Relaxing in the Keys by. Stephen

                During our visit to the “World Famous Florida Keys”, we saw, did, and learned so many cool things.  From, SCUBA diving to visiting the United States Coast Guard museum.  There were so many things to see and do.

                During the first night of our trip, before the Florida Keys but in Florida, we seemed to get the bad weather out of the way; we ended up setting up our tents and stuff outside, in the pouring rain.  Though, after that day we had no trouble with weather, other than wind.  Most of the days were nice and sunny, with the exceptions of a few cloudy days. The day that we arrived at “the Southernmost KOA” on Sugarloaf key, we were ready to hit the sack, and be ready for the next exciting two weeks ahead of us.  During that time, we SCUBA dived, celebrated my birthday, learned about Key West, and just had ourselves a “working” vacation, for lack of a better term. 

                The majority of the expedition was spent not in the water SCUBA diving, but, watching the world’s most cheese video and learning from a book, so that, in the end, we could all receive our PADI Open Water certification.  For the majority of us the work paid off though, and most of us got our PADI’s, except for Mitch and I.  When I went under on my first open water dive, I wasn’t able to equalize my ears and I wasn’t able to dive that day.  Then the next day, I was sick and wasn’t able to make that dive either.  But, it didn’t faze me; I just went snorkeling on the reef instead.  I saw many cool fish; barracuda, lobster, grouper, and some other type of tropical fish. 

                My birthday was pretty close to perfect.  I worked toward my PADI, had snickers for snack, and finish the day off with eating steak, yams, and mixed veggies, while listening to some of my favorite songs.  The steaks were amazing, along with the dessert, which was a cheesecake my mom sent me from the Cheesecake factory.   

                Now, I’m excited for our next expedition.  To Costa Rica, my plan is to pass a personal proposal to drink coffee.  Down in Costa Rica, it’s basically a requirement, with the type of coffee they have down there!