Guy Harvey Outpost Review

Noah turned seven on September 6^th, my little baby who it seems like only yesterday was born. I wasn't sure what we should do to celebrate beyond the normal cake and presents. I had a couple ideas. Noah kind of wanted a party but with friends but since he was in a whole new class I didn't know how to get in touch with the other parents. Noah had been mentioning all summer about wanting to stay in a hotel for a night so, I thought what an awesome way to celebrate turning seven. We live in the land of hotels, but I already had one in mind. It is no secret Noah loves fish. He also is a huge Guy Harvey fan. So, it made perfect sense to stay at the Guy HarveyOutpost for a night. In case you aren't familiar with Guy Harvey he is an artist who specializes in drawing and painting fish. Guy Harvey is a unique blend of artist, scientist, diver, angler, conservationist and explorer. With a Ph.D. in Fisheries Biology, Dr. Harvey is one of the world’s most recognized and celebrated marine wildlife artists. His artwork is the foundation of Guy Harvey Inc, a major publishing, merchandising and licensing organization. Harvey is a vocal and active advocate for marine conservation, having established the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University of Fort Lauderdale, Florida to provide scientific information necessary for effective conservation and restoration of fish resources and biodiversity. He is a trustee of the prestigious International Game Fishing Association, and founder of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, organized to support initiatives of the institute and other marine research, education and conservation organizations. He is Chairman and co-founder of Guy Harvey Outpost Resorts, emphasizing sustainable tourism, marine conservation and water sports recreation.

The Guy Harvey Outpost is a Tradewinds resort. It is located on St. Pete Beach. We were all really excited to arrive after we had lunch. It is about a 10 minute drive from our house so that was really nice. The first thing we noticed was the building complete with a fish painted on it. I knew we would feel right at home. The lobby of the hotel was gorgeous and the hallways to the pools were covered in beautiful paintings of fish and sea life. Everyone at Guy Harvey Outpost was very nice. The man at the front desk was especially nice. I could tell everyone working there loved their job.  We couldn't wait to get to our room and change in to our swimsuits. The resort is right on the beach and the view from our suite was begging us to come play in the ocean.  Our suite was one of the nicest rooms I have ever stayed in. We all loved the Guy Harvey decor. There were of course paintings on the wall but even the bed spread was Guy Harvey. We really liked looking at all the different things in the room. It was a 400 square foot suite with a separate bedroom. It had two queen sized beds in the bedroom and a couch that folded out in to an extra bed. It had a full sized refrigerator. It also had a small range and even dishes. The kitchen area was so nice to have because Noah is a milk drinker. We had a microwave which was good because I brought popcorn as a snack. There was also a mini bar that no one was allowed to touch. If you even pick it up it charges you. I threatened Legos on that one because it contained candy. I wanted to make sure he knew I meant business.  

I was happy to see that they are an Autism friendly hotel. They have activities in their Lil' Guys Kids Program that are tailored to children with Autism. I know that must be a blessing to parents of children with Autism.  Tradewinds and Guy Harvey even held the Autism Education conference in January that my mom attended.  They specifically chose Tradewinds for their convention because of the Autism friendliness of the hotels. 

We went down to the beach and swam in the ocean for a little bit. It was so beautiful. The water was so warm and the beach was so clean. You could see through the water most of the time which was very cool. Noah and I spent a lot of time floating and jumping waves together. We left the beach for happy hour. They have delicious rum punch that my mom and I both enjoyed responsibly of course.  After happy hour and a dip in one of the pools, my mom walked to Publix to get us some sandwiches for a picnic on the beach at sunset. When she returned we put our swimsuits back on and headed back down to the beach. Noah and I made a beeline to the ocean. We were pretty much running. As it does often this time of year, it started raining. We packed up and had our picnic in our suite and were able to watch the sunset from inside. We had a huge floor to ceiling glass door. After dinner l decided I wanted to go to The Oasis. The Oasis is the adults’ only area. They have a pool and a really nice hot tub. I spent quite a bit of time down there. It was so relaxing and nice. The hot tub was so hot.  It felt so good on my tired body and sore muscles. When I returned to the room my mom said that she thought I had shriveled up because I was gone for a while. I was just so relaxed.  Noah was fast asleep dreaming about fishing with Guy Harvey and painting with him too. I hung out in the living area for a while until I was ready to go to sleep. The beds were extremely comfortable. They were so soft and plush. 

