My daughter absolutely loves animals, and last year she did a lot of research on “Winter,” the dolphin that the movie “Dolphin Tale” was based on. Her top career choice for the future is actually to make prosthetics for animals that need them, so I knew Clearwater (where Winter was rescued) was a place we would want to visit.
I also knew that Clearwater Marine Aquarium, was about 5 minutes from Hyatt Regency Clearwater. I had heard such great things about this hotel, so I looked for availability. Luckily, they had 1 room available on points for 4 nights, so I quickly booked it. We decided to stay a 5th night, so I grabbed a night at the Grand Hyatt Tampa (near the airport) for our final night. I also found decent point flights on Southwest over the spring break time, so I hopped on those too.
We ended up spending 29K a night at the HR Clearwater and 18K for the one night at Grand Hyatt Tampa. Our roundtrip flights for 3 people came to just around 50K points and $33.60 thanks to our companion pass. So, all we really had to pay for was our rental car, food, and activities!
Our activities included: Clearwater Aquarium, taking a drive north to swim with Manatees in Crystal River, FL (don’t miss this experience!), a visit to Tampa Bay Downs, lots of beach time, Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival, and most importantly- some amazing family time with my favorite people!
