Family time in Key Largo

I've decided every Christmas must be a vacation!  Andrew and I met our families in Key Largo on Christmas day this past year (2016) and it was wonderful!  Our families are spread out across the United States which makes it hard to see everyone and spend equal quality time with them.  It's crazy when you're trying to get from place to place and the added stresses the holidays bring so a destination Christmas was the solution and I might add totally worth it! 

The crew in the Keys!

Our first night in Key Largo we ate at the Lazy Lobster. It was one of the only places on the island open on Christmas.  The food was excellent and the back yard atmosphere was very nice.  It felt great to sit outside in December with short sleeves on.  The next day we ventured to John Pennekamp State Park. Everywhere I read and everyone I spoke with said that JP State Park was a must do in Key Largo.  I'm sure the park is beautiful and there seems to be a ton to do there but the day we went it was over cast and wasn't warm.  We explored the park a bit and decided to go into the visitor's center and see the aquarium which was nice but not worth the money we paid to enter the park.  We ended up calling this idea a wash and explored other options for this day.  Andrew, his dad, and his brother went fly fishing in some of the mid-keys.  Those of us who didn't go fly fishing drove down a few keys to see the pretty water and did some exploring.  This day didn't go as planned but it was nice to be with family and not in cold Nebraska! 

Andrew caught a barracuda while fly fishing.

My favorite activity we did while in Key Largo was rent a boat from Sunshine Watersports. We had eight people in our group so we rented a 19 foot boat.  The boat was a great size for us and it was very nice.  At first we thought we'd go snorkeling so we headed to the coral reef about five miles off shore.  We got half way there when we had to turn back, the waves were bigger than our boat and we were all soaked!  It was scary being in the open ocean with swells that large.  I was beginning to think this day wasn't going to go as planned either but then we went to Nest Key.  Nest Key is absolutely beautiful! It's an island nature reserve right off of the Florida Everglades.  When we pulled up to the island, we saw several boats and knew immediately that we found the place!  I wish I could describe Nest Key with another word but I think beautiful is perfect! You'll have to go see for yourself! We stayed there all afternoon and waded in the water, laid out on the beach, had a picnic on the boat, swam, played with beach toys, fished, and explored.  It was the perfect afternoon!  I wish boat rentals weren't so expensive because we would have gone back there every day.  We also found a ton of starfish in the water which was really neat!  We picked them up for a photo op an promptly put them back in their natural habitat.  on our way to Nest Key we saw manatees swimming in the mangroves and while we were on Nest Key a man caught a three foot hammerhead shark.  When he let it go, it swam right by my foot!  Yikes!  While fly fishing this location, Andrew and his dad caught barracudas.  This tiny island made for the perfect day!

On our last full day in Key Largo, we enjoyed beach time at the private beach within the community we rented in.  We ate dinner at Hobo Cafe which was great (seafood pasta, yum).  After dinner we ventured to the Caribbean Club which is a famous hole in the wall bar that's been featured in the movie Key Largo and the Netflix original series Bloodline. We didn't end up spending time at the club, just took a picture and then drove to Jimmy Johnson's Big Chill Sports Bar. We enjoyed the drinks, live music, and great views from this place. 

I wish our trip to the Keys with family could have been longer but it was nice to spend a few days together, relax, rest, and unwind!  I can't wait to get back to the Florida Keys and explore more!