The beautiful Florida Keys!!
After our day in the Everglades, Kenneth & I began our road trip down the Florida Keys. If there's a way to explore the Keys, it's by road tripping it. It's not that long of a drive and it's beautiful. We headed to our hotel in Islamorada (skipping over Key Largo for now). We loved our hotel! Kenneth & I are stay in the cheapest place possible people when it comes to traveling. We love to travel and so we normally stay somewhere super cheap so that we can spend our money on other things. But when it comes to the Keys, everything is pretty expensive. We stayed at the Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost and we loved it! I just looked at this place again and it's going for $330/night and we definitely did not pay that much haha. We payed a third of that so I'm not sure if we just got really lucky and they were having a deal or what? Maybe because of the 'hurricane' that was coming? But if you can find a good deal, I would recommend staying here! It's so beautiful.
There were tons of iguanas roaming around the grass, I mean seriously a TON! Our room had it's own kitchen and closed in patio which we loved because we bought a few groceries to eat. There are a million hammocks everywhere, multiple pools & a hot tub. We always try our best to stay at a hotel that has a hot tub because we are all about that.
We explored around our hotel and relaxed in the pool for awhile after we checked in. Then we went to dinner at Hog Heaven Sports Bar & Grill. I know, I know... the name kind of throws you off but I would totally recommend it! I don't like seafood and that is what the Keys are known for. So it was a struggle to find a restaurant that served something else. Kenneth is so sweet because he loves seafood but searched for a place just for me. The food here was good, but nothing amazing. The view on the other hand is awesome! Sit outside on one of the tables or picnic benches and enjoy the beautiful view. We ate dinner and then walked out to the sandy area, sat in the beach chairs and watched the most beautiful sunset.
Random story, but during dinner there was the most obnoxious gold digger lady sitting nearby with her husband and she kept returning her food, complaining about it, asking for items that weren't on the menu, requesting the chef to come out and make her something special, etc. The waiter was such a champ and was so kind to her. He passed us later and we told him how we thought he was doing such a great job even though they were obviously being annoying. He laughed and shrugged it off like it wasn't a big deal. Then when we were leaving, him and a few of his coworkers were standing outside near our cars on a break and he goes, "There's the best customers in the world!! Thank you for being awesome and not being annoying!!" and all his coworkers cheered and thanked us haha.
We grabbed some ice cream at Sub Zero Ice Cream and then went back to our hotel. They were projecting a movie on a big screen at the pool so we watched some of it while we swam in the pool & relaxed in the hot tub. There was a ton of heat lightning going on so it was beautiful to sit in the hot tub and watch the sky light up. One of my favorite memories with Kenneth from our trip!
^ Love the beautiful drive to each of the keys!
The next day we headed back north to Key Largo for our snorkeling trip! We went to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park because we heard it has the best snorkeling and it did not disappoint. We roamed around the beach for a little bit while we waited for our boat to leave. I love sailing. It's one of my favorite things to do. Kenneth and I went sailing a few times in Hawaii and I seriously love it. But over the 4th of July when Alexis & Aaron visited us, we went deep sea fishing and I got SO sea sick. I'm talking, I threw up the entire time (3.5 hours). I've never gotten motion sickness like that before and it was awful. The most that's ever happened is I get a headache and I don't feel great. But that was terrible. So I was starting to freak out and so scared that I was going to get sick again.
Good news is I didn't throw up! haha. I started to feel sick towards the end, but it was a long snorkeling trip (3 hours) and I think it was just too long. So overall I call it a success! If you go to the Keys, go snorkeling! Kenneth and I have snorkeled in Hawaii, Mexico, Jamaica, Grand Cayman & Haiti and this was the best snorkeling we have ever done! My pictures don't do it justice!
We had a great captain on our boat. He gave us lots of great info about everything! Kenneth & I talked to him about all the places he has sailed to and snorkeled/scuba dived at and it was unreal! Pretty sure Kenneth & I spent an hour after our trip brainstorming how we can get a boat and sail around the world haha.
We went to 3 different dive spots on the trip. The first was so beautiful. It shocked me how gorgeous the reef was. Again, my pictures don't do it justice. It was beautiful and vibrant bursts of purple & yellow/orange. My photos make it all look muted and grey but it was stunning. There were so many fish too. I've never seen so many colorful fish while snorkeling before. And they were so big! We also saw quite a few barracuda's which kind of freaked me out haha.
