So last week was completely pre-blogged!! Are you impressed? I was so proud of myself for getting that done ahead of time because you know what? I did almost ZERO work this past week. Besides editing some pictures that we took for the property owners, I answered a couple of emails but the majority of our time was spent hanging out with some of our best friends on Little Gasparilla Island in the most amazing bay and beach rental houses!
John, our friend Buddy’s brother, knew of this incredible family who owns several homes on Little Gasparilla Island. After hearing about this place, we decided to take a week and just enjoy being disconnected from work. Little Gasparilla island is located on the Gulf side of Florida about two hours south of Tampa! There are no roads or bridges…. just a water taxi and golf carts! If you’ve ever wanted a non-commercialized vacation on a secluded island in the tropics, you NEED to visit!!!
These rental houses are just amazing! Buddy, Jill, Michael and I stayed in the “Boathouse” which is a new house built on the bay. We loved the style of this cute cottage and I can’t wait for you to see pictures below!! Troy and Aimee stayed just a 2-minute walk away at the beach house that overlooked the gulf! You may not be able to see the ocean from the Boathouse, but you sure can hear the waves! In between the houses is a lagoon with a boardwalk that takes you to the other side. The mangroves are completely covering the lagoon and it makes you feel like you’re in the rainforest every time you walk through!
Now, I have to be honest, we had a day or two with lower than average temperatures but that didn’t slow us down. One day we kayaked four miles to a marina for lunch! Another day we walked to the point of the island and toured around on golf carts! We had a great beach day with sunny skies and another day was dedicated to fishing! It was just perfect because we woke up whenever we wanted, fixed breakfast together and then casually decided how to spend the rest of day. We didn’t have a schedule and it has been a long time since we have vacationed without a checklist of “must see” locations. Sometimes it’s nice to do vacation at a slower pace so that you go home rested instead of exhausted!
After spending a full seven days on the island, I can honestly say that it’s good for the soul to retreat to Little Gasparilla Island! Michael and I are so thankful that we have found perfect travel buddies. Buddy, Jill, Troy and Aimee are our perfect match when it comes to vacations. We don’t talk about business too much… just enough to help each other with ideas and big dreams. No one is super opinionated and so we just go with the flow…. but yet we aren’t all lazy enough to just sit inside all day… it’s a great balance! We’re competitive enough to love games but not so intense that it gets ugly. We love just being with each other and somehow…. even after seven days on a secluded island, we were still so sad to leave one another and that beautiful water!! Our phrase every morning was “Welp…. we aren’t tired of you guys yet!!!” and we still aren’t! It was sad to say goodbye but we are SO thankful for our time together!
We can’t thank Gasparilla Getaways enough for this amazing trip!! We loved having fun and helping them launch their first week on Instagram and so if you want to check out this awesome vacation spot, give them a follow HERE!
And as always, if you go on vacation with Jilly Powers, you always get a fun video recap of your trip! I just love that Jill does this!! I’m in charge of the pictures and she’s in charge of the video!! Enjoy this recap of our Island vacation!!!
CLICK HERE TO VIEW JILL’S VIDEO RECAP!
This is The Boathouse on the bay!
How awesome is this place?!
The path through the lagoon to the beach house!
The Beach House!
CLICK HERE for Gasparilla Getaway’s VRBO site! Seriously…. Anniversaries, honeymoons, bestie reunions… this is the place to be!!
Golf cart touring!
Look at this CRAZY house that was never finished!
Not sure what’s going on here… haha… but dinner was definitely one of our favorite parts of the day!
Troy and Aimee showed us this cool move :) …. They make it look like she’s just floating so effortlessly!
We make it look hilarious and awkward…
And then this is just too much. :)
To view all travel posts, click HERE!
To view our last trip with some of this crew, click HERE!
Thanks for reading!
— Katelyn
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