Bye bye Key West!

Current GPS Mark: N24.68500°, W81.21698°, 160f – Seven Mile Bridge
Key West was great, and now we’re on our way to New Port Ritchie, up near Clearwater. We didn’t have the opportunity to do any real amount of diving in Key West due to the water conditions (really rough, heavy currents, <10ft viz), but that will change at our next stop – Crystal River, FL. (I was going to put our dive/tour info here, but I’m having trouble finding the website again. Doh! So I’ll regroup on it later.)
Update: I found the info – it was the one that was right in front of me the whole time (doh!). We’ll be doing a manatee snorkel in the morning and then a trip to the Devil’s Den cavern in the afternoon, with Bird’s.

Pelican With Fish 4
Current GPS Mark: N25.79302°, W80.20560° – I-95 Miami)
Photo: A pelican with a big fish, in Key West

So yesterday was Vero Beach, Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center and dinner at the
Ocean Grill. The only part of that that went well was dinner, which was excellent. At KSC we ended up spending all day in lines (line to get on the bus, then the bus waited in line, then a line for food. Line after line after line…) and it was a total waste. (Which is unfortunate, because I’m a huge space buff.) Didn’t even get to go to the rocket park. And the Vero Beach Holiday Inn “Hotel and Suites” Oceanside was just as bad – 4 star prices for a 2 star (at best) motel.

Moving along, we’re currently stuck in stop and go traffic in north Miami, on our way to the Hard Rock for lunch. I’ll update this post after lunch..

Update: Don’t go to the Hard Rock Miami. Just don’t.. sigh. We’re back on track for Key West although we might end up being late (B&B wants us in no later than 6pm. Its 2 and we’re still stuck in Miami. So we’ll see how that works out. Software says its possible, but we’re dubious.)

We’re going on a drive. Due to some strange coincidences (and reasonably-timed unemployment) we are at loose ends right now. There is some work to do on the house, but after that we’re totally free. So we’re driving to Florida. Targets of interest are Canaveral (we missed some of it last time due to scheduling), the excellent Ocean Grill (my father worked there as a kid), Key West (never been) and of course, some diving. We’re driving down from the DC/Baltimore area, so we are looking for any suggestions on things to see along the way, places to stay and especially dive locations or shops to talk to. We don’t have a set schedule (thats part of the point :) ..) and so booking ahead more than a day or two is going to be difficult. But, if we are coming your way and you want to get together (or have anything you can recommend), drop me a line in the comments.