Several months ago we planned our stay in Florida because we know wintertime is the season here.  We searched the south end of Florida and the keys to find a place to stay for a while so we could enjoy the scenery and see the keys.  Alas, we were unable to find anyplace to stay that had space and would take the dog and would be under $100/day.  $100/day is just way too expensive for us!

So, we ended up in Port Charlotte on the gulf side, about 120 miles from the southern tip of Florida where the keys start.  At first we were thinking we’d make an early start and drive down and back in one day.  We ended up deciding to drive down and stay overnight at a motel that would take the dog so we would have most of two days in the keys.  That worked out pretty good.

Although our time in the keys was short, we had a great time!  We took a glass-bottom boat tour of the reefs on the Atlantic side (see separate post) and were able to see lots of fish as well as part of a shipwreck.

We also drove down to the extreme end of Key West where it’s just 90 miles from that point to Cuba.  People actually make that 90 mile crossing on rafts, small boats, etc.  I used to know a construction worker who swam the 90 miles hanging onto a log!  Yipes!

We weren’t able to take as many pictures of the beautiful water, islands etc. as we wanted.  Much of the shore is private and while driving down route 1 you can’t stop and take pictures whereever you want, no shoulder to the road!  So, the pictures below are a mix of some that we took and some that I found online that match the sights that we saw.

The color of the water was in some areas deep blue to a light blue, and in some areas was a deep emerald to a light green.  The lighter colors is where the water is very shallow and is sandy underneath instead of reefs.  And the little patches of mangrove trees standing right out in the water was so exotic looking!  In some places there would be one or a few trees WAYYYYY out there in the water but the water is so shallow all over both the gulf side and the Atlantic side that sometimes you could see people out standing up about quarter mile out in the water.  It was weird!

Here are pictures we took of the keys (or ones I found online that matched what we saw):