The Traveling Huntley's Florida 2 of 2

We spent the next two days just relaxing and touring the area before we headed over to the east side of the state and then on to the Ft. Lauderdale area for our flight home on Friday morning.

Ft. Meyer is directly north of Naples and it also is a beautiful beach town.



Another thing I have always wanted to see was some alligators out in the wilds. Well, it was not really the wilds, just a stop along the roadway out of town. These were in an irrigation ditch along side the roadway. I can see how you would want to keep an eye on your children in this area. Alligators are not green, but black so they can absorb the suns rays to rev up their metabolism.

These were quite aggressive and about six feet long.

The beaches around Naples and Ft. Meyers are very white and beautiful as well as not very crowded.

Just some of the BIG homes in this area, and there were numerous ones. (Gerry, we have more to show you later).

Shirl has not seen this picture.  I took it because she loves orchids.

We spent the last evening over here on the west side to watch the sun set.  

Cat eyes?

Several dolphins were playing close to shore

Fish that were caught by fishermen on the dock.  I have no idea as to what they are.

Our last night on the east side of the state before we head to  Ft. Lauderdale  and our flight home tomorrow morning. The evening was shared with a beautiful nearly full moon.

This concludes a wonderful vacation in which we visited several islands in the Caribbean as well as southern Florida.  Florida was the wonderful surprise for the trip.  We had previously never understood why people raved about Florida, but after seeing both the Atlantic and Gulf sides we now understand the attraction.  We could consider coming back to this area again.

These past few days have been a wonderful and relaxing way to end our trip.

73's

The Traveling Huntley's
Shirl and Roger

The Traveling Huntley's Visiting Florida Part 1 of 2

We picked up our rental car on Saturday afternoon, April 20th and headed down the road towards Key West.  

As it turned out the AVIS rental agency at the Hyatt Hotel was out of normal sized cars so they gave us a nice Lincoln.  Wow, what a beautiful car and drives like a dream. I would not mind having one of these!

Another couple on the ship had recommended a small but cozy inn about half way down the keys towards Key West.  Since we had a late start from the ship we elected to stay here tonight.  Beautiful location right on the water and in a nice cove. 

Great place for breakfast and you do feel like a stuffed pig when you are done.

From the restaurant

After several people indicated that what we saw on our way down to Marathon where we stayed last night was typical of what we would see as we headed down to Key West we elected to head back north and go over to the gulf side of Florida.

The sky was black as we drove  over to the gulf side 

Then the rains came...

Can you see the road?  I couldn't!

We ended up stopping in Naples and what a find! The gulf side ocean is a lot calmer than the Atlantic side and much less populated.  We really enjoyed our three day stay here and could see ourselves coming back for another visit.

Dinner in Naples

Doing an air boat ride in the Everglades has always been something I have wanted to do so we were able to do it this trip.

We have heard of stone crabs so we stopped to have some.  Don't ask how much these two little claws cost. 

Due to file size concerns I am breaking this last report into two issues.

73's

The Traveling Huntley's
Roger and Shril

The Traveling Huntley's - Sailing back to Ft. Lauderfdale

On Thursday and Friday we travel back to Ft. Lauderdale, arriving around 7:00 am Saturday.  On Thursday they provided a very nice brunch with many special treats.

While trying to dip a strawberry in the chocolate I got my hand too close to the fountain and ended up with chocolate allover my hand.  Embarrassing moment..

This is actually a wine rack.

During way back they had several  sales on various pieces of jewelry. This is a shot of everyone trying to obtain their treasure.  There was some pushing and shoving, provided an interesting show.

The Casino

Someone eating a piece of special piece of chocolate given to her by Gerry. Rumor has it that the chocolate was delicious.  Access to this highly treasured gift was tightly controlled.

Happy couple at dinner.

The show tonight was exceptional.  A delightful musical review of many major musicals.  In general the shows have been the weak point of the cruise.

The main buffet area.

 The process for getting the ship ready for the next batch of humanity that arrives two hours after we depart is amazing.  They actually start long before we arrive in port.  All waste material that is not able to be dumped at sea is containerized and made ready for off loading immediately after we dock. The fuel truck as well as numerous semi's start arriving as soon as we dock. Fork lifts off load the wasted material immediately followed by new loads being brought on.  In discussions with a chef one night we discussed the problem with trying to keep food fresh on a two week cruise as bringing in local products is not an option.

Our stateroom on the stern of the ship

New paper products being brought on to the ship

Security checking the material.

We departed the ship at 10:00 am since we did not have to catch an early flight home.  While getting off the ship was conducted quickly, not so after getting on the dock.  Due to TSA cutbacks the process of going through security and customs was a 2 hour adventure.  

The next adventure in our trip is to get the car and head down to Key West.  Too be continued....

73's

The Traveling Huntley's

Roger and Shirley