Carnival Conquest Cruise--Key West

Our third stop was at Key West.  We had a snorkel/kayak trip planned with Clearly Unique Charters and we were excited  because we picked a company that used clear, glass-bottom kayaks.

First we took a 33-foot catamaran (the Beach Cat) out to Archer Key.

Since our group had 20 people in it, we had to split up into 2 groups.  My cousins, aunt and uncle were first to go kayaking and my parents, sisters, and our family went snorkeling first.

The snorkeling wasn't too awesome...the water was a little cloudy and there weren't too many colorful fish, but it was still fun.  We saw lots of spiny lobsters though, which was cool.

Elina and Eli tried to snorkel with us, but it wasn't very successful.  They both put on the snorkel gear, but once they got into the wavy water, they freaked out.  Elina bawled and bawled...it was like she was hyperventilating!  She was so freaked out.  All we wanted her to do was to put her face into the water so she could see something cool.  After a lot of tears, she finally did it quickly and climbed back on to the catamaran.    Then Eli gave it a try to be like his big sis, but he wasn't too into it either.  I get it though...waves can really make me nervous, too.  Look at how sad these kids look!  If you look closely at Eli's pic (on the bottom of the collage) you can see that he just has this big frown on his face.  And, of course, you can plainly see that Elina is just bawling her head off.

The kayaking was really fun.  Each of the kids got to sit in a kayak--Eli with my sisters, Evie with me and B, and Elina with one of the guides.  Elina felt like such a big girl to be on her own with a paddle.

The kids really loved the clear bottoms because they could really look down and see things.  There wasn't a whole lot to see...mostly sea grass...but the kids were still impressed.

Evie spent a lot of time crawling around in front of me and touching the water. She thought it was so cool!

And Eli just had a great time!

The coolest part was kayaking through a mangrove tunnel.  This time we saw some crabs through the clear bottom kayaks.

Then we noticed that they were everywhere on the mangrove tree branches.  It was so neat...but creepy at the same time.  Once you saw one, you started noticing a ton of them!  They don't have claws or anything and they grow up on the branches.  Then when they're old enough, they drop into the water and live out their lives underwater.

Back on the Beach Cat, we had a nice ride back...and the kids even got to steer the Beach Cat!

After we got back to shore, we walked around Key West a little.  We visited Kermit's for some key lime goodies.  I bought lots of cookies and we ordered a whole pie to split among all of us.  Yum!  Aunt A also got a yummy chocolate-covered key lime pie popsicle!  The owner, Kermit, actually hangs around the store to greet people and some of us got pictures with him.

There was lots to see in Key West, but our stop was really too short.  I would love to go back one day because it's such a cute little place.

I'm finally done with my cruise posts...thank goodness...and thanks for reading through all this stuff, if you've made it this far...now we're back to reality...