Ever since we first went ten years ago, the Keys has been our place. It’s where we gain experiences, and grow as people.

It’s been my lifelong dream to become certified to scuba dive, but that wasn’t really a possibility when I was younger. In 2014 I made it my goal to get certified the next time we went to the keys, and this year I did exactly that.

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Below are pictures from our happy place. Oh Florida Keys, I will always love you.

The BEST milkshakes. Stopping at Robert Is Here is a must if you’re ever in the area. 

The view from our time share on Florida Bay. Sleeping with the sliding door open, listening to the waves is one of my favorite things in the world.

The resident cat. We went for a stroll at night and when we turned around, we saw this. Not creepy at all…

We spent the next few days gaining her trust through treats. We succeeded, we made her love us 🙂

and then we went to the Everglades…

My Lifelong Dream Come True…

When I arrived at Rainbow Reef Dive Center on the morning of my first class, I was greeted by Lexi who was very friendly and even though I was a little nervous for my first diving experience, she helped me feel comfortable. Gerald, my instructor arrived shortly after and he and Lexi helped me purchase my first pieces of diving equipment, a mask, snorkel, fins and a wetsuit. I spent the rest of the morning with Gerald in the pool for my first confined water dive. I’ll never forget how mind-blowing it was to breathe under water for the first time.

Later that day we went out for my first open water dive. I remember stepping off the boat and sinking into the water with my eyes open, looking through my mask, and being blown away by the beauty as I floated back up to the surface. The next day I completed my certification and officially became a PADI certified open water diver!

I booked two recreational dives for the following morning and I was super excited to go for my first dive as a certified open water diver, and this time I got to bring my camera. The water was calm and clear and we even got to do a drift dive, which was one of the most peaceful experiences of my life. I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on something so amazing all these years, and I can’t wait to get back to the Keys for more. We also have a couple of international weddings in 2016 in tropical locations and i’m stoked to be able to dive there as well!

^Thats totally a scorpion fish in there.

Every year when we come to The Keys, we make it a priority to drive down to Key West, but this year our priority was to get me my Scuba Certification. So for our last two days, we set out for Key West, and about halfway through the 2.5 hour drive it stared to downpour. The storms were so bad that there was flooding immediately. We turned around and made it back safely and decided that we would just try again the next day. Well, the next morning we woke up to the sound of  waves crashing against the dock and saw flooding in the streets, turns out that it was record rainfall for the Florida Keys. It continued to pour all day, but we decided that we just couldn’t miss out on Key West, so once again we set out for the drive, and once again we had to turn around. We were bummed and hungry and decided to get dinner back in Key Largo, and as soon as we sat down outside the rain stopped and this happened…