The East Coast’s Sunshine State! Whether you’re the type for beaches and relaxing, adventure parks and thrills or exploring in the Everglades, Florida has something for everyone. If I had to recommend my top US places to visit, this would certainly make the list.
In particular the Western side of the peninsula receives a favourable mention for its luscious warm water, white sandy beaches and the awesome Rotonda West Canals. Now, in all honesty I didn’t experience so much of the Eastern Coast other than Miami, but let’s just say I can guarantee you can’t go wrong with the Western Coast. Sarasota was awesome.
I stayed on the waterfront of Siesta Key where there was an inlet from the sea, kayaks at the ready with dolphins and manatees being a daily sighting! I wish I could go back to kayaking with these gentle giants, it was the experience of a lifetime and one I thoroughly recommend having if possible.
If you’re at all like me, then the opportunity for a great view and unique experience is always to be taken…and waking up early to catch sunrise on the kayaks was definitely one of these moments! The sea was merely a few steps away after waking up; down the stairs, across the patio and down the jetty. At the end of the jetty were two kayaks and a ladder into the sea, coated in a healthy layer of nice sharp cockles.
With the sun on the horizon past the water and the woodlands that surrounded the inlet, it looked amazing every single day…definitely worth the couple of hours extra sleep we had forgone. Not only that, but due to it being so early in the morning, nobody else was up and about, leaving a completely calm and relaxing atmosphere out on the water. It’s things like this that I love travel for, that you don’t usually experience at home. Does that not sound like the perfect way to spend your mornings?
As if the morning wake-up routine wasn’t awesome enough, the kayaks provided an awesome and unique interaction with the local manatees – I guarantee you won’t experience this in many other places! The sea cows, although admittedly a bit grim looking, were curious enough to swim right up to the kayaks and eat leftover food we had available. When one of these massive creatures would swim right underneath you, it was a tad scary I won’t lie, but it was absolutely amazing to see them so close and witness them in their natural habitat, and was definitely an experience I will never forget.
This is another fantastic opportunity that travel brings you; a zoo or wildlife park at home doesn’t even come close to seeing animals in their true habitats! We also saw dolphins on several occasions, one time even swimming right up to the boat that we had hired…again, another fantastic experience that Florida provided that I would never have had, had I not travelled.
In addition to all the wildlife, the reason that staying on the sea was so great was the freedom of doing what you want, whenever you want. It’s such an awesome experience to be able to relax on your dock, kayak with animals, kayak to a beach, go for a swim…or if you really want, just sleep in late and laze your day away with cocktails and a fresh sea breeze! There is always something to do and it’s all worthwhile. Don’t get me wrong, the odd chillax week by the pool is great and often much needed, but you can’t beat a place full of opportunity and the freedom for fun whenever you feel like it.
Although a short drive away by car, there was a nice town not too far away from where we were staying, so there was still some livelihood when you wanted it. Personally, I am totally fine going weeks on end without being in a town full of people, but it’s always helpful for getting cheaper food and petrol etc so it really helped to keep the budget down…something I am a big fan of given not everybody has the sort of money to travel without budgeting.
There were also some cool places to grab a meal out, and a unique ice cream shop (Sub Zero) that created your very own ice creams using liquid nitrogen! All-in-all this made Siesta Key an ideal travel destination for pretty much anybody, which is why I strongly recommend a visit, as I’m fairly sure everyone will have a great time, no matter what kind of travel-type you are (even the “I’ve got my Instagram story, so we can leave now” people will get some beautiful shots of the beaches here!)
The second location I stayed in was called Rotonda West, an area made up of canals and sizable houses with pools. This had the more “relax by the pool all day” vibe but still offered a range of awesome things to do! We stayed in a nice place with a BBQ and a pool…of course it was all enclosed by netting to keep out the alligators that were everywhere – there was even one swimming right out the back of our house in the lake every day!
If the alligators swimming out back weren’t enough though, which of course they weren’t, the Everglades national park was a relatively short drive away and makes for a great day trip which I would thoroughly recommend to anyone who has the opportunity. I mean how often do you get to speed on a boat through marshlands full of alligators and snakes? We went on an Airboat with another group as part of the tour, which gave it a nice sociable feel.
The tour guide was great too which added to the day, where we saw all the different landscapes and luckily a new group of baby alligators with their mother – having never seen one before, they looked totally different than I imagined and surprisingly cute. It was really interesting to find out more about a landform I had never seen before and even learnt about how humans affect it and can help or hinder the region. For these reasons I’d put it on the list for sure as it will help you learn a bit and see something you’d never (apart from rare cases) see at home – pretty much the definition of traveling right?
If the drive is a bit far though then there are still options closer to home. We rented a boat nearby so that we could cruise around and over to Don Pedro Island, which was beautiful! If you can though, try and book as a group as it’ll make the boat rental price a bit kinder on the wallet. Oh, and watch out for sand banks in the sea…although we were warned countless times, our “captain” managed to run us straight into one, meaning the rest of us had to jump out and push the boat back into deeper water; not part of the relaxing beach-fuelled day I previously had in mind.
Once we had established how to avoid them in future, the rest of the day was awesome, cruising from beach to beach, enjoying the summer sun and the dolphins that ventured up to our boat! Anyone who loves beaching, swimming, snorkelling or just cruising the seas then this is something you have to do…to be fair not only Florida offers this, and I love to get a boat wherever I go, but this was definitely one of the best summer beach destinations.
So as you can tell, Florida has a shedload of things to offer to people who are new there; brilliant beaches, awesome wildlife, great day trips and although I didn’t really visit properly, you can also go to Miami or Disney World. Florida is a great place to travel to at some point in my opinion because it really is beautiful and offers some stunning scenery and experiences.
Obviously everyone has a different opinion on what the ideal travel destination is, but I thought I’d share my thoughts on Florida when I went to maybe inspire some of you to give it a thought next time you’re booking as I think it offers a lot, that sometimes you might only get by flying out for crazy prices to distant islands.
And as we love here at Centravely, keeping the budget down is always a favourite! Let me know in the comments or submit any questions from the Contact Page if there is anything else you would like to know specifically, or any other posts you’d be interested in seeing in the future!
