Over spring break this year my husband and I decided to travel to the Everglades and Key Largo. We had a lengthy discussion about where to go and the amenities we were after. My husband loves to fish and I wanted to visit a national park. The best of both worlds… right? That’s what we intended. But with all plans they sometimes have to change.
To start we flew into Miami and rented a car. The car rental place is ALL the way across airport. Once we finally made it we got a pretty nice car. I overpaid and I shouldn’t have gotten the add ons. I was nervous about renting a car for the first time. Oh well, it’s over now.
We got in a little late, but made it to the Playa Largo Resort by about 10:00 pm. I knew we’d pick the perfect destination. It was absolutely breath taking. Our room was nothing fancy but it had a fantastic bathroom and shower. I opted to save a little money and get a standard room. I booked through the Marriott Bonvoy app. The reason I picked it was for the beautiful views, the beach, the pool and the restaurants on property.
Seriously the views. I spent most of my days reading poolside and by the beach. The temperatures were fabulous and I was absolutely relaxed. Onsite there was a company that provided kayak rentals and other boat rentals. We went kayaking the first day. It was so much fun and easy. They just charged it to our room!
One of the other serious benefits of the resort was the morning buffet. It was pretty extensive, with an omelet station and lots of fresh fruit. My husband absolutely loves a buffet and he was completely satisfied. On the food front we also ate at the Fish House. It was recommended to use by the rental car guy in Miami. So, we checked it out. My husband, Drew, got the Mahi Mahi stuffed with crab meat. He said it was the best crab meat he’d had in his entire life. I got a lobster ravioli. It was okay, but nothing to write home about. One of the other big meals we had was at the Lazy Lobster. Drew got the Hogfish. He wasn’t too impressed. But damn my Lobster Mac n’ Cheese was amazing! They have a dedicated section to lobster dishes and they are not joking around. I would go back on this trip just for that dish.
As I mentioned one of our reasons for heading to the Keys for spring break was fishing. We tried, we really tried, but ultimately it was a complete fail. We book with a captain to head into the everglades. He cancelled due to boat maintenance. We tried to rebook and he cancelled again. We went onto plan B. We booked another captain to take us out into the everglades. Once we got Islamorada we were greet by an interesting gentleman. He immediately started talking about the weather and the fact that we would not be able to go into the “back country.” So, on to plan C. We went to the bay and caught absolutely nothing. Not even a bite. It was frustrating. I did work on my tan, but it was disappointing. Lesson learned…. early April is not a great time to fish in the Keys.
After all the disappointment we decided to just stay at the resort and enjoy the amenities. I loved sitting by the pool and reading. We ate amazing food and just relaxed. Drew did work while we were on vacation and the hotel wifi was great for him to get connected.
On our way back to the airport we stopped at the Fruit and Spice Park. WOW it was kind of out of the way, but totally worth it. Drew found it during his searching and I was a bit skeptical. However, it was really cool to see all types of tropical fruits and spices. We are into gardening and there were countless nurseries on our way to and from the park. It was amazing to see miles and miles of nurseries. Not exactly what I thought I was getting, but absolutely beautiful.
