Our third and last day in Key Largo started out with some much needed sleep. We all met for breakfast around 9:30 AM and decided to head to Islamorada to a place called Robbie's. A friend of mine had recommended it and Beth had researched it so off we went. It turned out to be a very Jimmy Buffet sort of place with tiki huts full of island merchandise, live reggae music, hammocks, fishing, and boat and kayak rentals, all nestled among lush tropical landscape.
An area off to the side had tarpon feeding. For one dollar you could enter this zone and walk out on to the boardwalk or take a turn at feeding the tarpon who were big enough to devour your hand. I'm not sure what else was included in your dollar, but we didn't pay to find out. Instead we signed up for another snorkeling trip.
This trip was aboard the Happy Cat with a woman captain who ordered the first mate around often and with plenty of eye rolling at what I can only assume was his incompetence. It made for some entertainment, although the color and clarity of the water was enough while we sped out into the Atlantic.
The first place we snorkeled was quite deep. It was at least 25 feet deep and the water was twice as choppy as the day before. We all set off, Mary Anne included, but there really wasn't much happening under the sea. We saw a few of the same fish we had spotted yesterday, but everything was too deep to really get a good view. We were out for about 40 minutes and she called us in, explaining that we had another snorkeling spot to hit.
We all got back aboard and took off through the blue green water to a lighthouse in the middle of the Atlantic. This area had a coral reef and we were encouraged to swim to the lighthouse and through it if we so desired.
We got on our equipment and off the boat in record time and hit the water. BINGO. This reef, Rainbow Reef, was the best one so far. We saw so many different types of colorful fish in schools of hundreds that would come right up to your face like a puppy wanting to be petted. We saw three parrotfish that were green, blue, orange and pink and the size of a small toddler. We saw grouper, grunts, snapper, pinfish, queen trigger fish, rainbow runners, and a number of other fish I can't name. Tom saw a nurse shark quite close to Madison, but the shark looked around and than swam off in the opposite direction.
The closer we got to the lighthouse the more fish we saw. At one point I looked over at Tom and saw that he was surrounded by hundreds of silver pencil-like fish. They were calmly just encircling him as if bringing him into their school. If he put his hand out to touch them it was like a reverse magnet effect as the entire school moved a tad out of his reach.
We spent about an hour in the water snorkeling before our captain called us back to the boat. Everyone was very excited about all the sights we had seen and so the conversation back to Robbie's was very animated as we compared sightings.
We ended our day with a meal at a cafe on a private beach. Later that night Teddy and Beth returned to Robbie's and went out on a fishing voyage until after midnight. The adults watched a movie in one room and the kids played cards and popped popcorn in the other.
The next day we drove back home again in pouring down rain. We cooked and prepared the fish that Beth and Teddy had caught the night before and celebrated Tom's birthday. A great ending to a great trip!
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