On Sunday I boarded a plane bound for Miami with my mom, dad, and sister. Once again fate gave me a gloriously uneventful plane ride (although the landing was a wee bit rough) and accompanied it with a spectacular view of the Atlantic. The sea made me a little nostalgic, being landlocked in Ohio after twenty some years of living near the beach has to be some form of punishment.
My family and I grabbed our bags, hopped into a rental car, and drove south towards Key West. The drive from Miami to Key West was horribly slow, however, whenever our teeth began grinding due to the bumper to bumper traffic we merely peered out either window and stared at both the ocean and the bay.
After a five hour drive (during which we only progressed 130 or so miles) we arrived at the southern most city in the United States. A few minutes later we parked in our rental condo’s parking lot.
The building’s façade was a bit dingy but it didn’t reflect the place in general (which had a magnificent pool, a beautiful view of the ocean, and a huge tropical garden). Our condo was called “Henry’s Piece of Paradise” and it was over the top. Henry had decorated the main living room with white overstuffed leather couches and large pink coral lamps. Facing the couches was a huge entertainment center and a small wet bar, and in the corner a mannequin dressed up as a pirate dangled from a rope. No, I am not kidding, the owner mounted a fake pirate in his condo, and yes, he had a cutlass glued between its barred teeth (I promise to post a picture as soon as they are developed).
We spent Sunday and Monday by the pool, biking around the island, and wandering up and down Duvall Street (Key West’s “main strip”) peering into art shops and drinking at various bars. It was quite a bit of fun and very relaxing.
On Tuesday we went snorkeling, an activity that I have always wanted to do. We left around four in the afternoon and snorkeled for about two hours. It was so cool. Apparently quite a bit of fish feed at that time during the evening, so we saw all types of fish including a few barracuda and some nurse sharks (we didn’t see any other types of shark…much to my disappointment).
I have always been a fairly good swimmer (I swam competitively in high school) so I found snorkeling and free diving quite easy and natural. It was neat diving amongst the coral and coming within inches of so many different kinds of fish. I swear that one swam up to me and said “glub” but when I attempted further communication I swallowed quite a bit of seawater and had to retreat to the surface.
After a couple hours in the Ocean everyone boarded the boat, the bar opened, and we crowded around the outside rails to watch the sunset. It was pretty breathtaking. I used this time to strike up conversations with several pretty girls that were on the boat because I am a dog. I ended up spending the rest of the evening bar hopping around the island with them, which was a more than enjoyable.
The rest of the time in Key West was pretty much a blur. We rented wave runners on Wednesday. After we finished we whipped some locals at volleyball, actually, my sister whipped the locals, all that I had to do was spike the damn ball. On Thursday we snorkeled at a different location and then we left Henry’s place for Key Largo.
I guess I’ll end my entry here for today. Tomorrow or the following day I’ll write about Key Largo and South Beach…which should be a bit more humorous than Key West (which was too fun to be funny).
