The Cruise that Wasn't {Part 3}

I'm sorry it took me so long to go on with Part 3. Real life interfering, I guess. Also, I realize Part I and Part 2 were kind of depressing. Apologies. Things get better today, I promise.

We woke up Friday morning rested, refreshed, and eager to take back our vacation! After grabbing a quick, delicious, and oh-so-healthy breakfast at Krispy Kreme, we got in our little rental car and began the long drive down through the Florida Keys. It was quite an interesting trip - and in this case, I actually mean interesting in a good way, as in we were both interested in all the new sights and scenery!

There is basically only one road that goes all the way down from the northernmost "key" which, I think, is Key Largo, all the way down through the others to end at Key West and "Mile 0." Both sides of the road are heavily lined with this strange type of shrubbery called mangrove trees, which have long curving roots that branch out into the ocean. I had never heard of a tree that could live in salt water before! But mangroves suck up the salt water through their roots and then somehow filter out the salt, which crusts on their leaves. They grew thickly on both sides of the road, which gave one the impression of driving through the countryside, but then suddenly there would be a break in the trees and you would see the sunlight sparkling off the ocean on either side of you! It was not what I expected the Keys to look like at all, but it was beautiful and unusual all the same.

Our first stop was in Islamorada, the island just west of Key Largo, where we were planning to have lunch. We had heard that the best key lime pie to be had in the Keys was at a place called Mannie and Isa's, a couple who grew the limes in their own backyard and then brought them into the restaurant to make their famous pie. However, sadly, we discovered when we got there that their restaurant had been closed for several years. We stopped to buy some t-shirts for the kids and asked the locals to recommend a good seafood place. This is how we ended up eating lunch at The Fish Company.

It was a beautiful outdoor restaurant sitting on the water.

The restaurant surrounded a central pool, where they would feed sharks, pike, and other fish that would swim up from the ocean for a free meal. Then there was a big fight/feeding frenzy!

The seagulls kept trying to get in on the action, diving down to try to catch the pieces of meat before they hit the water - without getting too close and gobbled up by the sharks themselves!

This seagull was not 6 feet from my chair. He really wanted some of my lunch.

There were a couple pelicans hanging around as well.

View in two different directions from our table.

And there's my handsome husband, just hanging out waiting for his food. We shared stuffed mahi-mahi (the non-cute kind of dolphin) and coconut shrimp - it was yummy!

 After lunch we got back on the road and drove down through several more little islands. Along the way I saw a sign that said "Swim with the dolphins!" and I got really excited. This was something I've always wanted to do, and I gave Robert puppy dog eyes until he gave in and stopped. :-) We went into the Dolphin Research Center and asked if we could sign up to swim with them. Guess what? They don't let pregnant women swim with dolphins either! *sob* I was starting to feel very discriminated against!

 Fortunately we at least got to see some dolphins. They were pretty cute.

A ginormous iguana that was just hanging around:

 And a funny macaw learning some tricks:

A few hours and several more little islands later, we had made it all the way down to Key West! We had a couple of hours until sunset, which we had been advised was a beautiful sight over the water. We walked around Duval Street, which appeared to be the hub of the town, but we quickly discovered it was...well, not exactly our scene, as it consisted mainly of bars, strip clubs, and cigar shops. Yikes. We pretty quickly got disgusted with Key West and decided it wasn't worth waiting around, even for the promise of a beautiful sunset, so we bought a few presents at a souvenier shop and got back in our car to leave.

The funny part was, as we were driving around trying to find our way out of Key West, we ended up on the other side of the island and suddenly everything was lovely! A long, deserted beach with beautiful waves rolling in, nice little houses and hotels, places to rent boats and kayaks and fishing equipment...wait a second - we LIKED Key West! We stopped off at the beach for a few minutes to wade in the surf, and then reluctantly realized that it was getting late and we still had to drive all the way back to Ft. Lauderdale that night. It was just too bad we didn't discover the nice side of Key West sooner.

The trip back was fairly uneventful, as we were mainly trying to get back as quickly as possible. We stopped for dinner at Porky's Seafood and Barbeque in Marathon, which was the first place we could find that was open! Apparently all the little towns pretty much shut down after dark. It was kind of a fun, funky little place that reminded me a big of an old houseboat, as it extended onto the water.

Every square inch was covered with writing by its customers, and there was a live guitarist as well. Robert had a crawfish sandwich and I, having had my fill of seafood, ordered bbq. Then we both ordered key lime pie.

Me with my perfectly normal key lime pie

Robert with his very weird fried key lime pie. He insisted it was delicious.

Dinner over, we drove steadily until we reached our hotel, at about one in the morning, and fell into bed, exhausted but satisfied after our first actual successful day of vacation!