Florida - Day 11

Finally a moment to blog. We’re a little behind so I’ll have to go on memory here. Our snorkel trip was a bit of a bust. We had asked some locals for advice about the best outfitters, booked a trip and then eagerly anticipated the adventure. They described the reef and the kinds of fish we’d see and we were very excited. We got up, had our holiday inn express breakfast of white flour and sugar, and then off we went. On the boat we made friends with our fellow snorkeler and suba divers, meeting families from all over, including Saskatoon. Small world. This is my (Connie’s) favourite part of travelling. I love yik yakking with the people we rub shoulders with, finding out where they’re from and what they’ve found to do in the area that’s interesting.

Anyway, as we headed out into the open water, we started to see all kinds of things in the water, including some dolphins. We’ve seen them out in the water fairly often already, but it’s still so breath-taking. As we got further out, we started to see roundish things in the water. They became more and more plentiful and once we slowed down we recognized that they were jellyfish – lots of jellyfish. This was the beginning of the end of our snorkeling adventure.

We watched the scuba divers (almost completely protected from the jellyfish with their wetsuits) hop into the water, and then it was our turn. We all just stared at the water with big eyes and wondered how this was going to work. We asked the captain and the crew a thousand questions about how to avoid the jellyfish, what a sting would feel like and so on. Finally, a few brave souls entered the water, but it didn’t help our courage-levels at all when one of them yelped from a sting and quickly climbed back onto the boat to display the welt.

Rick was the bravest soul and he managed to stay in the water for quite awhile, but he said that you couldn’t really enjoy the fish or the coral because you had to concentrate completely on avoiding the jellyfish. The girls and I ventured into the water once or twice for a minute or 2, but it was just plain creepy and unnerving to have the jellies all around you. You tell yourself that they’re not going to kill you, and that you should just do it because you’re here once and we’ve come all this way and we’ve looked forward to this for so long…but it was just really hard to force yourself into the water.

We boated out to a 2^nd site, but it wasn’t much better. The crew said that it was completely random to encounter the jellies – sometimes there were none and sometimes it was bad. We were unlucky enough to pick a bad day. It broke my heart to see Kaija fighting the tears on the boat as we drove back to shore. She said, “Well, now I guess I’ve missed my chance.” I tried to console her by saying that no one except dad spent much time in the water and that it really wasn’t a good trip for kids, but she was just plain sad for a long time. We all were.  You win some – you lose some.

One of those nasty, yet beautiful creatures. Note the beautiful coral in the background that only Rick saw.

They were EVERYWHERE. And they just kept coming. They drift along in the currents and it was like there was a river of them.

Trying to get enough nerve to jump in. It wasn't working. It was so hot, and the water looked so beautiful. It was a test of character to stay positive.

All dressed up with no where to go.

Our hotel from the water.

Evidence of Rick's courage. If you look carefully you can see some jellies in front of him. He said it was like playing a video game. You had to navigate around him as they floated passed you.

Aria kept trying to join him, but it never lasted long as she'd get a little freaked out and head back to the boat.

We had to redeem the day somehow, so after supper we headed out to find a good spot to watch the sunset. We had a great evening of exploring Bahia Honda State Park and tried hard not to think about how it would have been fun to spend the whole day there instead of on the hot boat being scared of the jellies. It was beautiful and even though we were all a little bummed out, it was a nice way to spend our last hours in the keys.

A tickle-fight in the hotel room. I'm surprised we didn't get a noise complaint.

This is how the keys look. Just all these little dots and strips of land.

I can't believe she's almost as tall as me!

Only the prairies do sunsets better.

There's always a thunderhead around.

I've got all my ducks in a row.

Evenings are my favourite here! So warm and so beautiful.

Next time we have to spend a whole day here.