Day 15 - Snorkeling the keys

After a good nights sleep Gwen and get up and fire up oatmeal in the microwave. Then it's time to hunt for coffee. It's harder than it sounds. In the western states you can't swing a cat without hitting at least three cafes, but finding coffee in Florida seems to usually require at least a five mile drive. Within walking distance we find a hotel that has an industrial keurig type machine and score caffeine for $2.50. What a bargain.

We sign up for the afternoon boat trip and relax the rest of the morning. It's been a tough two weeks.

At about 1:45 we finally board the dive boat with 17 scuba divers and head out to French reef, about 5 miles offshore into the Atlantic. Captain Mike warns us that the swell is about 4 foot and it's a little choppy. Out at the reef there is moderate swell and current but Gwen soldiers on and does a giant stride off the boat. The water is 84 F and about 35 feet deep but we can see at least 100 feet. Despite fighting the current and swell we get in about 45 minutes of fish watching. When we got out for a break Mike pointed out a big barracuda. Gwen was watching it from the tip of the boat until she started feeling seasick from the constant rocking. We got a drink of icewater and sat in the middle of the boat where it moved the least. About 20-30 minutes later all the scuba people were all onboard and ready to go. When the boat was moving Gwen felt slightly better but then we stopped at M and tha waves took over again. We never got in the water again but Gwen threw up, and we showered off the salt with cold, freshwaterat the back of the boat. After another hour or so we went back to the hotel. Once we got off Gwen was perfectly fine. We went to dinner at the nearby Conch House and ordered the whole Hogfish. We gave the presentation a ten. It was tasty too.Read more