Spring Break

We enjoyed our first trip to the Keys over Spring Break. We stayed on Big Coppett Key, the Key just before Key West. We rented a house on a canal with our friends, the Wileys. We pulled the boat down and had a great time exploring the area.

Our first challenge was getting the boat to the canal. The ocean was very shallow and so there was a bit of a learning curve. We had to figure out where the deep channels were and how to maneuver to the canal, thank heaven for GPS. We succeeded in figuring it all out and did some fishing, tubing and snorkeling. The kids finally got to use their Christmas present, a 3 person tube. Laine was not too crazy about it and wouldn't even try but the others kids thought it was great. Maybe she will like her Christmas present before next Christmas ;)

Mady caught what we believe to be a 6 foot nurse shark. We got it close enough to see before it broke the line. We also caught a bonnet head shark and lots of bait fish. It was great and we learned a lot for next time.

Following one the the channels back from fishing we anchored at a shallow area and walked around in the middle of the ocean in waist deep water. We found lots of shells and a few conch. It was beautiful.

We fished from the sea wall at the house and caught lots of bait fish which we fed to our pet pelicans. Coy's knife fell in the water while fishing and luckily landed on a small area that stuck out from the sea wall. When Coy reached down to get the knife he saw 2 big antennae, it was a FL lobster. Coy grabbed it so we could see one. There is a season for lobstering in the Keys so we carefully put the lobster back, after a few pictures.

Friday we spent the day/evening in Key West. We enjoyed Mallory Square and the street performers and especially the sunset, Beautiful. We had key lime pie, of course, and found a great "hot sauce" shop and spent too long in there taste testing :) We celebrated 2 birthday's while in the Keys, Walker and Mandy with a great seafood dinner, YUM!

We had a great Spring Break! Thanks Wiley's for enjoying it with us.