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Cudjoe Key Florida
My vacation
Written by @m4deline
Last Wednesday I flew from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to Ft Lauderdale Florida and drove to Cudjoe Key. My family was joining 6 other family's with kids all around the same age as me. There were 23 people in all that went. We and another family flew up on Wednesday and the other family's flew up on Thursday. One family drove. You may say it was really hectic but everyone had their own house = space. It was WAY different than I thought it would be.
We stayed at Venture out, which was a nice area, people lived there, and it was gorgeous. Our family rented a 3 row golf cart which we drove around the property. We shared a boat with another family which we used a ton(I totally suggest). One of the family's used to live in the keys so they knew all the hot spots. This is kind of like entry's of what we did each day.
Wednesday
Our flight left at 9:30 and we arrived in Florida around Noon. We picked up our car and drove 3 hours (we got grocery items on the way) to Cudjoe Key. When we arrived we pulled up to the gate of Venture out and the staff was really nice. We got to our house, unpacked, and went swimming in the Canal. The water was pretty clear and we snorkeled in the murky-ish water. Later we watched the beautiful sunset. We then washed up and had a good night sleep.
Thursday
We relaxed, swam, snorkeled, and kayaked around the canal. The rest of the people came and we continued to play in the canal. We got our shared boat that day as well. We had dinner cooked by one of the family's. I believe it was fish. We slept well that night.
Friday
One of the parents decided we needed to go to the beach so we (the only family who had a boat) took the boat to the beach while everyone drove. On our way we hit up a snorkel spot unexpectedly that blew our mind. There was plenty of coral and some small fish. I was blown away. We kept going and made it to the beach where we snorkeled over a hundred yards in shore. The water was so blue and pretty. We boated back and had dinner.
Saturday
We met up early and hung out. Everyone else got there boats (3 in total) and we went out into the open water to snorkel. We snorkeled in 2 spots ( we had went to one of them again.) We then hung out and swam in the canal for a while. We had tacos that night for dinner.
Sunday
We all met at our boats around 9am and took a long boat ride to this area where you couldn't see land. We tied up the boat and I hear "Oh my gosh there's two giant groupers under the boat!" I was the fastest one in the water and was amazed how spectacular it was under the water. I was clearer, deeper, bluer, and filled with more life that the other snorkel spots. I turned and yelled underwater as I saw 2 humongous groupers. Everyone looked in awe and stayed away but I grabbed the go-pro and swam to where I could have touched the groupers if I wanted to. It was amazing. I grabbed my buddy and we head out further. We saw 5 sharks lower than us and plenty of barracudas. We saw a small canyon like area where so many beautiful fish swam. It was amazing. My dad and I swam to the 25ft deep bottom and grabbed sand before returning up. We were the only ones who could do this feat.
My lips were sun-burnt and the saltwater didn't make it better. I got out of the water, pressed my lips on a coke bottle, and relaxed. We jumped off the boats a bit and had tons of fun. We left the most beautiful place I had ever seen and went to another spot where conch shells surrounded us. It was shallow but beautiful. We left and when home and called it a day. The men went out and fished and we ate what the caught for dinner (fish taco.)
Monday
On Monday everyone who wanted to fish (most of us leaving 11) went out on the boats for most the day. While they did that we relaxed and floated in the canal. We took a break from snorkeling that day and didn't touch of snorkel gear. We went out to Key West that night, took a picture at the Southern-most-point of America (which one family too drunk to show didn't appear), and went our separate ways. We shopped, ate, chilled, before going home, and slept amazing that night.
Tuesday
This was our last full day in the Keys. We set out to go back to the place we snorkeled at on Sunday and did but it wasn't as amazing as last time. We separated on our boat with another family and went to "Vietnam" (a "river" that looked like a place in Vietnam.) We put on life-vests and floated with the current. I almost fell asleep but didn't. We got on the boat and started back home. I steered the boat there and trough the points when we saw about 7 dolphins. We chased them, they went under the boat, they got so close to us, it was amazing. We made it back, had an amazing dinner, and the kids played dungeons and dragons, where I was a kidnapper. It was awesome. I slept well that night.
Wednesday
We packed, said our goodbyes, and left around 10 from our house even though our flight was at 7pm. We went to Robbie's and fed giant fish by hand, shopped, and had an amazing meal. We made it to the airport and had a safe flight.
