JULY 10TH DAY 5

Today was a day about Nicholas and Aunt Kelly. We started the day by going and meeting our IL friends at El Governor. This is the only place in Mexico Beach where you can rent wave runners and para sail. Because Kelly has always subscribed to preserving her youthful white skin, there are many things she's been unable to do by not vacationing at the beach- water sports. We rented 2 wave runners and took off out into the ocean. Nicholas was riding with me and Kelly was riding with Amy and apparently spent a lot of the time insisting that Amy slow down. While we were out in the ocean, we saw lots of jelly fish and a sea turtle. Nicholas knows the rules. As long as he is holding on tight, to me, we are not going to fall off because falling into the ocean, after seeing what is being pulled out from the pier, is not an option for me.
Soon after we got back from playing on the wave runners, Nicholas wanted to para sail. I've done this several times and even once with Amy a couple of years ago. Kelly and Nicholas were the only two who hadn't, so they became a double and went together with our friends from IL.

This is the view from the beach of Kelly and Nicholas para sailing. Nicholas thought this was the coolest thing although he did not see many marine life from this height, only jellies.

The final dip before they pull you in. Nicholas was a little nervous about being dipped because the reality is, there are sharks in this water, but Kelly talked him through it by telling him to kick his feet and if a shark gets near, hit him right in the 'button'.

The para sailers had to ride to and from the boat on this banana because of the jelly fish. Nicholas is sitting on the back as they are backing in to the shore. While they were on the banana, water washed up as did a sea horse. Both Kelly and Nicholas got to see a sea horse in its natural environment.

We only stayed at the beach until after lunch and then had to head back because Aunt Amy had to catch her flight from Panama City International back to DC. She was unhappy to leave and despite Nicholas thinking spending time with the girls was going to be his 'worst nightmare', he was unhappy that she was leaving. Our foursome is back down to three until Saturday when we have to leave. We did take a trip to the pier, after dinner, to visit with some of our younger friends who have included us into their fishing loop. One of them caught a 6 ft hammerhead and it was laying on the cutting board at the pier. Seeing the hammerhead, reconfirmed why swimming in the ocean, further than a couple of feet from the shore, is not an option for me.