Cruising …. This is only my third “ocean voyage”.  First 2 times were on Holland America ships,  cruising the ’ St Lawrence Seaway and Alaskan Inner Passage.  
     This time I’m venturing out to my first Bahama Island, Bimini ( 8.2 ocean miles from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.)  on the Celebrity Reflection. 

      It’s a short cruise, 4 days, 3 nights with only 2 stops.  Key West, Florida and Bimini Island.  
      Key West is very close to my heart.  It’s a place I’ve visited time and again with my husband and two of my grands.  This time I’m taking Grand #3 for some college R&R a quick reprieve from the CT cold weather.
   We fly into Fort Lauderdale a day early.  We spend the night at the  Maritme Hotel Fort Lauderdale Airport and Cruiseport (2161 Maritime Mile Blvd). Good midpoint location between the Airport and Cruiseport.  Free airport shuttle, pricey port shuttle.  We used Uber to the Cruiseport for less than half the cost the Hotel offered (Hotel $20 per person/ Uber $25 including tip / there were 3 of us). View from our room! There were at least 8 iguanas on the roof, but this is my best photo. Welcome to Florida!

The best thing about the hotel location was the short walk to the Rendezvous waterfront restaurant.  We went for both dinner and breakfast. Yummy food, great waitstaff, indoor and outdoor seating and great atmosphere!

  Key West! I’m back!  With only a little over half a day in port,  we choose a 2 1/2 hour bicycle excursion!  We ride from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. 

The tour hit on a lot of my “must sees” … The Hemingway House, Lighthouse, Mile Marker Zero, the Southern most point (more photos in previous posts). A first for me is Jimmy Buffets Music Studio.  His family is currently contemplating its future.  

There’s always something new to see and do, no matter how many times I come back.  I learned the “the southern most point buoy” is technically for “tourist use only”.  The true southern most buoy is the big golf ball on the “for Navy use only” Key West U.S. Naval Air Station.

Our tour guide “Salty” from Key Lime Bike Tours was awesome!   Even more awesome was the “must have a slice when visiting the keys” Key Lime Pie that was served at the end of the tour.  
      We still had room for a delicious lunch at my favorite Duval Street Restaurant, Fogartys. We asked to be seated outdoors, street side at a high top so we could enjoy the “people watching” or in this case the “rooster watching”.   Key West is a bird sanctuary. Roosters are a protected, bird.  Penalties for harming a rooster range from a $500 fine to jail time.  

     Back on board, in true flavor of the Keys, one of my favorite entertainments was listening to the “Steel Pan” music.  

The entertainment on board was excellent, the Reflections theater hosted, musicians, dancers, comedy and the “cheesiest”  hypnotist ever.  There were art auctions, dance parties, volleyball contests, game show style contests… I won a free, on board excursion, playing a True False game.  Fortunately and unfortunately the only excursion that was available in a time slot I could attend was the Whistling Pig Whiskey Tasting. I represented Women Well!  Kudos to Dino the Sommelier. Great fun! Very informative and Tasty too! 

First view of Bimini Island!  

Fishermans Wharf Beach is where we met for our Eco Conch Cruise Tour!  

Fun! Fun! Fun!  The staff was great, very knowledgeable.  Very, very nice introduction to the island. A diver leaves the catamaran looking for a conch,  dives down, brings it up and aboard.   When I signed us up, I thought “it was probably planted,  same one conch has probably entertained hundreds of tourists”.  Not true!!!  There are hundreds, or more like thousands of conchs in the ocean and it does take skill to find them.  

Top of the Island.  Bimini is only about 7 miles long and 700 ft wide ( 2  football fields) 

Although this cruise was only a few days, it was jam packed with fun.  There’s no place like home, but this was a wonderful getaway!