We negotiated a late check-out time with the Airbnb host, which gave us time to go out for a big breakfast at Palm Coast cafe this morning.
After breakfast, we packed/cleaned up, loaded up the van, and cruised up to Village Creek Landing for our 12 o'clock kayak tour.
There were two other people on the tour, who opted for a tandem, plus the four of us, the tour guide, and some other helper guy. It wasn't clear who he was or why he was there, really.
It was hot and sunny when we left the house, but there was a cool breeze and some cloud cover while were out on the water.
The tidal creek was nearly at high tide, but there were still some oyster banks scattered around, peeking out of the water at the edge of the marsh.
Our guide was surprised at the complete lack of boat traffic, which gave us the freedom to spread out and wander around a bit, watching the birds attack the oysters, and the occasional fish jumping out of the water.
We were literally the only people out on the water; it was quite peaceful, other than the two people in the tandem talking the entire time.
After completing sort of a figure-8 loop around the marsh for 2 or 3 miles, we returned to the Landing, and prepared for our trip back home.
It was almost 4 PM by the time we drove back to JAX, stopped to gas up the van, and returned the rental. I think it was right around that time that we got the first notification about our flight being delayed, maybe by 30 minutes or so.
It was also right around that time that a Spirit airlines flight was making an emergency landing due to a battery fire in the overhead compartment. We learned about this when our waitress at the PGA Tour Grill asked if we "were on the plane that had a fire" or something like that. (Spoiler: they bused the passengers to Orlando, which is a solid 4.5 hours by road.)
The Jacksonville airport is modern and nice, and also very small. It's about 1/4 of a mile from end to end, and has only 20 gates (in concourses A and C... apparently B was scuttled in 2009 due to economic downturn).
Our flight was delayed again, unrelated to the Spirit situation. For unknown (to us) reasons, the incoming flight was delayed, and also coming from Washington D.C. (we were returning to Philadelphia). This gave us time to enjoy our airport dinner at a leisurely pace.
It was just after 7 PM by the time we actually took off, about an hour behind schedule. Unsurprisingly, we landed about an hour late.
