After we left Ft. Lauderdale, we headed on down to Islamorada which was about an hour and half away. Not bad at all! After we hit Publix, we ventured on to the condo and immediately got our bathing suits on. I was in heaven and so was Jeff! We ventured around the property and Jeff was in love with the dock. You could dock your boats and there was also an entire ecosystem underneath the dock. Over span of the week we were there, we saw sand sharks, sea turtles, lobsters, crabs, and all kinds of other fish. Not to mention the birds, seagulls, and pelicans that would land on the dock. The seagulls got in fights over the bread the entire time, and one even pushed the other off the dock. It was hilarious!!
The first night we stayed outside in the pool for a very long time and got a late dinner at a place Dad loves called, Lorelei. It was a restaurant on the water but more like a bar and it was very good. We ate lots of great seafood every night and we both were stuffed each day. I think I gained about 5 pounds on the trip between huge dinners and snacking throughout the day. Lots of great martinis & daquiries as well!
Jeff, who is from Miami originally, reminds me so much of my Aunt Karen (who is a marine biologist) also is an avid snorkeler & diver, so I snorkeled for the first time ever. It was so much fun once I got my breathing right! That took a couple minutes but once I had mastered it, I was fine. So we ended up snorkeling half the time and we were in the water I would say 95% of the trip. Jeff's brother, Scott and his wife Kim, came in from Ft. Lauderdale to stay Saturday night with us to celebrate both Scott & Jeff's birthday. It was nice getting to know them even better!
We headed down to Key West as well and it was twenty degrees hotter than Islamorada. The Keys were HOT and not what I'm used to in Florida. So needless to say I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and put light shorts & a sleeveless top for the day we went to the Keys, but I was still sweating to death. One of the things I made Jeff travel to in Key West was the Hemmingway house where Ernest Hemmingway lived because his descendants are his six-toed felines who still live on the property but after we walked several miles in the scorching heat, we walked up to the place and it was closed. My mouth dropped open when we got to the closed sign!
Not only was it very HOT in the keys but there were tons of island cats around everywhere so I was in heaven. Most of them were feral but some would venture close and they were just too cute. We also saw a show in Key West that the Crazy Cat Man does with his eight cats. These cats were so intelligent- jumping through hoops and doing all kinds of different things. Jeff said that he has been doing the show since he was a kid, so I HAD to see that.
Overall we had a great vacation, and I got a great blue/green dress at a place called Robbie's. Jeff and I had a blast and I think he really enjoyed spending his birthday down there. We cannot wait to plan our next trip! I placed a couple pictures on here, but the rest I placed the link to my Facebook page because I took so many pictures. Click here to see the album.
Three of the pelicans that were waiting on fish from us. They kept looking at Jeff and I like where's your fish? We were obviously not the fisherman they were used to. They would wait on us for about an hour and they fly off.
This little guy was so beautiful that I kept taking pictures of him. He was also looking for fish and was NOT interested in the bread. The first day we were out on the dock he came in for a landing and it was hilarious because he threw both feet out to land and the poor guy was super wobbly. He was always "waiting on a fish."
This was the view from Dad's condo and it was fabulous. Hardly anyone was there because it was the off season except the little old ladies who lived there. They would do their water aerobics ever morning- what a life!! Jeff and I and another family from Tampa were the only people there.
