Guest Book - Kyle (week of February 21, 2011)

Hey, my name is Kyle Kilbride and I am taking over the Reviresco! 

Rebecca and I had a fabulous time In Florida with our Uncle and Aunt! It was a very relaxing a refreshing experience that was well needed by both of us. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale to be greeted with open arms and enthusiasm as Aunt Sandra spotted us (I do not think it was hard since we were still wearing our winter getup, but that changed very quickly). We then hailed down the Uncle Bob taxi and were quickly on our way to the boat, which was an adventure in it self. 

The ride was quite comical. After the stress of leaving a busy sea of cars at the air port we quickly realized that the GPS conveniently ran out of batteries, and we were left with only "The hotel starts with a B....its Bahia something!" and "I know they said something about an H!" The great thing about these hunches is that they were both very correct, and somehow got us there almost flawlessly ;) ! (If you are reading this Aunt Sandra and Uncle Bob, again we are very thankful and it was wonderful seeing you guys again!) But finally, we arrived. 

It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud to be seen, the sun was beaming brightly, the beaches were sandy, and the water was wet. It was perfect. 

As we approached the boat the first thing I saw was the big Canadian flag and knew instantly that that Canadian flag was attached to my new home for a week (that and I was also thinking "holy crap thats a big boat!). Again we were greeted by hugs from Aunt Sue and A custom handshake from Uncle Scott.  

The first night was composed of picking our rooms, AKA getting whichever Rebecca did not claim instantly, learning the rules, getting a tour of the boat, and then relaxing! I am telling you guys, being a teenager and all I can stay up until the sun wakes, but after the very first day in Florida with the sun cooking me slowly it was a struggle to make it to 10pm the first night. After a swim, a bite to eat and a well needed sleep, we woke up bright and early and started our first adventure!  

We left the Bahia Mar Marina in the early morning to start our long haul towards 

Boca Chita (roughly 6 hours from Fort Lauderdale by yacht). Now let me tell you something, I could smell the money coming out of Fort Lauderdale! As we were leaving through the inter-coastal all I could see from left to right was mansion after mansion. Not only did these people have enormous houses, but parked outside they would have their hundred foot yacht, no big deal. I would love to have a floating house parked outside my house, or my castle in some cases. These houses were truly mindblowing and beautiful. From that point on the ride was relaxing. 

In the 6 hours it took us to reach the Florida Keys Sue and Scott quickly learned something. We love to eat. They were clearly only used to having to feed themselves a certain amount of food when they realised how quickly it started disappearing! They adapted quicklyJ. We docked at Boca Chita, it was a beautiful little island with a cute little beach, a cute little lighthouse, and a beautiful view of the other keys and Miami in the distance. The view of the island was stunning from the top of the lighthouse. It looked like a post card you would send someone to make them jealous of how nice and warm you were in Florida while they froze their butts off in Ottawa. But they did not have any post cards so I took a picture and sent it out instead, and they were indeed jealous. One thing that I learned in Boca Chita is that I hate mosquitoes, even in Florida. I did not get bitten so badly, but Rebecca got eaten alive the poor girl! 

After Boca Chita we traveled to Miami. Miami is quite the place. We docked in a small Marina called Palm Bay. The Marinawas run by the nicest people in Florida, Bill and Suzan. We loved the place so much we decided to stay a few nights. The place was very well kept and had a pool, a hot tub, wifi, and a Starbucks near by. I was set; this was definitely the place to be. While we stayed in Miami we met some fellow Canadians docked in Palm Bay, went to Miami Beach and walked the whole South Beach area, attempted to catch a Miami Heat game, ate lots of food (surprising I know), drank plenty of Starbucks, watched plenty of Rocky and relaxed like it was nobodies business! Oh, and we walked a lot (apparently it’s Aunt Sues favourit thing to do [haha] )   

Miami Beach was everything I expected it to be. It was beautiful sandy beaches as far as the eye could see north and south. The water was an amazing shade of blue, and there was definitely no shortage of beautiful woman! It was so nice to walk along the shoreline and just take in the sun and feel the breeze come off the water and cool you down as your feet would sink into the warm sand with each step. I have been to many beaches in my short life, but nothing could be compared to this one. 

After getting a quick bite to eat, we walked down Miami Beach to the very southern point to South Point Park. As we were walking down the boardwalk we got to watch some of the cruise ships go out to sea from the port. You really never really grasped the actual size of those beasts until you are only a few hundred feet away from them. They are incredible! It was hilarious to see the police boats escort the ships out with their mounted machine guns on the front of each boat (kind of scary too). 

Trying to stay on schedule we walked out to a main road and flagged down a taxi to the American Airlines Arena were we would hopefully see a scalper or two and catch a Miami Heat game. Unfortunately we were unable due to the absence of scalpers and lack of tickets (completely sold out). I was not disappointed because the adventure was worth it in it self, and outside the stadium there was a public school band performance. I am in a band myself and I am telling you these kids impressed me to no end. They had to be 10-12 years old and they were covering Metallica, Nirvana, Green Day and all sorts of other bands extremely well. I swear the kid singing is going to be the next Justin Bieber! After watching them in awe for a good forty five minutes we decided to make our journey back home. This time instead of taking a taxi we grabbed a local bus. This is where on of the most terrifying moments of my life happened. 

The bus costs us 2 dollars per person per ride. None of us had any small bills or change so I just used a ten dollar bill sacrificing the two dollars, no big deal. Just out of curiosity I asked the driver if she gave change and she firmly denied me. Then about halfway in to the bus ride she starts yelling to someone on the bus. “YOUNG MAN! YOUNG MAN! (OTHER THINGS THAT I COULD NOT MAKE OUT BECAUSE I WAS NOT REALLY PAYING ATTENTION)!” I remember thinking to myself “what is this crazy lady going on about?” And then I hear “YOUNG MAN WHO GAVE ME THE TEN DOLLAR BILLPLEASE COME TO THE FRONT OF THE BUS!” my heart sank; I though I was getting kicked off! Uncle Scott jumped up to the rescue and went to talk to her. Turns out she only wanted to give me some change she obtained from other riders that paid in cash, what a sweet lady. I was relieved to hear this but still a little embarrassed and shaky from the whole experience. 

We then arrived back to the boat safely and watched some more Rocky (they had the box set). The other days were spent relaxing, talking, drinking cocktails, visiting, eating (I mentioned we like to eat right?), meeting new people, and generally have the greatest time ever. It was really an amazing trip and I am sad that I can not tell you guys about everything that happened but this is pretty long as it stands. I am extremely fortunate to have had these experiences and thank you Uncle Scott and Aunt Sue for making it happen, if it was not for you guys we would never have been able to do something like this any time soon.

Cheers to the good times!

Kyle Kilbride