Key Largo

No sooner had I got back home from the European beer and football tour, then it was time to repack and take off to Florida for 3 weeks with Alison, Ellie and Meg. We are driving down the Florida keys, then on to Miami and finally Orlando to do some serious theme park stuff!

We flew into Dallas Fort Worth and then onto Fort Lauderdale. 

Picking the hire car up was a bit of a trauma, after a long time travelling you don't want to be faced with making decisions! After doing the documentation with the hire company you walk through into a garage to be faced with lines of cars. They all have the keys on the dash and you just pick the one you want, oh god, please just give me a car! After a few minutes of "I like this one" "no, I like this one" "this ones nice" "oooohh look at this one" I plonked the cases in a car and said "right we are having this one" and drove off. As we were pulling out Ellie said "I thought we'd booked a full size car, this is mid size" I was too tired to care, I just wanted to sleep. 

The following morning after a good nights sleep and feeling refreshed, I was ready to tackle the car hire company again. So off we went back to the airport to swap the car. We are now living the American dream with a gas guzzler that has enough room to set up a double bed in the back! 

Now we were settled with our new car we drove down to our apartment near to Key Largo. The apartment is lovely on the sea front with beautiful views overlooking the Atlantic side of the Keys. Its great to just sit on the balcony and watch, through the palm trees, the boats go back and forth, whilst drinking a nice cold beer.

We are trying to live the American Lifestyle with breakfasts out and 'go large on that' although having seen my reflection in a window the other day I might need to slow down a bit! 

We have been on a snorkeling trip to a coral reef just off the coast of Key Largo. I've never snorkeled before so it was a first for me. As the boat anchored at the reef we had the usual safety talk and that if you got into difficulty whilst snorkeling wave your arms. 

We put on our masks and flippers and started to climb down into the water. Although you could see some fish from the surface it didn't look that spectacular, but as soon as you put your head below the surface it was like a different world. The coral and the fish were vivid colours and the fish were darting about in shoals, it really was like a set from finding nemo.

The current was quite strong so snorkeling was quite tiring, after a while Ellie and I went back to the boat for some water. Just then we noticed someone waving their arms in difficulty, bloody yanks I thought, always making a drama out of something. Turns out it was Meg who had got separated from Alison and the current had pulled her into the reef, where the coral is razor sharp and can cause some serious cuts. What a father, I didn't even recognise my own daughter in difficulty, although to be fair I didn't have my glasses on! Meg was OK couple of cuts and a bit shook up but it didn't spoil what had been a spectacular trip, something I'll never forget.

One of the things you have to do in the keys is watch the sunset on the bay side. On Friday we found a beach side restaurant and had a lovely meal and great evening watching the sunset. 

Yesterday was swimming with Dolphins for Ellie and Meg. I was going to do it but I fear a whale climbing into the pool might just scare the dolphins! They both really enjoyed it and it was great to watch. They had an hour in a small group with a trainer and did so much with the dolphins including a swim with them. It was a great morning in a beautiful setting on the gulf coast.

Today is chill out then tomorrow we drive down to Key West.