One of the things on our bucket list was to snorkel to Christ of the Abyss. But when we were calling all of the different snorkeling tours a few days before our trip, they all said that they probably were not going to go because the wind had picked up and the weather conditions wouldn't allow it. I was so sad and disappointed. Even when we were checking in for the trip and we asked the lady, she said it's up to the captain but it's not likely because of the winds. I came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to happen and I was so sad. We get to our second dive spot and the captain begins to tell us about the area. Then, very casually he goes, "well one thing you'll probably want to see here is Christ of the Abyss" everyone on the boat gasped and cheered! haha He knew we all wanted to see it and I was so beyond happy! It was the highlight of our trip!
The statue is made of bronze and was a gift to the Underwater Society of America. It was given by Italian scuba entrepreneur Egidi Cressi in 1962. It was placed here in Key Largo. It's the 3rd bronze statue of it, the original statue is in the Mediterranean Sea and this is a replica of it. It's approximately 25 feet underwater and weighs 4,000 pounds.
Unfortunately, my diving skills aren't as good as Kenneth's and this was about as close as I could get to it without my ears hurting.
Make sure that you don't actually touch it though because it's covered with fire coral and it will burn! The fish at this dive site must be used to people because they just swam inches away from us without swimming off. There were so many and it was so beautiful.
Our third dive site had the best reef! Again, I wish my photos showed the true colors, but it was stunning. I started to feel a little sick as the water was getting a little more rough here so I didn't spend too much time in the water but it was beautiful!
I'm so glad we got to go on this snorkeling trip and would recommend it to everyone! It just amazes me what a beautiful world we live in.
After our trip we headed down the rest of the Keys and checked into our hotel in Key West. And when I say hotel, I actually mean RV haha. Yup... RV. Everywhere was so expensive in Key West, and again, the RV was still really expensive! But our best option. Pretty hilarious that we stayed at an RV park but I would totally do it again and recommend it. The location was so beautiful and we loved it! We ate dinner at the restaurant they ran and it was great.
The next day we headed back north a little to Bahia Honda State Park. We heard this was one of the best beaches in the Keys and it was really gorgeous!
We hiked around a little and you could use the beach on either side. We wandered to a few of the beaches and enjoyed snorkeling and playing games on the beach. I heard of a lot of people finding gorgeous star fish here, but we didn't have any luck when we were snorkeling. Still such a beautiful day!
That night we explored Key West. We ate dinner at Amigos and it was the best Mexican food ever! Seriously so yummy. For dessert we had key lime pie of course! Amigos gives you a slice of two of the most popular key lime pie stores in Key West. We loved that you could try both because it's a little overwhelming how much key lime pie there is and you want to make sure you get the best one! I loved them both so I guess I'm easy to please haha.
Downtown Key West is kind of a party scene haha. Which is great if you're into that, but Kenneth & I aren't so we didn't spend too much time with the crowds, bars and shops. We walked around Mallory Square and saw the street performers and watched the sunset.
^I hate asking people to take photos of us. And they always turn out blurry haha.
Then for our second dessert (because who doesn't love 2 desserts on vacation?) we went to Better Than Sex haha yes I know. It's a dessert restaurant and it's pretty cool. They turn all the lights off and it's lit up by candles. It's a very intimate setting and they only accept 15 tables. You need reservations normally because they always book out. I asked to be put on the waitlist that afternoon and we were pretty excited when they were able to fit us in. They were so kind and really wanted to help us get in since we were visiting and made it so easy.
Be warned that this is a PG-13 restaurant and kids aren't allowed (unless they're in your belly still). They have great drinks and desserts. Everyone that works there was so nice. It honestly shocked me how great the service was. The menu is pretty funny because everything has an adult twist to it. It was a great way to end the day!
The next morning we explored a little more of Key West. Every street is so cute and has the best architecture! The houses remind me of Savannah or Charleston and I loved it. We went to the Southernmost Point in the continental US and then started our drive back up north.
Before we left the Keys we had to stop at Robbie's of Islamorada. For a couple of dollars they give you a bucket of fish to feed to the tarpon fish. Oh my gosh it was hilarious! These tarpon fish are HUGE! As you dangle the food over the water they will jump out and grab it and it's half terrifying, half hilarious! We have some great videos that I need to share.
Sadly, that meant the end of our trip in the Keys and we began our drive back to St. Augustine. Our trip was short, but so great and I'm so happy we took the time to do it. Living in Florida has been an awesome adventure and I'm so grateful for the fun memories we've been able to experience here.
xo
Lo
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