Diving trip to Key West

It has been on my to-do list to get the blog updated for some time... this particular trip was taken the first week in July.  We headed to the Florida Keys to get in some scuba diving, and spend time with Rob and Tia.  We haven't had an honest-to-goodness vacation in some time, so we made the most of our time.

We rented a house on Key Largo.  During our stay, we went diving with Island Ventures.  This was a great diving outfit.  On our first morning out, we were the only four people on the boat.  In fact, all the dives had fewer than a dozen people on them.  You don't always get that with charters - often they pack as many people as possible onto a boat.  In total, we had six dives with Captain Al.  All were beautiful, warm, relaxing... ah, what's that?  Nausea?  Seasickness?  Well, I had a new secret weapon!

Do you see that little patch just below my ear?  That is a scopolamine transdermal patch.  It led to my first trip on a boat without motion sickness.  In fact, while others on the boat did get sick, I remained blissfully symptom free.  For once, it was me bringing water to sick passengers.  I loved my first experience diving without nausea.  It was incredible!



Jason complained about the equipment he used to take photos underwater.  We dove at several sites, including the Benwood wreck, Turtle Ledges at the French Reef, the wreck of the City of Washington, Elbow Reef, Christ of the Abyss at the Dry Rocks, and the Horseshoe Reef.  We saw so many beautiful, colorful fish, and although the coral reefs are not faring well with global warming and other depredations, they were still amazing.

Having a blast without feeling sick!

Brain coral.... brains....

Me reading the plaque at the Christ of the Abyss site.

Stoplight parrotfish, one of my favorite to spot! 

When we weren't in the water chasing parrotfish (or yellowtail snapper, bar jack, French grunt, butterfly fish, spadefish, French angelfish, Blue angelfish, Sergeant major, damselfish, goby, Spanish hogfish, or any other of the beautiful species we got to see) we were enjoying the other delights of the Keys.  For one, we went kayaking in the mangrove forests.  We rented two-person kayaks at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, then promptly got lost.  We spent about 30 minutes getting lost, then about 2 hours finding our way back.  Thank goodness for GPS and iPhones.  Map reading is not my forte.   It was a great way to spend the 4th of July!  After we got back home, we grilled out and watched the fireworks from the house.

The back of my head in the kayak, wondering where we are.

We also spent one day in Key West.  On the drive down we stopped at Robbie's of Islamorada so I could feed the tarpon.  And I spotted this giant lobster.  Who wouldn't want a vacation photo with a mutant lobster?

We visited the southernmost point (just a short 90 mile swim to Cuba), then headed to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory.  It was magical - air conditioning, gorgeous butterflies everywhere you looked, and the cutest birds!

Posing at the marker for the southernmost point... clearly.  It was brutally hot that day.

 From there, Jay and I headed to Ernest Hemingway's house.  I'm sure it's a lovely house, and I enjoyed the tour.  I have even read an Ernest Hemingway book or two... but let's be honest here.  I went to see the famous six-toed cats.  There are around 45 cats that live on the property, with free rein to do as they please.  All are descendents of Hemingway's original six-toed cat, Snowball. 

Count the toes on that paw... that's right, six.  And he let me shake paws.  Love.

From that point, we ran flat out to get to the Key West Shipwreck Museum before it closed. 

I am leaving out the naps, the enormous amount of seafood, and all the fun we had just hanging out.  There's only so much room for pictures!