Wednesday 9th March

The end of a busy Naples Pier - with lots of families fishing

A Snowy Egret scavenging for bait

We awoke to cloudy skies this morning, but the cloud had disappeared by midday with temperatures rocketing to 85F. We went to look at Naples pier and old town this morning. The area was affluent with large houses and expensive looking shops. We walked along the pier where there were people fishing but we didn't see any fish caught. The pelicans were hovering waiting to collect any free pieces of fish. We then moved on to the Naples Beach Hotel and golf course as we were due to play at 2pm. We visited the hotel beach bar and restaurant for a salad. The hotel was very plush and looked expensive (we checked afterwards and it was $450 dollars a night - full for the next 2 weeks!). The golf course on the other hand was very tired with large area of dead grass. The golf course is closing at the end of March to be completely renovated and it looked as if it needed a lot of tlc. Ben was quite frustrated when his ball didn't stay on the fairway. We were scheduled to play with a couple from Washington, the wife apparently only played when they were on holiday to keep her husband happy. We started on the first tee and Karen made 2 air shots followed by one which shot off obliquely. By the time we got to the third hole Karen said she needed to go to the bathroom, so they left us and we didn't see them again. I overheard her saying she was embarassed by her golf. We completed the round on our own, which was a blessing as we were unlikely to get round in daylight with the original pace! I am told I have to declare that Ben won today- however he didn't deserve to after all the swearing and mutterings about the course!


A windy golf course - note the extended waste areas - the trees are almost prehistoric

We shopped on the way home for ribeye steak, shrimps and salad and cooked when we arrived back at the hotel. We will miss this kind of food and lifestyle when we come home!





Ben's second shot to the 18th green (150 yds) - result - water cleared and just short of the green