Sombrero Reef

Our new snorkeling destination for today, Sombrero Reef. Just off Marathon Key. It was amazing. The fish!!
We saw SO MANY fish-the coral wasn't as pretty as Looe. We saw HUGE and numerous barracuda. Huge black groupers. Green moray eel. And a spotted moray eel. Rainbow parrot fish. Yellow tail snapper-huge school. Sargent Majors. Angel fish.
The sun was bright today, good underwater show!
Sophia was diving down for a closer look. Popping right back up.

Fish On!

SK took us to Flagler's Barge. Every drop down was a fish. The kids had a blast. Soso caught SK's dinner-mangrove snapper! She kept calling it "Mango snapper".

One More Last Day

We walked to the end of the Earth, or Sand Spur Beach. In search of new places to snorkel, it seemed forever. Upon arrival, we discovered the current was to swift to do much of anything. We walked back to the truck. It was a beautiful walk on the beach. The washed up man of wars were not selling me on staying anyway.
SJ got into a stare down/stand off with a ghost crab...the crab flinched and ran. SJ wins!

Monday, Original Last Day

We were suppose to leave this AM, but it was too beautiful a day!
Not many pictures but we snorkeled right off the beach and saw surprisingly tons of stuff! SK was in Lobster hunting mode. Which also turned into stone crab hunting mode.
The kid and I were right there with him. Rays. Mini-versions of all the reef fish. Conchs. Huge hermit crabs. It was a swim and see adventure

Easter Afternoon

We left Key West behind, let the tourist have it. There was a really cute manatee statue made into an Easter bunny in front of one of the businesses.
We went back to Bahia Honda one more family photo. Back into swimsuits! We snorkeled off the beach until the sun went down. No photos, sorry! Just the one before we left the camper.
SK was on a mission to snag a spiny lobster...he had frozen salmon tonight. :) BUT we saw so many cool things. Conchs. Rays. Spiny Lobster, small no keepers. The largest hermit crab any of us have ever seen in a LARGE conch shell. Puffer fish. Hogfish. Purple and yellow damsel. Yellowtail snapper. Mangrove snapper. Immature spotted drums. Rainbow parrot fish. So many more. Right off the beach!!

Easter Sunday!

My favorite Basilica in USA, St. Mary's Star of the Sea. Always love Mass there. They have a beautiful rosary garden beside the church with a grotto. There is also a stations of the cross courtyard with mosaic tile stations.
When I have been before, all the side doors were open and there was a magnificent breeze. Today, I'm guessing because it's Easter we got fancy with AC!

Ready

Easter is tomorrow. We have no baskets. Kids decided their pelican cases would do just fine. Sophia even left a note for the Easter Bunny to explain...and some carrots. Because he eats them.

Fishing Keys

We fished the bridges at Bahia Honda. I took the truck over to the rental drop off. Brought McD breakfast for the boat. We saw four manatees in the marina!
While waiting on me, they fished. Caught a barracuda.

Saturday

Back out on the boat today...fishing and snorkeling!

Ray!

We found a spotted eagle Ray....wait for it...wait for it...JUST LIKE IN NEMO! It was a reoccurring comment today.
And the sunset. Sigh. Never fails.

Ride in Dolphin Show

We were visited by a few dolphin on the ride into the campground! They scared the fire out of us jumping right next to the boat! Poor Sophia had one jump inches from her. She jumped back, then ran immediately back to the side of the boat!! We could not believe we had front row seats to a dolphin show. They jumped out of the water tail and all.

Back on the Boat

SJ was riding beside SK. We had a minor teeth/lip rail impact situation. There was very little blood, smarted though. I yelled back, watch SJ. He likes to fall asleep with the motor running wide open. And he did. SK had to prop him up as he drove in towards the shore!
Soso had a power snack and leaned over on me...and had a power nap!
She had her first very open sea, very guarded boat driving lesson. If something were to happen to us, she would need to know basic boat operation. She loved being at the helm! Didn't want to give it back to SK either. (SJ was still holding down the chair like Bernie in Weekend at Bernies movie).