I remember my son Josh being really excited about our travel plans because it was “destination Treasure Island” for us that year. As I was scouring the internet trying to find us a good deal on flights and accommodation for our holiday, I remember he was bouncing about the hall pretending to be a pirate, waving about his hand like he was holding a sword. He even picked up the pirate vernacular, jumping out to surprise us with a big loud “ARRRH!” He learned all about International Talk Like A Pirate Day (it’s an actual day, I kid you not) and was eager to find out if they celebrated it on Treasure Island. Josh was so excited with all his thoughts of pirates and adventures that he was pretty disappointed when he found out about the actual origin of the island’s interesting name and that it really didn’t have anything to do with pirates at all.
We’d had our first Treasure Island activities some years ago when I had decided to celebrate our second honeymoon with my husband Adam. The small beach towns always proved enjoyable and this one sounded ideal for my family. A variety of activities in a friendly small town atmosphere found us returning to the same spot year after year.
There are at least half dozen resorts on Treasure Island. We prefer one of the quaint beach houses, which we book for a week’s stay. This always helped us stay within our limited budgets by bringing down our living costs since we also cooked many of our meals. We also enjoy walking around the area and going about with reassure Island activities considering ourselves to be one of the “locals”.
Josh, I and Adam would often go to the beach or rent a jet ski and zip around on the beautiful waters. “The boys” would get up before dawn, get hold of the lunch I packed the night before and head out to the Gulf of Mexico for a day of deep sea fishing. They would almost always come back tired as racehorse, sunburned, smelly and above all hungry. The aching muscles did nothing to dampen the huge grins spread across their faces.
In the meantime, I’ve taken the day to drive to the sunken gardens in St. Petersburg (about 8 miles away) and wandered down the windy paths, enjoying the 50,000+ tropical plants houses in the gardens. I’ve also attended some of the free orchid workshops that they offer with paid admission.
While on Treasure Island another activity we all enjoy is golf. I do admit that none of us are exactly what you can call professionals; in fact we often horrify the more serious enthusiasts with our bumbling selves. We however always have a good time, since its more about having fun with each other than making it to the PGA. In all there are 7 golf courses on Treasure Island so we easily can pick another every time we feel people at one have had enough of us.
One of our favorite places to visit is the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. It’s the largest non-profit wild bird hospital in the United States with an average of 30 wild birds being admitted daily. It’s an amazing experience to wander around the grounds and see the large variety of birds who live and visit the sanctuary and, while admission is free, we’re always pleased to be able to donate to this worthwhile facility.
So although we had to disappoint Josh by letting him know that Treasure Island was actually named because developers buried “fake” treasure in an effort to attract buyers to their land about 1915, we still all enjoy our Treasure Island vacations anyway.
Mackenzie Maness is a travel expert. Visit his website Treasure Island Activities to learn more.
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