Everglades...the previous day. The swim had been booked for months, and
dreamed of for longer, so a feeling of anticlimax would not have been
surprising, but Emma did not experience this and as she gave me a big wet
hug she had a huge grin as she announced 'my legs are made of jelly!' She
spent the rest of the day recounting her adventure and she also had some
souvenirs to keep the memories alive. No, not dolphin teeth, but photos of the
dolphins, 'head shots' purchased from the sea life centre where her swim had
taken place. Emma had also taken an underwater camera with her and when
we finally got the film developed at the end of our holiday we marvelled at her
shots of various parts of the dolphins' anatomy - some of which were even
identifiable!
The next day we bid a fond farewell to Key Largo and its friendly dolphins and
headed on down through the Keys. We were both feeling a little melancholy
as we travelled. Emma's marine experience was one of the last pre-booked
activities of the holiday and it felt like our travels were rushing to an abrupt
conclusion. In fact the only pre-arranged events left to look forward to were a
hire car for our last day and the flight home - oh, the excitement! However we
had nearly two weeks left, and the time actually went quite slowly - mercifully.
From Key Largo to our next base, Fiesta Key (seriously) was a mere 30 miles,
but actually one of the longer journeys left. It took about half a day to drive to
the campsite, because in that time we saw so many interesting places that we
kept stopping. It was the opposite of driving through Texas where you could
spend a day on the road and only feel inclined to stop for food or gas. The