Florida Keys Vacation

For Sarah's 40th Birthday, I surprised her by booking a vacation at Hawks Cay Resort in the Florida Keys.  After a few months of waiting, it was finally time to go!  It's been a long winter and more snow and frigid weather was expected so we were all eager to get the show on the road.

Thursday, February 14: We made it!

Our flight left at 7AM and arrived around 11AM in Ft. Lauderdale.

We rented a car and drove south past Miami and through the Everglades to the Keys.  The water was SO pretty and the weather was warm.  It was between 75-80 degrees each day we were there.

We arrived at Hawk's Cay Resort and checked in.  We had to walk around and check out the grounds.  This is the lagoon they have where you can practice kayaking and paddleboarding.  

This is the dolphin area.  It is right next to the lagoon.

Ready to change into shorts or swimsuits!

The view from our condo... 
There were 5 pools at the resort and we were lucky enough to have one right out our back door. 

Happy Birthday! 

We wasted no time putting the pool to use!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday, February 15: Dolphins and Kayaks

Friday morning we hit the lagoon and pool first.  We were hoping to learn how to do stand-up paddleboarding,

Dolphin!

This is all the rave nowadays, so we had to check it out.

Balancing was a little tricky with two people but as long as I stayed low we were fine.

They also had kayaks to try out.

Sarah was good at standing up and paddling.

So was Elsie! 

 

We hit the pool for a little while afterward to relax before our "Dockside Dolphins Adventure."

This was SO NEAT!  We got to give commands to a dolphin and also pet and feed it!

This is "Tatum" but they called him "Tater."  He was 14 years old.  They had another one that was 45!  We gave Tater a command and he took off backwards up on his tail.  We gave him another command and he shot out of the water into the air.  Then he disappeared and came up right in front of us.  We gave him fish to reward him.  When we clapped, he clapped and splashed us.

Dolphins are so smart.  You could see his eyes watching us and the trainer for commands.  It was neat petting him too.  Very slick skin.  You could see how they go so fast through the water.

After lunch we rented kayaks.  We got to go up and down the channel past the resort.

The sun felt SO nice!

We also went around the tip of the channel entrance into open water.  No big waves, but there was a nice "flat" where it got really shallow and you could see the bottom.

I turned on the GPS on my watch which tracked our route.

When we got back the kids spotted an eel next to the sea wall.  His name was "Monty."  The people that run the kayak place feed him little fish that they catch.  He was about 3

Lizards!  Theses little guys were everywhere.

Saturday, February 16: Snorkeling!

This is "Lemmy."  Elsie spotted him in the palm tree right outside her bedroom.  He was there pretty much every day.  Iguanas, we found out, are an invasive species that was introduced to the Keys by irresponsible pet owners.

Elsie and I had a tennis date in the morning.

Owen and Sarah went to the kids activity center while we played tennis. 

Our afternoon plan was to go snorkeling.  This was our boat.

While waiting, a manatee came up right in front of the boat.

On the way out of the Marina, our captain pointed out that this was Steven Tyler's island and house.

So, I don't have pictures of the snorkeling to share just yet.  We bought a waterproof camera and had to get the film developed.  IT WAS FUN and IT WAS CRAZY!  The waves were 3-4ft high and we were bobbing up and down the entire time.  The reef was beautiful though and it was a great experience!

Dinner at sunset

And did I mention the Key Lime Pie?  All the restaurants had their own version of it.  So yummy!

Sunday, February 17: Key West and Turtle Hospital

Sunday we drove about an hour and a half to Key West. 

First stop was the Mel Fisher Museum.  He found and salvaged a Spanish Ship that had sunk in the area.  Billions in Spanish gold and silver.

The museum was really neat.  Great history and a cool story. 

There was also a lot of pirate history at the museum.  This painting was of Blackbeard's last few moments.  

Mallory Square was a short walk away.  A cruise ship docked while we were in the museum so the downtown area got busy real quick!

Key West has chickens that roam around downtown.  They've been around for ages.

They even come into the restaurants.

We shopped for a little while and then got treats.

That is one big ship!

We drove by the Hemingway House but didn't have time to go in,

This was neat.  Believe it or not, we stood in line 20min waiting for our chance to take pictures.  It was about 85 degrees so it felt really hot.

On the way back, we stopped at Marathon Key to tour the Sea Turtle Hospital.  It was about 90min and was really neat.  Also kind of sad to know what some of these poor turtles have been through.

These guy are really cute. They had been frostbitten up along the mid-Atlantic coast, so were brought here to recover.  They were set to be released the very next day.

This guy has barnacles.  That is a sign that he can't dive on his own.

Our last night at the resort...  The whole time we were there we kept checking the weather in KC.  We missed a ton of snow and single digit temps.  None of us wanted to leave the Keys!

Monday, February 18: The Everglades

One last swim before checkout time

Since we were already in the area, we decided to spend our last day exploring The Everglades.  We entered near Homestead and drove all the way down to the Flamingo Visitor Center at the southern edge of the park where it meets the ocean.

This neat 1mi walk had a lot of gators along it.  I think we counted 14.

Baby Gator

It was about a 40mi drive from one end to the other.  Very few cars.

The Eco Pond at the southern end of the road.  Kinda creepy.  No telling what is in there.

I got chigger bites...in February.

There is a marina where the freshwater meets the ocean.  It is dammed off.  You can take tours up the freshwater canal but we didn't have time.

This is the saltwater side.  It looks a lot less creepy.

We saw a couple of manatees too!

Looking off to the south toward the Keys

The Flamingo Visitor Center looked like it would have been really cool to tour, but it was out of commission thanks to Irma.

We left The Everglades and drove to our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale.  It was near the airport and we had an early flight the next morning.

Tuesday, February 19: Flight Home

We made our flight and got home around noon.  We'd left our heavy coats in the car so we didn't have to pack them.  It was 20 degrees.  A big slap in the face to remind us that we were back!  Florida was a ton of fun and I think the idea of going someplace warm for a break from winter is something we will do again.

See ya!

Ryan, Sarah, Elsie, and Owen