Key Largo

WE stayed in a hotel in Key Largo, which has a very romantic sound to it, because of the Bogart film.

We thought of driving to Key West, but this weather on the road persuaded us otherwise:

Balmoral Island

Because the Bahamas has quite strict gun control (or perhaps in spite of it), its murder rate is about 6x that of he U.S.  One result is that Carnival has a private island for its passengers to enjoy, separated from the crime of the Bahamas.  Balmoral Island is where part of Help! was filmed.

The boat trip out to it included passing the Atlantis Resort which dominates the skyline.

 

This odd abandoned structure was near the entrance to the harbor.

 

Did the aliens land? 

The island has manta rays and dolphins in netted areas:

 

Not The Logo I Expected At The Disney Store

Mickey Mouse Possessed?

Florida Wildlife

We found these in an industrial park in Fort Pierce:

 

Alligators

I really wanted to see one in the wild, having had a pet alligator many years ago.

UPDATE: My pet alligator.  Many years ago, my sister Susan went on vacation to Florida to visit her first husband's family.  While there, she went to an alligator farm, and bought two baby alligators.  On the way back, she was sleeping in the car, and felt something brush against her foot, followed by a chomp from one of the adorable creatures.  Anyway, she gave me one of them.  It was about 14 inches long.  Alligators apparently only eat live prey.  Mine ate one gold fish, but only played with the others, and eventually starved, so I buried him in the back yard at 1541 Berkeley St. in Santa Monica, where some future paleontologist is going to get very confused.

The Florida Turnpike

Toll roads are not generally something I like but the rental agency had an electronic payment pass, and the Turnpike was well maintained, little traffic, and high speed.

Called Carnival Cruise Lines For A Reason

During dinner, the servers formed a Conga line:

My wife could not resist: