Visiting next week

[Tesanrick]

We'll be in Key West a week from Sunday and I just found this board today - what a wealth of information! Thank you to all who have posted.

I have two questions that I haven't found answers to on the boards.

1. My kids would like to see sea turtles. I've found 2 excursions through our cruiseline. One is the aquarium which seems to just have a few. The other is a 3.5 hour kayak tour to a nature conservatory, with no guarantee of seeing any, but we'll certainly learn about them from the tour guide. We've never kayaked before, so I don't know if that would be do-able for us. Does anyone have any recommendations or know of any other options?

2. My 8 year old daughter is severly allergic to certain bug and spider bites. I'm bringing all her meds, but am hopeful that bugs won't be too much of a problem in January. Could some of you locals or frequent visitors let me know if I'm right or if the bugs are active year round because of your warm weather?

Thanks so much,

[keywesst]

Go to the Aquarium. The turtles are farther out than kayak distance---they eat fish 6-12" and crustations in usually 30+ feet of water, which is at least a mile offshore, and you don't want to be in a little plastic boat. The kayak trips are magnificent, but I don't think turtles will be there.
Bugs during the day are few and far between in the City. Skeeters and Noseeums come out at sunset, when the surface and air temp are equal, then they take flight and look for their bloodmeal. Your biggest enemy is the sun--cover up the child with sunblock and wear hats! Have a great time.