The next morning we woke up bright and early.  We had a lot we wanted to do. The cool thing about Guy Harvey Outpost is that there is so much to do.  Since it is a Tradewinds Resort you can use both resorts amenities. The extremely helpful man at guest services told me about the cabana rentals. He suggested that I reserve it online the night before. I was surprised at the availability when I reserved it. We had a second row cabana. I picked number 29 because that's the day my birthday is on so I would remember. The resort charges a resort fee. It is $35 and so worth it. One of the things we were unsure about was if we had to pay to park. It was included in the fee. The cabana rental was also included. That right there with parking was worth the resort fee. You can also have access to the water slides, the paddle boats and other cool activities. I think it is totally worth it.

We started off having breakfast at Guy's Gulfside Grill. I had two eggs sunny side up, hash browns, bacon and toast. My mom had a three egg omelet filled with all sorts of vegetables and bacon with freshly squeezed orange juice. Noah had the Belgian waffle with fresh strawberries and syrup. Noah and I both drank apple juice. It was very good too. Our meal was very good and we were all stuffed. After we ate, we went to the Guy Harvey gift shop. One of my mom's friends gave Noah some money as a birthday present and he thought that would be a great place to spend it. He wanted to get something special. He bought a dolphin carved out of wood and a necklace with a shark made out of stone. He really wanted a stuffed Winter the Dolphin but since we live so close to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium I told him we could get one on our next trip there. I saw a dress in the window of the gift shop that I fell in love with. I found out shortly after that it is actually a swimsuit cover up. It is has sailfish all over it. It is so pretty. I tried it on and I bought it. I decided I would also wear it as a dress. I like to get things that I can make multipurpose. I have already worn it as a dress and no one would know that it's a swimsuit cover up. We ran our purchases up to the room and  I claimed our cabana.  We headed over to The Tradewinds.

We wanted to go paddle boating.  I wasn't 100% sure what it was. I was thinking you have ores but no you paddle with your legs. It was fun. It was definitely a workout for those who paddled. There were little rivers on the property complete with ducks and a beautiful swan. You go under bridges and all over the place. Noah was a trooper because he wanted to paddle. He made it the whole time.  We were able to take some great pictures.  We also explored the Tradewinds. They have a bunch of different restaurants and neat stores. We found the ice cream shop and wanted to come back later for some ice cream. 

We went down to our cabana on the beach. Noah and I made a beeline for the water. We spent more time in the water floating and jumping waves.  I asked Noah what he thought about the resort. He said, "This is the best hotel ever.  I love it" and gave it two thumbs up repeatedly through out our stay. Noah loves to "snorkel" so he had his snorkel and mask with him in the ocean. There were schools of small fish swimming around. He got a kick out of seeing them wild. We alternated time in the water and in the shade of our cabana. I would see big fish swimming in the water. When we were in the water we saw some people with a net. They had caught a sting ray. They took it out to take pictures before returning it to the water.  We found some inhabited shells. The resort shares the same rule we do. If there is someone living in the shell it stays there. I was able to find a few different neat shells that were vacant. The coolest thing was when Noah was snorkeling and looking at a school of small fish, he brought up his head and then a bunch of sting rays swam with us. Noah was pretty freaked out while it was going on but loved it afterwards. Good thing we know to do the stingray shuffle.  The stingray shuffle is where you shuffle your feet instead of picking them up to walk. That way you won't step on a ray and get stung or hurt the ray. We swam with wild stingrays without going on a special trip to do so. In all the times I have been in the ocean, which is more than I can count. I have never swum with wild sting rays. They were just hanging out and it was so neat to be so close to them.  We have petted them at the zoo but this was amazing.  Before we left we took another dip in the pool. We also made our way to the ice cream shop. They have Working Cow ice cream which is made right here in Saint Petersburg. There were many flavors to choose from. I had a hard time choosing. I had Cookies n Cream. My mom had Captain Butterscotch. Noah, who is on a cherry kick, had black cherry complete with a cherry on top. We sat under an umbrella and enjoyed our ice cream. We watched the beach and then it was finally time to check out and go home. At this point Noah had asked me a few times if we could come back next weekend to Guy Harvey Outpost. We did decide we are going to go to the beach more often and stay at Guy Harvey Outpost again sometime.


I received a media rate for my stay at Guy Harvey Outpost to facilitate my review.  All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Snow Days VS. Hurricane Days

When I was growing up in central Indiana, snow days were a common thing in the winter. It was always exciting when my school was on the bottom of the screen saying closed. I learned about a snow dance in Jr. High that I still swear it works in a cold climate in winter. I remember doing it on mostly Gold days because all my favorite classes were on blue days. Always on blue days.  I am not sure how that worked out. I also had SRT on gold days which was very boring. When I was younger my favorite snow day activities were watching TV, making bread from scratch, playing outside in the snow and playing games and just relaxing. The bad thing about snow days is making them up. 

