Today is Sunday! Maybe that’s an unusual statement for me to start the blog with, but when you’re away from your usual routine somehow the days of the week seem to blur and you lose track. We deliberately changed tactics today and had a “rest day” away from the theme parks. Whilst we can all agree they’re amazing, wonderfully planned with creative decor, planting and background sounds – there’s no escaping the fact that walking in a crowded place, shuffling slowly in a queue or standing still in a line is really tiring both mentally and physically. So a day away from the parks was just what the doctor ordered and the swamp boat safari didn’t disappoint.

 We took a 30-minute swamp boat safari, which rushed us across the reeds and acres of brandy bottle (a plant with waterlily-type leaves and marigold-shaped flowers). While out on the swamp boats, we saw many lovely water plants in flower (many of which we grow in the UK), various different birds – some long-legged waders and others who perch in the reeds, loads of different dragonflies and several alligators. 

The swamp boat moved at quite a speed and was pretty nimble as it glided across the water or vegetation (see video), but due to the racket created by the giant fan, it definitely wasn’t a stealth boat and a few alligators heard it coming and all we saw was the end of their tail as they scrabbled for cover. Thankfully, due to the local knowledge and persistence of our driver, we managed to find a few gators and armed with our cameras gave them their 15 seconds of fame. All too quickly the swamp boat safari was over, and we retraced our path back to the jetty.

One of the places to eat we pre-selected back in the UK was The Golden Corral, an American cuisine eat as much as you like buffet with lots of national treats like fried chicken, plantain, meatloaf, pot roast and black eyes beans. Knowing it was a buffet, some members of our party were likely to overindulge and none of us wanted to go to bed feeling uncomfortably full a lunchtime visit seemed to be the perfect solution. 

After tanking up with refillable drinks and consuming the daily food allowance for a small village, we resumed our challenge to hunt for things on Matty’s shopping list but sadly the store stock didn’t align with Matty’s list of requests, so we abandoned our challenge and returned to base so our patriarch could sleep off his lunchtime workout. 

Having travelled over four thousand miles, on one level it did seem bizarre to be spending the evening in the villa, but resting our legs after the harsh beating they received yesterday and before next week’s buffet of waterparks, theme parks and day trips to NASA seemed to be a wise idea.