Our week in the Keys

I have gotten really behind in this blog. I have been away with work in Moncton and then on a conference and now we are full steam into Christmas as this year this house is going to rock! Sadly it means that our Florida trip feels like it was in another lifetime and it makes it even more important to capture the memories before the details fade.
So, here in the best way I can, is the lowdown of our last week in the Florida Keys.

Due to the location of our stay we remained in blissful tranquility all week, there was a couple of adrenalin fuelled moments due to the local wildlife but it was on the whole, divine relaxation.


Eating Out
We tried to relive our old haunts but apart from Blue Heaven, it didnt go well.

So we decided to make new memories and leave old happy days in the past. So we discovered new taste sensations at The Tarpon in Marathon and the Square Grouper in Cudjoe Key. Both were amazing but honestly, the Square Grouper blew us away, it came highly recommended and we found out why as soon as we arrived, we ate there twice and both times it was amazing.

Bahia Honda
We went to Bahia Honda twice, it was heaven on both occasions. To be back on that beautiful beach after so long was incredible for me. I cant find adequate words to describe the way I feel there. It was as always pristine. We went on our own and then went on our way to the Dolphin Research Centre, so the next time we took Don. We got there at 9am and there was a baby bonnet head shark swimming around erratically. At one point it swam around my ankles, so I screamed like a girl and then had to get it all together to go snorkelling but I did it, with Don holding my hand. The shark didnt bother him and we didnt see it again but I was aware of it and frankly being in the sea with this animal was awesome and I wouldnt miss it for the world.

The Dolphin Research Centre
We went here on a hideously hot day and it was wonderful. Paul did the dolphin dip and it blew him away. It is a quiet but fabulous place with the pens in the ocean and each dolphin has a tale to tell about being here. The girls loved it and it also had iguanas wondering everywhere which were pretty cool.

The day of Wildlife
On the day of the shark encounter at Bahia Honda I went back home to hang with Liz and the others went back to the Dolphin Research centre. I drove into the driveway and there were two iguanas having a heated discussion so I stopped and watched them, they stopped and watched me. This went on for a while and then I drove on and parked. It was a hot and still day, the water in the ocean off of the beach was like a millpond, so I went out on the deck to see what fish were about. I was lying on my stomach with my nose in the water admiring the variety of fish when a huge and I mean enormous, size of me, barracuda swam under me, I nearly fell in the water. Liz was there at that point and saw it too, we also saw another baby bonnet head. In all my times in this area, I had never seen sharks or a barracuda like that.
We named him Barry barracuda and he came back that eve with a pal of the same size - so it was Barry 1 and Barry 2, and Sean the shark. The dock on that house has lights that shine down into the water, so we saw so many amazing views at night, we would sit out there with a glass of wine and the lights on listening to the water lapping at the dock and just gaze into the water. It was wonderful and we spent many hours out there just being in the moment.