Noah doesn't have snow days, since we live in Florida. He has hurricane days.  Basically when the weather is really bad with a hurricane in our path or a tropical storm, he doesn't go to school. We had one in August. I am hoping and knocking on wood that we never have a hurricane or a tropical storm. Thankfully he doesn't have to make it up.

Noah's Bird Army

One of the really cool things about living in Florida is all of the birds. My family really likes birds. I may or may not have called my mom the bird lady. I have never seen The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock and I plan to keep it that way, since there are birds everywhere. There are pelicans, ibises, egrets, gallinules, and Muscovy ducks to name a few. You usually find pelicans where there are fishing boats, but you can really find them anywhere near water.  We have seen baby gallinules that are the cutest birds. They look like little black balls of fur.  I was able to take pictures of them and we watched them grow up. It was really neat.  I don’t like Muscovy Ducks, but Noah does, they are really weird looking, they look kind of like turkeys. Maybe I shouldn’t be so judgmental.  One of Noah’s favorite things is to feed the birds at the park. They love to see him, it looks like Noah is leading a parade or has an army because they follow him around.  The other day I noticed a bunch of ibises hanging out, walking back and forth and it was like they knew I was Noah’s mom, because they were following me around too.  They were not afraid and they didn’t fly away. I thought I would snap some pictures of Noah’s bird soldiers.

An Awesome Mudwalk Find!

We like to go on beach walks and pier walks. When the tide is really low, we go on mud walks. Mud walks are great for shelling. We all collect shells as I am sure you know. Well, my mom found a dead seastar recently.  She brought it home to show us and to dry out.  We have some small starfish but nothing like this. I bought a really cool starfish in The Bahamas, but my mom found this. We had put it in the bathtub for the time being. It was beautiful. It was completely perfect when it came inside.  I noticed that the tips of its legs were falling off. I thought that Noah was messing with it.  It was no longer whole but it was still really cool.

Several hours later, we touched it and its legs started moving a little. We weren’t sure if it was a reflex or something. We have a rule in our house that we don’t keep anything that is alive, or has a creature living in it, even if it is really cool. So, the seastar was put back in the water. Not before I took a few pictures though. It was kind of sad because it was such a rare find.  Noah even cried because he wanted to keep it. I explained why and he understood. It is one of the coolest things we have found to date.

Kids Shell Collection Craft

Most kids love shells. I know Noah thinks they are the coolest thing ever. He loves going on mud walks with my mom and finding shells anywhere he can.  We have a million of them.  My mom has been collecting them for years and years.  We went to the Saint Petersburg Shell Show today, it was a lot of fun and they had an absolutely brilliant craft idea that I had to share with you guys.   Most kids don’t really know the difference between the different shells. There are hundreds maybe thousands of different types of shells.  Instead of gluing shell bits on paper, or whatever easy craft they could have provided for kids, they decided to do something different.  They obviously put a lot of time and work in to the craft provided. They also offered a couple coloring sheets for those who weren’t interested in the main craft, but Noah was thrilled. He was so excited, it was so cool to see how shell smart he is.

This craft would be perfect for kids that just got home from the beach with a bunch of shells.

Kid’s Shell Collection

Supplies:

Shells you found at the beach- Different types

A clean egg carton

6 cotton balls

Two pieces of construction paper

School Glue

Thin Labels

Shell identifying book or the internet

Directions:

Cut out two shapes that will fit the outside and inside lid of the egg carton, make sure you cut a hole for the ridge of the inside of the egg carton lid. On the piece of paper with the hole draw 12 boxes.

Glue the pieces of construction paper to the top of the lid and the inside of the lid.

Take the 6 cotton balls and rip them in half so you have 12 cotton ball pieces

Put a small dab of glue in each egg spot and press in a cotton ball

Choose your shells and identify them

Write the name of the shell on the label and put it in the corresponding hole.  Place the label on the inside lid of the egg carton and Voila you have your very own shell collection.

How cool is that? Noah loved it.  I am sure if you have a shell you can’t identify you can email me and Noah and I can figure it out for you.

A special thanks to the St. Pete Shell Club for sharing this craft idea with us, and of course making my son’s week for loving shells as much as he does.