Hi Dad and Cori, here is the packing list I promised:
Remember that we can always get anything else we need once we get there. Also, be sure to leave plenty of extra room in you bags to take stuff home :)
Friday, 1st: Arrive at Ft Lauderdale Airport, Toni's flight lands at 11:37am. Collect bags and rental car. Head to a Walmart or similar to get snorkel gear (finns, mask, and snorkel) and lunch. Spend affternoon at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park (see left). It only costs $5 for all of us to get in and there are places to lay around on the beach and to snorkel. Toni will give the official Sea Base snorkeling lesson :) Then grab a quick dinner, find the hotel and go to bed early.
Saturday, 2nd: Get up early and drive down US 1 to Key West. The drive will take more than 3 hours, so we can nap in the car, but the view is really beautiful as well. As we get near to Key West, we can stop on Big Pine Key at Boondocks to get a slice of their delightful key lime pie (if we share it then we can justify trying many, many slices thoughout the trip, he heee). In Key West we can see the southernmost point in the U.S. (see left) and then shop and explore (and of course have another delightful slice of KLP at Kermit's). If we 
still want more snorkeling practice, there are a few beaches. If dad wants to see cannons, we can go to an old civil war fort (see 2nd left). If we still want to practice our snorkeling, there are a couple of beaches. In the evening, we can have dinner at my favorte Cuban restaurant (Cori will be eating plantains) and then watch the sunset festival (a bunch of street performers, local artists, etc). We will stay this night in Key West.
Sunday, 3rd: Church on Key West starts at 10:00am (you can wear anything you want, including shorts and flip flops). After church, we can go back to the hotel and change into our beach gear and head to Bahia Honda State Park (left), which is about an hour north of Key West. Here we can go out on the boat to Looe Key (2nd left), a really amazing reef, where we will snorkel for about an hour to an hour and a half. The boat will stay the whole time, so if you get 
tired, need a drink of water, whatever, you can get on the boat and then get back in the water. After or before the snorkeling outing, we can relax on the beach, hike to the old railroad bridge, or rent kayaks and paddle around. We can have a picnic dinner at Bahia Honda and then drive back up the keys to Florida City to spend the night.
Monday, 4th: This is the big shabang, our deepsea fishing day. I think the trip begins at 7:00am. We are going out with Captain Ron Varona (see left). If you want to check out his website, the address is http://www.greeneyedgirlcharters.com/ He is holding a grouper, which we could possibly see, but we are really going for dolphin (see 2nd left). When we get back, they will clean and package the fish for us, but we will need to bring a cooler to store them in. After all this, we will need to figure out what to do with the fish, maybe ask if 
we can store them in a freezer at the hotel or something. Dad, what do you usually do? I thought if we can keep them in the cooler for a while, we could have dinner at The Fish Company, on Islamorada (only about 20 miles south of Tavernier). They have excellent fish and also perfect key lime pie. Then back up to Florida City.
Tuesday, 5th: On our last full day, we will be very near to Everglades National Park. They have some cool hikes and tours. I'm sure, but they might have vendors with kayaks to paddle around the mangroves. If we feel up to it, we can also drive over to Biscane National Park, where we can kayak or snorkel or swim or whatever. Also, if we are tired of being outside and grubby, we can check out Miami and maybe get some Cuban food. Then we will drive up to Ft. Lauderdale to spend the night before flying out the next morning. If we stay close enough to the airport and the hotel has a shuttle, you two can possibly catch a couple extra hours of sleep when I leave because my flight leaves at 6am the next morning :P
before I give them to Goodwill. Do not be fooled by the photos. Hey are very shiney like a rain coat and they are very tall. Nuno thinks they 
belong on Hollywood Blvd. As I am not stylish enough to make them look respectible, I thought I'd run them by you two. I could give them to Cori in FL. Write me a comment and let me know :)
