Florida Keys Review

 Florida Keys
April 3rd-8th, 2021

Our Florida Keys trip was for Spring Break 2021. This was the first visit for my family, buy my in-laws who travelled with us have been a few times. We flew direct from Cleveland to Miami and then Miami - Charlotte - Cleveland return flight. Once in Miami we rented a car and drove down to the keys. 

Day 1:

We arrived in Miami around 10am or so. Got our rental car and headed down to the keys! Here are some pictures from our drive down to Key Largo.

We stopped in Key Largo at Jimmy Johnson's Big Chill. It's definitely a bar type restaurant, but for a quick lunch it did the trick plus the patio is nice and overlooks the ocean. Great views especially after being on an airplane all morning. It was a nice introduction to the keys.

After that we headed the rest of the hour or so down to Duck Key were our condo was. The drive was fairly easy without a lot of traffic. 

Our condo in Duck Key was really nice. It was three units. Two on top and one on the bottom. We stayed in one of the top units. It was 3 bedroom, 2 bath with open kitchen and living room. It was plenty of space for all of us. The condo also had a pool and private dock.

That night for dinner we went down to Hog Heaven Sports Bar. With our party size we ate near the front so no great views, but food and drinks were great. Service was great as well. It was nice enjoyable evening. 

Day 2:

Our second day was Easter Sunday so the Easter Bunny made a quick stop for our kiddos. That day we spent the morning at John Pennekamp State Park. Our main objective was to kayak in the mangroves. We did that plus played on the beach a little. We also hiked a little over in that same area. My kids had no real interest in that and just wanted to go kayaking. 

The beach area was really cool. Lots of coral to explore and the mangroves were cool to see up close. Now kayaking in the mangroves was a super cool experience, but also really hard. The current was pretty strong the day we went and was a lot of work to navigate the tight spaces. It was definitely a once in a lifetime adventure! 

We had lunch at Skippers Dockside afterward. We had hoped to get a table outside, but they ended up splitting a large group up who took the rest of the outdoor tables so we sat inside. Food was good. Drinks were okay. Service was okay as well. The staff was nice and friendly though. After lunch we walked around the dock and saw a nurse shark, pelicans, jellyfish, and some parrotfish. 

Day 3:

This was probably my favorite day of the whole trip just because of the Dolphin Research Center. It was such a cool place with so many dolphins! My kids had a blast too. They both had t-shirts painted by a dolphin. That was probably the highlight of their trip. Even my husband thought it was neat. We watched a few different dolphin trainings. The first one was doing a well-check on one of the dolphins. The second one was a dolphin dance party and some training. We also watched the sea lions a bit. The show was closed because of covid so we could only see them from the one side. We also looked at the birds and just enjoyed the beautiful facility. 

In the afternoon we went to Bahia Honda State Park. It is supposed to have the best beaches and for the keys I'd agree. It was to cold for my littlest one, but my big girl and her dad went out pretty far. It was a little too rough and cold for me too. I enjoyed the sun, the sand, and seeing my little guy explore. 

Day 4:

I didn't take many pictures this day. We spent a lazy morning at the condo then headed over to Robbie's for a snorkeling and eco tour. Robbie's is crazy and if you plan to go there get in early. We did not feed the tarpons as it looked insane as well as a little unsafe with the pelicans not afraid to take your fish at all. Our boat captain Sam (KeyZ Charters) was really nice and had a lot of great information to tell us. The ocean was too rough to try for Alligator Reef Light House so that was a bummer, but we tried two different snorkeling spots. The first was nice, but it was so rough. I had a hard time snorkeling there and the kids were scared with the big waves. The second place was a bit calmer, but shallower so it made it hard to not kick up stuff from the ocean floor, which made visibility hard. My daughter was able to get in at the second place and had fun for a bit. Our little guy got in, but didn't stay long because he was too cold. 

Before we left we did see a manatee and lots of pelicans. On the way back from snorkeling we were taken to a few different eco sites. We saw an alligator and lots of birds. No dolphins though. Once back at Robbie's we walked around a little bit and bought some art from Tim Rahn Photography. 

Day 5:

This was our last full day in the keys. We drove down to Key West to explore there a bit. On the way down we stopped in Big Pine Key. We went over to the Blue Hole Observation Platform to see some alligators and Key Deer. We did not see any Key Deer, but we did see three alligators.

Onto Key West...

I really wanted to like Key West, but it was just so commercialize. Everything is also super spread out so it's a lot of walking. It's also geared way more toward adults then kids. My kids are not into historical stuff so other then looking around the shops, eating lunch, and eating ice cream they were bored. They also liked to see the chickens walking around. It reminded them of Maui. We didn't stay long and honestly I'm okay with skipping this if we were to come back as a family. There are many other places in the keys I'd rather explore.

Day 6:

We woke up and got out of the condo fairly earlier so we could stop at Anne Beach and hit the Everglades once we were back in Miami. Anne Beach was really nice and beautiful. If we ever go back I'd love to take lunch and hang out here longer. 

Overall we had a really nice trip. It was more relaxing then some of our other trips, but much needed after 2020 and being stuck at home. If we end up going back there are definitely some other places I want to explore more and we would definitely head back to the Dolphin Research Center. Also check out Shell World. It was a super cool store with all kinds of shells and other gifts. If you'd like to see some aerial drone footage of our trip check out these videos my husband shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJpeTZjOOs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FmimF_L2wk&t=2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNfSq02d6ZA