Vacation in the Keys

Sunset from Ohio Key (you can drag through if you don't want to watch the whole 2 minutes.)

We just had a great week in the keys. We traveled down on Monday with the new car and the pop-up camper. We had a spot reserved at our favorite Sunshine Key Campground on Ohio Key with a spot next to the water. Jon & Julie Rusnak joined us for the week (Jon is the Vicar at St. Luke's and Julie taught 4th grade for us this year.)

We headed over to Bahia Honda on Tuesday morning for snorkeling. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had plenty to see. The number of fish seemed a few less than in the past but we saw lobster there for the first time ever. We had sandwiches for lunch and then a bit more snorkeling before heading back to camp to clean up. We decided it was a good night to head to Key West so we loaded up and drove down. We stopped at a few of the tourist spots and found a subway for dinner. The sunset viewing in Mallory Square is indeed terrific. We got back home in time to catch the Magic game on satellite radio and partial views on the web.

Boat Rentals in Paradise was the start of our day on Wednesday. We rented a 23' boat to head out to the coral reefs. We started at Sombrero Reef and saw tons of fish I have never seen before. The coral was great too but the water a bit cloudy and a little deeper so it took some energy to get close enough for pictures. From there we headed over to Coffins Patch where the water was crystal clear. More fish, more coral and even a 8' nurse shark. (We didn't get too close.)

At the campground, we enjoyed another beautiful sunset. From our favorite fishing bridge the highlight though was an eagle ray and 2 big sea turtles. We found a ton of life in the tidal pools too. (Watch the crab movie.) Jon & Julie left Thursday morning and we relaxed around the pool with some tennis and shuffleboard. The Magic game was very disappointing. We had a very heavy downpour for about an hour with most of the tent area and roads flooded for a couple hours but we were safe in the camper. We made it back Friday evening safe and sound.

Enjoy the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/slehenbauer1/KeysTrip2009 and some videos from my phone at http://qik.com/slehenbauer