Tarpon Adventure

In May we took a cruise to the Bahamas, Key West and Coco Cay. We went with my wife's side of the family and had a blast. My favorite part of this trip was seeing the Nieces and Nephews exploring and having fun new experiences. 

Our first stop was Nassau Bahamas. We all went to Atlantis Resort to hang out at the water park and aquariums. This is one of my favorite spots of the places I've traveled. There is something of everyone here.

Enjoying Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

Enjoying the world-class water park.

He kept looking back like "can you believe this"?

Conch Salad

It's tough to beat the beaches in the Bahamas. 

Looking down from the tip of the ship.

She is a big fan of the desserts.

Our table had delicious Indian food every night.

Our second stop was Coco Cay; Royal Caribbean's private island. We spent the day playing on the beach, Snorkeling, and getting to swim with Southern Stingrays. Coco Cay is a great place to be lazy and soak up the fun with a cold drink in your hand.

High up in a Coconut tree..

Found a little Hermit Crab on the beach.

Southern Stingrays by Coco Cay.

Our third stop was Key West, FL. We took a tour of Ernest Hemingway's house and stopped by Blue Heaven for the best key lime pie that I've ever eaten. After that we cruised around and explored the small island.

Ernest Hemingway's office just as he left it in Key West.

Blue Heaven. Home of the best key lime pie.

Mile-high meringue on my favorite key lime pie on the planet. 

Exploring Key West.

We ran into more iguanas than you could count.

When we landed back in Miami, Chelsea and I stayed an extra day while everyone else flew back home. I booked a Tarpon trip with Captain Jeff Maggio (click here to read about my first trip with Jeff). Jeff knows the inner coastal like the back of his hand. However, to this point I'd hooked 13 Tarpon without landing one. No other fish on the planet had beaten me this bad for so long. Jeff and I were determined to get one to the boat on this trip. We had horrible weather conditions where it dumped rain on us most of the afternoon. We ended up hooking into one fish on our trip about two hours in. I fought it for about 40 minutes before finally landing it in spite of a Guggan getting with 15 ft of the boat while I was fighting my fish. I thought I was going to relive the experience I had on our first trip. I can't put into words how satisfying it was to finally cross tarpon of my species list after years of trying. 

Fish On!!!

First Tarpon ever landed!

Finally! How sweet it is!!!