Key West 2015 (page 5 of 7)

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Day 4 (March 18th, 2015)

Snorkel cruise day! WE got up early enough for “the boys” to cook up the rest of the bacon & eggs and then off to the Harbor near Old Town for our snorkel cruise. We got there about 20 minutes early, so we wandered a bit and then checked in, in time to wait another 30 minutes for the trip to start. Oh well – better to be early than be stressing about running late because you can’t find a place to park.

We took a 65-foot sailboat ride (under motor out of the harbor) out a bit and then put up the sails, as we had a bit of wind. They steered us to a shallow reef area where we all could hop into the water in snorkel gear. We saw a number of fish in much clearer water and the wind had died down at that point. It was great. The sheer number of fish congregated over some of the heads of coral were just amazing. Greta & Mike forgot their underwater camera but fortunately Jim had his GoPro in a waterproof case, so we got a few underwater fish pictures.

From there, we motored a short way, and got our kayaks – 2 people per kayak. We paddled out to a mangrove island. It was fully formed in that other trees were growing on the island itself – this means that the mangroves have been their long enough that soil has developed and we could see one palm tree growing from the middle. We were lucky enough to see a bonnet-head shark (this is the small shark we’d missed the day before) swimming around . They are small & don’t get much bigger than 2-3 feet long. Our guide pointed out a number of large frigate birds, blue herons, great white egrets, brown pelicans and cormorants. The cormorants are starting to kill some of the mangrove islands (including this one) with their guano; similar situations are happening in the Midwest, as we’ve heard before.

We paddled back to the boat slowly, riding a slight current off the island and stopping at an area where there were rocks/shells built up. We didn’t get out of our kayaks, as the ground below us was all detritus and we’d sink down into the sea floor. Once back on the boat, we had a few drinks and some snacks & then headed into the harbor again. A nice trip for 4 hours and we still have half a day to go!

Once on shore, we wandered Duval Street a bit and stopped at a Fogerty’s for lunch. The best part of vacationing here is pretty much everywhere you go, you get to sit outside and enjoy your meal, and this was no exception. Greta picked up her customary turtle at a little jewelry shop. It was cute but once back at the hotel, she realized it was plastic, not glass! Oh well – that’s what you get for picking something out of a glass case & not inspecting it first.

Then we headed back to the hotel for a rest poolside. We checked out the little Tiki Bar before it closed for the day. It’s a shame it closes early (before 6) as it had a limited food menu but we’ve seen good reviews of it and it would be nice to just relax & eat there instead of driving somewhere. We each got a cabana as it was later in the day and then Mike and Greta each got one of the 5 hammocks. THAT is definitely the way to relax & read your book.

We all got back to the room around sundown, and showered up from a long day in the sun. We planned on going out for a light supper, but we were all tired, and nothing sounded close/light. Eventually, we just had some wine & cheese and then took it easy for the rest of the evening. It IS vacation after all!

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