Things To Do In SW Florida

Discovery Cove, SeaWorld Orlando’s day resort, has introduced a limited-time discount with ties to Shark Month.

Customers can get up to 30 percent savings on 2023 reservation, although they must be booked by July 9.  Prices start at $133.70 for the day resort package and go as high at $269.10 this summer, according to rates on the web site.  Admission varies day by day.

Discovery Cove includes animal interactions with tropical fish and rays, flamingos, otters, dolphins and swimming with sharks. There are multiple layers of admission, activities and add-ons.

Its Shark Swim Program is available to 16 people who wear a snorkel and mask for a dwin alongside blacktip reef, nurse, zebra and bonnethead sharks.  Participants must be at least 10 years old. The program starts at $169 per person atop Discovery Cove admission.

Discovery Cove: Meet (and name) baby flamingo

The attraction donates 5% of the proceeds from the Shark Swim Program to the Guy Harvey Foundation, which conducts scientific research and educational programs for marine conservation. read more

By JANIE HAR (Associated Press)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Retiree Pamela Haile has paid property taxes, insurance and other bills on a house she lets out in Oakland, but for more than three years her tenants have paid no rent thanks to one of the longest-lasting eviction bans in the country.

The eviction moratorium in the San Francisco Bay Area city expires next month and Haile can’t wait. The 69-year-old estimates she is owed more than $60,000 in back rent, money she doubts she will ever see. Moreover, the tenants have trashed her house and it will cost tens of thousands of dollars to make it habitable, she says.

“It’s unbelievable and it’s like, how can they have the nerve to just let something like this happen? If this happened to them, how would they feel?” Haile said of her tenants. “Dealing with this whole thing gets me so upset.”

Eviction moratoriums were put in place across the U.S. at the start of the pandemic in 2020 to prevent displacement and curb the spread of the coronavirus. Most expired long ago, but not in Oakland or neighboring San Francisco and Berkeley, all places where rents and rates of homelessness are high. read more

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I had tickets on United Airlines to fly from San Jose to Anchorage, Alaska, last summer. In August, my brother died unexpectedly, so we canceled our travel plans.

I reserved my airline flights through Booking.com and followed all their instructions regarding a refund. I sent my brother’s death certificate and obituary. Booking.com asked for more proof that we were related, and finally, they asked for his birth certificate. They kept asking for more documentation. Then, they denied our claim.

I appealed to United Airlines, and it graciously agreed to refund our tickets, even though we booked through a third party. Shortly after that correspondence from United, Booking.com also agreed to refund our tickets.

As of now, I still have not received the refund to my credit cards, even though they say they have refunded me. I have sent numerous emails to all the people listed on your consumer advocacy site, and I continue to get the runaround about waiting for Booking.com to receive responses from the airline. I don’t know where to turn! I’m so frustrated at this point. I hope you can help me. read more