I have 2 brothers that I travel with on a regular basis and we don’t do mediocre trips. One of our all time favorite travel destinations is to the Florida Keys. This is a great brother-bonding time where we eat, drink, fish, snorkel, hike, bike and visit different out of the ordinary aquatic attractions.
When we dine out, we try to find some of the local establishments to experience all types of seafood. We all 3 order a different appetizer, entree and dessert so we can sample each other’s different cuisines. We happened upon the restaurant called Lazy Lobster where I experienced oysters Rockefeller, caviar and hawgfish for the 1st time. I try to keep my meals grilled or blackened to keep it as healthy as possible since I know key lime pie will be someone’s choice of dessert for the meal. We also dined at the Conch House, which has been seen on “Man vs Food”. Their key lime pie is fabulous and so are their fried conchs. Their key lime pie is so good that we came in one afternoon after snorkeling and we ordered a whole pie. We split it into 3 slices and devoured it quickly. We didn’t bother ordering anything else. We also visited The Key Lime Pie Factory on Key Largo where we experienced a chocolate dipped frozen key lime pie on a stick. We also got whole pies to take back home. Another restaurant that we fell in love with was The Island Fish Company in Marathon where we had the pleasure of a delicacy called deep fried key lime pie. It’s a generous slice of key lime pie that is battered and deep fried then topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
So, eating is a big part of our trips but so are our other adventures. We snorkeled in Bahia Honda. The water wasn’t too clear on that day but we saw some of the biggest grouper we’ve ever seen. I swear one was as big as a VW bug. We also visited The History of Diving Museum in Islamorada. This was a special time with one of my brothers being a Coast Guard veteran and avid diver. The Shipwreck Museum was a great historical attraction that we enjoyed in Key West.
The best part of our trip was driving to Key West and loading a boat to take us to Dry Tortugas, just 70 miles west of Key West. The boat tour offered a lite lunch where you were able to make your own sandwiches, pick a pack of chips and plenty of varieties of cookies and plenty to drink. Watching the spot off in the distance grow bigger after seeing nothing but water, quickly turned to excitement as you began to see the outline of an enormous fort in the Gulf of Mexico. Once we docked, we were at liberty to explore Fort Jefferson, snorkel, lay out in the sun or just hang out on the boat. We chose to snorkel. We saw barracudas, turtles and many other types fish that I had never seen or heard of before this trip. After we finished snorkeling, we toured the island. Lots of history and a beautiful place to visit. Bring plenty of sunscreen, towels, a change of clothes and a Go Pro ( Go Pro is a must filming underwater).
Riding a boat out to Dry Tortugas is not the only mode of transportation. You can fly out. You can also camp at the Dry Tortugas for those that would like to really rough it.
Tell me what destination you would love to know about and I’ll get it on my to do list or tell me someplace I need to go.
Be blessed and travel safely.
