Upon leaving Orlando we headed for Key West, Florida. Tom and Linda went with us, too. We stayed at the Best Western in Key West, right on the ocean. Our rooms looked out over the tropical swimming pool area and right out to the ocean. We had screened porches that were great to sit out on. We watched the sun rise in the morning, then went to the wharf area to watch the sun set each day. Erik was chosen to be the juggling tightrope walker's helper for one act. We went out to the reefs to snorkel and saw millions of beautiful fish. The coral was nice, but not in the best shape, lots of dead coral, unfortunately. We saw barracuda, lobster and shark also. The squirrel fish are my favorite, huge eyes, large dorsal fins, and are very colorful. I only saw two, but researching them told me why, they are basically nocturnal. Maybe that explains the huge eyes. The picture was not taken by me, but is what they look like. (Our water pictures are not developed yet.) We all ate and ate some more. The best place we found was at the pier where our snorkel boat left from, way away from all the downtown excitement. Tom and Linda found the best Key Lime pie at Islamadora Fish Factory, Erik has now eaten every fish on Florida's restaurant's menus and Dave and I found the best strawberry smoothie at the Cheekie Hut by our hotel pool. Dave, Erik and I rented a small catamaran type sail boat and Erik proved to be a great captain.
After 2 1/2 days in Key West, we sadly left but excitedly headed for our old hometown of 16 years, Vero Beach.