Tavernier Florida - Florida Keys

 We made reservations at the Elks for 2 nights in Tavernier Fl. This was the most expensive Elks so far due to it being right on the beach.  When we arrived we met the host who help us get settled into our spot.  We couldn’t believe the view we had.  They had kayaks to rent, a big dock and a tiki hut. I couldn’t believe how many curly tailed lizards and iguanas were down here - ICK.  I did a pretty good job of getting over my fear of them because literally they were everywhere. That day Bryan took the paddle board out and I was too chicken and took a kayak out in the water.  We saw a nurse shark under the dock, manta ray, and several jelly fish. A couple came in a few hours later and they had a little girl (probably around 7) who soon became my new best friend.  She loved Gus and was super curious that we had a cat in the van. They had karaoke one night and of course I couldn’t resist and sang a couple songs.  Bryan came up with me for one duet.  We decided we were having so much fun and this spot was absolutely amazing to book a couple more nights and spend Memorial Day here. On the 3rd night that’s when Cheech escaped from the van.  We didn’t know he was hiding in the stairwell of the van and Bryan opened the door and he had no where to go but out. He ran out and made his way right away under a big marathon coach.  Our neighbor was laughing at me because I literally army crawled under that thing and was inches from catching him, but he took off.  We obviously were devastated and slept horrible that night.  Got up early morning and called him, but no sight of him.  That night we did see him, but again I think he was so scared took off and jumped the fence to the neighboring property.  The next day we kayaked over to that property being it was private and ran into Chris who was taking care of the property.  She gave us permission to scour the area and told me to post lost pet on Florida Keys FB page.  We called for him and looked everywhere but no luck. Chris caught up with us and she told me she would post for us if I provided a picture of him. We were so grateful for her help.  She said that he got out in a good place because people down in the keys were more concerned about pets than humans :).  That post created many helpful tips to get him back and a response from Deb who said she would bring over a heart trap.  She brought it over w/a can of sardines and I was sure we would catch him, but the next day it was empty. Again, we were devasted and tired of staying around and calling him and no luck.  We decided to leave for the day because we knew he wouldn’t show up due to all the noise during the day.  It was a much needed break and we took a trip down to Key West. We had a great sandwich which one of our neighbors recommended. Got back to our place and I made us some quesadillas.  Bryan was sitting down eating his dinner and all of a sudden said “Cheech”. He flung opened the door and walked over to the chain link fence where Cheech was on the other side.  The dry food made him curious, but it was the wet food that caught his attention.  Bryan had to maneuver over to him and caught him.  We hug, cried and we were so happy we caught him and that we didn’t have to make that horrible decision of leaving him.  Deb (the trapper) volunteered to keep looking for him and if she found him she would fly him back to us.  There were so many good people helping us look for him. We got a great nights sleep and we were thrilled to be heading out. I don’t think we have packed up so fast in this entire time on the road. We were so ready to move on.