Category: Go!

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Florida Fauna: Pinchy

Sometimes it’s “pinch or get pinched”.

Wish we had seen a live one of these.
Wish we had eaten a live one of these.
Grumpy and aggressive, they guard their muddy caves.
Souvenirs of battles litter the forest floor.
Down at the beach, Aya received a nasty pinch.
Revenge is a dish best served with Cava.
Or in a toasted brioche roll.

Can’t believe we don’t have a photo of the pinchos we ate in Culebra. This is the perfect post for them!*

*Edit: found pics of the pinchos:

The street-side pinchos-maker.
Delicious grilled chicken (not crab).
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Oh, the Huge Manatee!

A good friend in Japan is mad for manatees, but hasn’t managed a trip to Florida yet. So we went looking for some on her behalf. We found a place in  Crystal River on the west coast of Florida that knows where the manatees hang out and they let us swim around with them. Big grey sausages with elephant skin and half the energy of a tired sloth (the manatees, not us).

As amazing as it was to snorkel with these world champion nappers, it turns out that manatees are not that hard to come by in Florida. They love shallow canals, and if there is one out back of your b&b you can just walk down after breakfast and see ’em.

A manatee in Crystal River.
Manatees love a canal.
These were steps from our b&b.
This bunch joined the others, slowly.

Click through for video of manatees frolicking most un-slothfully.

Continue reading “Oh, the Huge Manatee!”

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Specially Preserved Extravagance

Japanese English (sometimes called Japlish) is not new anymore, but it can still be surprising. Sometimes it is merely delightfully naive, but often it over-reaches, yearning for grandiosity and ending up bewilderingly senseless. And it is simply maddening when basic mistakes slip past a “proofreader” and end up on a billboard or all over a line of products.

Why there is a never-ending stream of it (and where it comes from) is a constant source of fascination for native English speakers in Japan. Here are two recent examples that caught us by surprise and made us laugh.

Continue reading “Specially Preserved Extravagance”

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Florida Fauna: Birds

Rhymes with “late regret”.
Terns and gulls, Daytona
Royal Terns, Miami
Cormorants? Anhinga? Key Largo
Ibis, Key Largo
Yard birds, outside our B&B, Miami
Fancy feathers
Squeezable
Technically not a bird. Endangered Key Deer outside our camper, Marathon Key
Great Blue Heron (aka Crazy Legs)
Black Vultures, Everglades NP
Can’t identify either of these, but that thing on the left looks dangerous.