On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 17:40:20 -0500,
wrote:

On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:27:01 -0800, Califbill billnews wrote:



Greg and Wayne recommended a Keys resort. Greg honeymoon spot. We need to
use up a week timeshare in late February, so figure a week in Orlando area
and a few days in the keys. What was the resort? I think it was in
Marathon. Also which is the best Marine Reserve to visit?

It's called Rainbow Bend resort.

http://www.rainbowbend.com/

It's a small place and not at all fancy but we stayed there once and
had a good time. The Boston Whalers are old for the most part but
well maintained and a lot of fun to bop around in. Food was excellent
and there was plenty of it. They also have some other boats like
canoes, kayaks and small sail boats.

There is a marine preserve a bit farther east called John Pennekamp
Coral Reef State Park. I went out on one of their dive boats a long
time ago and had a good experience.

http://pennekamppark.com/snorkeling-tours/

Yup we stayed at Rainbow bend too. Hawks Cay is more of a resort.
Pennekamp is up near Key Largo, Looe Key is down near Big Pine. Thirty
more miles down the road from there is Key West and if you have never
been there, it is a hoot.
That is worth a night's stay (or more)
Be sure you are down around the end of Duval street and go to Mallory
Square to watch the sunset. They have plenty of live acts down there
at sundown on the plaza. Then you can go hit the bars on Duval Street,
Sloppy Joes, Hogs Breath and a bunch I can't remember ;-)
Again, lots of live music.

The Westin on Wall Street is nice and we also like a smaller place
called 325 Duval (where it is). This is really like a few small
apartments right there on Duval street.
You could dive Looe Key and spend the night in KW. Try to time it so
you are not moving on the weekend if you can. That road really chokes
up on Sunday night. It might take 4 or 5 hours to go the 100 miles or
so back to Homestead. Friday going down is not much better.