Florida continued... Keys, Everglades and Universal Studios

Day 1 - Back to Miami: After the cruise we picked up Hank (who was still parked where we left him, Yea), we drove into South beach Miami to walk around the Art Deco buildings and the beach. I had a map in my lonely planet book that we followed. It was really nice walking around looking at the different buildings from the art deco period and seeing the history of south beach. The weather was still really hot and it was only early morning. After our self-guided walk we made our way to the beach where we watched some very sexy volleyball players do their thing. Then we walked down to the beach and walked along the shore to see the local talent soaking up the sun. We decided against going for a swim as it was super hot and we were not too sure when our next shower would be.

As it was hot we stopped into Starbucks for a drink and to use the Internet to plan our next part of the trip. There was not much more to do in Miami that would not cost us money so we moved onto our next stop the Florida Keys.

It was about an hour drive to the start of the keys and as it was getting late we stopped off at the visitor centre looking for a place to camp for the night and snorkel the next day. The lady at the visitor centre advised not to camp when it was so hot and suggested for us to stay in a hotel. We took her advice and stayed in a lovely little scuba resort in Key Largo and also booked a snorkelling trip for the next day.

After checking in Marc made burgers on a BBQ overlooking the ocean, it was a lovely spot. After dinner we watched a beautiful sunset before kicking back in our hotel room.

Day 2 - The Keys: The hotel room was a great idea with all the bugs and heat it was worth the money for the night. After breakfast we made our way down the road to go snorkelling in the ‘Great Florida Reef’ the third largest barrier reef in the world. It was a pretty good experience but could have been a little better. When we stopped at the edge of the reef we were warned of the jellyfish in the area that would give a slight sting if you made contact with them. Marc and I jumped in together but as I was a little worried about the jellyfish kept swimming over to the reef. This meant I lost Marc who was having goggle seal issues because of his moustache. The reef was really nice hundreds of different kinds of fish and coral. The problem was the jellyfish, not too bad at the reef but they were all around. I freaked out a couple of times when they were near my face but did not get stung once. Once Marc had his goggle fixed with Vaseline on the moustache he found me and we kept having a look around the reef. It was a very shallow reef and the water was bit ruff but over all still a good experience.

After snorkelling we went back to the room for some lunch before driving down to Key West. The drive was really cool each Island we passed was connected to the next via a bridge. It was interesting as well as the power lines ran next to the bridge and were above ground not under so not much protection for the power lines if hurricanes passed through.

On the way to Key West we passed a turtle hospital that I wanted to stop and see but the next viewing was at 4pm. It was only 1hr away so we decided to hang around and check it out. The hospital was right at the start of the 7-mile bridge, to fill in the time we decided to go over it, the bridge was very impressive. When we reached the other side stopped for a swim in the super shallow and murky water. There were a few people wading on the sand paths through the weeds. It was a nice spot but not really my kind of beach.

We went back to the hospital and started our tour. Luckily we were the only people on it. The tour went for about 90min and was really interesting. We learnt all about the different sea turtles and got to see the patients. The turtles were so cool but a little sad as well especially the ones who had been hurt by boats and caught up in fishing line. Most of the turtles when hurt their bodies would release air into their shell so they would float to the surface and not drown. However when they were better again there was no way for the turtles to release the air and be able to sink again. To try and help these turtles weights are attached to their shells as a last resort to make them more comfortable. It was all very interesting. 

It was about an hours drive to Key West and we made it there by late afternoon. Key West was a pretty big place. We had a look around famous Duval Street, on the way stopping for some fish and chips for dinner and a Harley store. At the end of Duval Street was a pier we walked along as the sunset on another day. As it was getting late was started to make our way back to the car stopping for some delicious key lime pie and the end of Highway 1, mile 0 the most eastern point of north America for some photos. 

 

The drive back to Key Largo took about 2 hrs and the moon was out so it was a lovely night drive.   

  

Day 3 - Everglades: After a bit of a late night we had a little sleep in before we made our way to the Everglades for a fan boat tour. We were not too sure where the best place to go would be so we just drove down the alligator highway to see what we could find.

Coopertown airboat was the first place we saw. It said that it was the one and only original tour of the everglades. We stoped to check it out and spoke to the guy (also it was about $20 cheaper than the other ones we looked at).  Before we hit the water, they had a reptile show out the back. It was really cool. They showed us lizards, snakes, turtles and alligators, all caught from the surrounding glades.  They also showed us some baby gators a turtles that had hatched a few weeks ago (so tine tiny).

Our guide was really nice, he had been working the glades for years. We could only go on certain parts of the everglades because there is a big battle going on about the harm that the boats do to the environment. Then it was time get in the boats, these things are so cool. They took us on a big circle out through the marshy parts then back through these islands that looked very mangrove like. During which our guide told us to be on the look out for gators. We saw three, but only two came super close to the boat. After we got back to their dock they let us all hold a gator that was about two years old. It was really cool.

After the airboat ride it was off to Harley Davidson Miami. We tried to stop off at Benny’s Seafood for the mofongo (its another DDD place) on the way but unfortunately they were closed on this day.  The Harley shop was so Miami, all art deco and shit.  We picked up another pin and a poker chip for Marc’s ever growing collection then began the boring three-hour drive to Orlando.

Day 4 - Universal Studios: After arriving late in Orlando (and cooking on the floor of the hotel room) we were up early for our big day of adventure at Universal Studios. We were booked on the first shuttle to the park, which left the hotel at 8:45. We were both pretty excited about the day (some more than others). When we got to the park it was still really quite and we were not too sure if we should buy the flash passes (these allowed you to skip the long wait in lines). We ended up getting them anyway, it’s a little more expensive, but when you’re travelling with someone that doesn’t like lines or screaming kids its probably a good thing.

First place we hit was Harry Potter land; we thought it would be good to get there before all the crowds, also because Michelle was nearly wetting herself with excitement.  Now I’m not a Harry fan by any means but this place was crazy!  We went on the Dragon roller coaster first. It was one of the rides were your feet hang down (like the lethal weapon ride at Dreamworld). It was rad, we even got the front seats thanks to the speed pass.  After that it was on to the ‘Hogwarts’ simulator ride.  Michelle loved it. You walked through the halls of Hogwarts and they had these holograms of Harry, the red head and hot chick. They looked super real! At one stage they even had it snowin. The ride itself was pretty cool. You got into a row of 5 seats and the idea was you were flyin on a broomstick through the castle. Some were real (like a ghost train) the others you were in a simulation, with this dirty big screen in front of you. As I said Michelle loved it! I got a little motion sick.

Probably the best (except for the butter beer in Harry Potter land. Not real beer but highly addictive) and most scary thing there was the mister freeze roller coaster. This thing was crazy!! It shot you out of this tunnel at about 100km on to this coaster track that had all the bells and whistles. But when u reach the end of the track which was straight up in the air about 50 meters it shot u backwards around the same track where you first started. All this took about 40 seconds. Bloody crazy! I nearly shat my pants. 

The rest of the day we spent lookin around all the themed sections and me getting more motion sickness. Even from the Cat in a hat, which is a kiddie ride (Michelle loved it of course).

We left the park at about 5:30 to catch the shuttle back to our hotel. We both had an awesome day but after all that motion and adrenalin we were both fairly well spent. We just had some noodle cups and passed out after another epic day.