Playa Bonita

 This was our fifth trip to Rocky point, but this time with several twists! The biggest was that we stayed at Playa Bonita RV resort instead of our usual rental houses. I have been hearing about people camping at the RV resort for years, so it was good to finally check it out and explore a different stretch of Rocky point. 

Our classic "lets just walk down to the beach right when we get there and not get our clothes wet" picture. I adore this shot of Isaac. 

Elliot got right to finding hermit crabs in the tide pools. I love playing with the little critters

We went with the Flythes and Allens. They really know their way around! They know which beaches are the best for snorkeling and which ones are most likely to have awesome conch shells. AND they had kayaks! They got there a few days before we did and chartered a fishing boat to have a fish taco extravaganza with some other folks who left before we got there. 

The highlight for Annie was her BRAIDS! She used her Grandma Blood birthday money to pay a lady on the beach for an awesome hairstyle. It was pretty practical too- it kept her hair out of her eyes and lasted the whole trip. 

The kids were constantly asking to hang out at the Jacuzzi pool. They were not swayed by my argument that the most important part of going to the beach is GOING TO THE BEACH. At least I usually had good company to chat with while hanging out poolside. 

I'm a total sucker for chilled mangoes on sticks. 

Feeding the wildlife

Isaac was very skeptical about the mango Elliot kept trying to get him to bite, but as soon as he tasted it he had a death grip on the stick.

Aaron discovered Hermit Crab City, a rock in some shallow water that had a crazy amount of hermit crabs clinging to it. We had challenges to see how many hermit crabs we could hold in our hands before the tickling got too bad. 

Level two of the challenge was lining the crabs on shoulders and the ticklish parts of our legs. There was also a diligently constructed hermit crab prison. 

pollo luuuuucas

A dead sea turtle washed up on shore one morning. A science dude on an ATV showed up and said that the turtle was probably around 60 years old and died of old age. Some people nearby said that they had seen some live ones while snorkeling nearby. My goal for the week was to find an octopus. The Allens found a little one hiding in a seashell the day before we got there so I diligently checked shells for days, but no luck this year. The quest continues. 

I adore rocky point, but I'm not sold on the RV park. The thing I like about camping is that there is space for the kids to run free and that it is so scenic and peaceful. None of that is true when camping in an RV park. It was literally a big parking lot. It was convenient being so close to the beach, and the amenities were good, but I wasn't a fan of dealing with noisy neighbors right next to my tent. I had to get out of my tent and yell something weirdly similar to "get off my lawn" to a group of kids who were playing tag and literally tripped over our tent at 10:30 at night. We also had crazy wind one night. It knocked the rain fly pole out of its grommets 5 different times. After the fifth time, I moved the van to be right in front of the tent hoping it would somewhat block the wind. It was still whipping the tent around after that, but not quite enough to get the pole out of place. 

Our camp setup next to the Flythe's van. The under table drying ropes was a great hack we copied. 

All in all, I would pick a Playa Bonita RV vacation over a weekend at home if the company was good- but I would definitely rather pick a luxurious rental house and save our camping for the mountains.