
On February 5, we left Flamingo, Florida and headed down the Keys. We learned the hard way that it is high season in Florida and campgrounds are fully booked. We decided to celebrate Doug’s birthday and Valentine’s Day and booked several nights at a resort on Marathon Key. We finally went swimming (in a pool), and watched the sunset.


Isla Bella Beach Resort







February 6 was warm, sunny, and windy. We lounged around the pool in the morning. In the afternoon we bicycled about 6 miles round trip to the sandal store so that Doug could get some flip-flops – his first pair ever!


We had dinner at the Beach Bar watching the sunset – it was still very windy!



We spent another day at the resort – it was rainy and cold. We went out to dinner at Florida Keys Steak and Lobster House. On February 8 we got up early to avoid the traffic and headed down to Key West.














We drove down a long road off of Route 1 and found a nice refuge on Sugarloaf Key to stop and have our Kuban lunch. We had a nice visit with a couple from Reading, Massachusetts who were riding bikes.


We had another learning experience on our return from Key West. We thought we had reservations at an RV park on Marathon Key. However, our van is not a “registered” RV in the State of Florida, because we do not set up our septic pump-out to be continuous. So we ended up at the Marriott Courtyard. Now we know to check for the rules when we make reservations.