In August of 2015, Felicia, Kendra, Susie, Duncan and I went to see the east coast of Florida and the Florida Keys. I had never been to that part of Florida before and 1 week was not long enough. We got very good ticket prices on SWA from DFW to Ft. Lauderdale. We stayed a few days at Ft. Lauderdale right on the beach, drove down to Key West and spent a few days and then moved back up to Key Largo for a few days. Weather was perfect, no rain or hurricanes, we all got a little red but nobody was too sunburned.
In Ft. Lauderdale we hung out on the nice, wide, beach and went on an Everglades National Park swamp tour to see a lot of snakes, birds and alligators. We went and watched some alligator wrestlers and held baby alligators.
In Key West, we spent all day doing the fun stuff – we snorkeled off of a sunken ship, used sea kayaks, paddle boards, jet skis, we para-sailed and rode banana boats pulled very fast and we just floated in the nice warm water. Plus, we ate a lot of great fish and crab and lobster and drank well.
We all went parasailing, thanks Susie for taking the kids. This was really fun – Duncan was not scared but I could tell Kendra was nervous when she started. She came back with a big smile though.
Also, while we were at Key West, we took a 2.5 hour trip to go about 70 miles due west of Key West to the Dry Tortugas National Park (Tortugas is Spanish for turtle). We spent an entire day travelling out and back to the last of the Florida Keys. The Dry Tortugas have crystal clear water and old Fort Jefferson. We snorkeled along the wall of the fort and the old piers and saw thousands of beautiful fish. There is no water to drink there and no stores there but they allow camping and the rangers said there is a 6-month waiting list for camping there. Only a few ships and seaplanes are allowed there each day. It’s the most isolated island that I have been to!
