Wednesday 13th May

[20:41]

We decided to have a look around FL today. The hotel owner suggested going over to the local water taxi stop and using that to travel around the area. We waited about 15 minutes before it turned up.

The taxi has 11 different stops throughout FL and you can sit on the taxi to complete a full circuit. The journey took us through the top end of the homes in FL. Places valued at $10m+ and that was just for the land. You place a $20m house on top and park a $45 yacht out back then you get the idea what sort of place this is.

Movie stars, CEOs of fortune 500 companies, dot-com millionaires and a surprising number of car salesmen all make up the owners of these properties. A significant number of properties (estimates 40%) are also supposed to be empty. Not because they do not have owners, more these owners are only down here for a few weeks in the year. Other properties are empty because they are being fought over in divorces or were "unwanted gifts". Some of the yachts were astounding. My personal favourite was the Madsummer a new yacht, built in 2008, that can be yours for rental at a cool $1m per WEEK during the winter period. This beast looks like it's straight out of a Bond movie.

Other ships were more classic. Here's Athena owned by Jim Clark (the creater of Netscape - the internet browser). It's the second longest sailing yacht in the world. The masts have their own lifts to take a person to the top - although usually the sails are just raised by pressing a button.

We left the water taxi to have a bite to eat (at the Cheesecake Factory) then walked down the main shopping boulevard which was full of items with no prices (gulp).

We walked back to a different water taxi stop and rode it back to the start. It was interesting to see all the 'wild' iguanas in FL. They are supposed to be pets that got loose. However, they are now a controlled species as they have become so well established. This 'little' chap was sitting on the side of one of the waterways, sunning himself.

I'd guess he was about three feel long!

We finally got back to the hotel at 5pm - we'd been out for seven hours. The weather had been hot (over 85') but the threatened Thunderstorms had not appeared thankfully. Still, we were both hot and tired, so cooled down in the hotel pool before the sun finally went below the hotel roof and the temperature started to drop.

I've phoned the people who do the snorkelling and glass-bottom boat trips. We're booked on to it...assuming the weather isn't too windy. I've got to call them tomorrow to check before we leave for the jetty.