Key West, FL

The next day all of us went on a jet ski tour around Key West. Jaclyn, Emily, and Anthony were on one Jet ski. Caitlin, Ethan, and I were on another.

We started out on the gulf side, with a bit of free time where everyone was whipping around. One of the Jet Skis in our group started taking on water so a Mother with her two young sons had to abandon ship and trade with one of the tour guides. It was traumatic for the younger kid.

We continued on the tour to the Atlantic side where it got really rough. The tour guide seemed to be in a hurry, and it was hard to keep up with all of the massive waves.

Afterwards we ate at a restaurant right by the Jet Ski rentals. Caitlin and I split Gator bites and they were absolutely delicious.

We continued south to Key West. We went and checked out a sand castle building competition. They were making some really amazing stuff. I never realized that they use filtered sand for those things but it makes a lot of sense.

After I made a palm frond hat for Ethan they headed back north to their RV Resort and Caitlin and I stayed in Key West.

We checked into our Bed and Breakfast called The Duval House. It was a cute little place with individual rooms with actual metal keys to get in and out. All of rooms were facing inward where there was a nice courtyard area that made it feel very secluded. I would go back.

This night we had a few things that we needed to do. One, was to make sure we saw the Sunset at Mallory Square. So we walked down there and saw all the craziness. There was a guy who was contorting his body and slipping through a tennis racket, there was a sword swallower, and many other random street performers.

We ended up at the West Inn restaurant/bar which was outside and had a great view of the sunset. After ordering some drinks and taking a few pictures we saw the sunset. It was pretty spectacular.

Our second task of the night was to get groceries for our trip to the Dry Tortugas. After a quick stop at a local bar where Caitlin was able to chat with her Sister in Spain via webcam, we headed to the grocery store. We got all types of food that we thought would be good for the island, we also made sure to pack some Turkey Jerky for Thanksgiving.

Being the night before thanksgiving we expected that the bars would be packed like in Ohio. But the bartender told us that they are usually dead because everyone heads back home for the holidays. Apparently Key West isn’t home for most. After a few drinks and exploring the town we headed back to our room, we had an early ferry boat ride to catch to a tropical island!