cool wood looking flooring. It's what they are using in motor homes these days, and we do so hate carpet. It's on order and should be here any day. I know he's excited to play with that and get it done! I'm pretty excited to see it, too!

A Different Kind of Shelling...Del Goes SCALLOPIN'!

It was SOOOOOOO much fun!

It was like being in another world down there. The water is so crystal clear. There are the prettiest little fish, some that have the most beautiful electric blue stripes when the sun glints off of them. I was in total amazement, and could have lived in that underwater dream world forever. I swam around feeling like a mermaid, perfectly at home in this beautiful underwater world.

Our friends Jamey and Teri showed us where to go. They have much experience diving for scallops in the Gulf, and diving for spiny lobster in The Keys. (I want to do that, too!)

Hubby has known Jamey for a while, and I just met Jamey and Teri a few weeks ago when I dropped by the office to have lunch with my hubby, and our daughter Laci.
It was pretty much non stop talking, as we have some things in common with them. They love to go shelling, too, and have found really big shells and sharks teeth on the Atlantic side of Florida, down southwards.

One thing led to another, and our adventure was planned. It's only an hour drive over to Crystal River where we launch the boat.

We had to go around the oyster beds, which are quite visible during low tide.

The water is shallow for miles I swear, and we scalloped in 3 to 6 feet of water, even as far away from land as we were.

Everyone was out enjoying the Gulf, and scalloping!

There are HUGE pieces, chunks, and balls of coral, which you can plainly see just by peering over the side of the pontoon. SO MANY!

Jamey found a starfish for me to take a picture of...

and I saw an enormous sting ray swim by, but he was too fast for me to even get my camera ready.

Here are a few pics topside:

And the magical underwater paradise below:

see the scallop on the left?

 

The current was a bit too swift for me by this time, so I opted for some time topside playing with hubby's Fish TV. I lowered the little fish cam down into the water, and just sat up on the boat watching the fish swim by. It was like having my own little salt water aquarium!

It has been an amazing summer, with some awesome shelling excursions, and we got to top it off with scallopin'. I would love to get my grandkids down there snorkeling! They would love it!

I found a dozen scallops! Hubby found that many or more, and Jamey and Teri found the rest! We caught our limit, and my scallops are in the freezer :D

It was such a beautiful day on the Gulf!

We found a few shells, too!

And did a little fishing....

My mask and snorkel will be with me whenever I go shelling from now on! Well, at least when the water is warm.

We have been wanting to go scallopin' for years, and it's on my bucket list, so....
I get to check something off my bucket list!