Waterway to the Reef

I have a lot of mental pictures from our trip to the Florida Keys. On our third day out we had reservations at John Pennencamp State park. We got to the park after noon, and got in line to enter. Just about 6 cars ahead of us, the rangers were turning people away and out. We got to the front and were asked do you have reservations? We giggled and said yes! We were allowed in and set up our camp at one of the last sites that was empty. Turned out that the park was full of beachgoers! (keep in mind this was January 3rd!)
We hopped on our bikes and rode around until we found the Reef excursions. We booked our trip and rushed back for towels and gear. The Reef is the largest in the continuing 48 states and was not a disapointment. It brought back wonderful memories for me of the Philippines and made new memories for Chris. He had never been to a reef! We saw a green Moray eel, a lobster, at least a dozen species of fish and towards dusk, a Carribean Gray Reef Shark came up out of the gloom and eyed us for a moment before disappearing into the distance.
I was all for following the shark, but Chris said no way and we went back to the boat. He swears to this day I tried to feed him to a shark~I am going to remain silent on the matter!