Arrive To: Complimentary shuttle from Miami Airport to Ocean Pointe Suites. The meeting location is Terminal H Baggage Claim # 6 at 2:45 PM.

Afternoon: Orientation and Hospitality in Hotel Welcome Center at 5:30 pm.

Dinner: At local restaurant

Evening: As this will have been a long day for many travelers an early night is recommended.

Lodging: Ocean Pointe Suites at Key Largo

Meals Included: Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at Local Restaurant

Morning: Visit Everglades National Park, "River of Grass”. Guided walk along the Anhinga Trail with discourse on the animals seen and the impact of human developments on the Everglades ecosystem. Excellent birding and photo opportunities.

Lunch: Picnic style in the Park

Afternoon: After lunch a short hike around a lake and bird rookery or in the pine flat woods and grass prairie. Location depends on time available and weather considerations. Upon return to hotel a stop at the Ernest Coe Visitor Center to peruse Everglades/natural Florida book store and other items of educational interest. Short video presentation also.

Dinner: At a local restaurant

Lodging: Ocean Pointe Suites at Key Largo

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

John Pennekamp State Park/ Pigeon Key Ferry to 7 mile Bridge / Key West Mallory Square Sunset Celebration

Breakfast: Breakfast at Local Restaurant

Morning: Drive to the John Pennekamp visitor center and aquarium. The Visitor Center features a 30, 000 gallon saltwater aquarium and other natural history exhibits interpreting the park's unique marine environment. After our short visit to the exhibit we will be walking a very unique protected area from the park, the Mangroves. We will be walking boardwalks that allow us to learn all the important facts of this wonderful and fragile ecosystem. It is like walking inside of a jungle above the water. Drive to Pigeon Key and step back in time inside buildings built in 1909 to house more than 400 workers, working 14-hours a day, six days a week. Ride the Pigeon Key ferry from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and you'll cross beneath the new 7-Mile Bridge and a 2.2-mile segment of the old Seven-Mile bridge! Once at the Island, we will be exploring the historic buildings and the Museum.

Lunch: Picnic style lunch in Pigeon Key overlooking Atlantic Ocean and Florida Bay

Afternoon: Continue drive to Key West. Check in to hotel after the drive.

Dinner: At a local restaurant.

Evening: Escorted 3/4 mile walk to Mallory Square Sunset Celebration, a unique Key West icon to enjoy at your leisure - ask coordinator for an update on entertainers worth seeing. After Sunset either stay on Duval Street or walk back to the hotel.

Lodging: Westwinds Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

On board Yankee Freedom/A Journey from Key West to the Dry Tortugas National Park & Fort Jefferson

Breakfast: Early departure from hotel for walk to Dry Tortugas NP ferry. Complimentary continental breakfast buffet on board from 8:00 am. Large 150 passenger catamaran with air conditioned lower deck and open air top deck .

Morning: En route to Dry Tortugas National Park our on board naturalist will give you an orientation about the area and the national park's surroundings. During your voyage, you will enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Marquesa Islands, Boca Grande, have an opportunity to see turtles and dolphins, and listen to pirate legends. Guided walking tour of Ft. Jefferson and its role in history .

Lunch: Lunch buffet inside of the Catamaran

Afternoon: After lunch enjoy snorkeling , bird watching, naturalist guided moat walk or just relaxing on a rarity in the Keys - a sandy beach. For birders - from late February the adjoining Bush Key is closed to visitors to enable the sooty terns and other unique birds to nest undisturbed.

Dinner: After return to hotel and time to freshen up; dinner will be served in the back garden of the Hotel

Evening: After dinner either walk back to hotel via Duval Street or ride back with coordinator

Lodging: Westwinds Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Hot and Cold choices for breakfast by the pool.

Morning: Spend the whole day visiting Key West sites that appeal to you. The coordinator can recommend many activities to do or sites to visit. Highly recommended for easy access and background history of Key West is the Old Town Trolley. This lets you get on and off at the places you wish to visit or take the famous Conch Train for an in-depth 2 hour narrated tour of Old Key West. Tickets are available from Hotel Front Desk.

Lunch: Lunch is at your leisure - cash will be provided by coordinator at Orientation.

Afternoon: At your leisure. Take a self-guided walking tour or simply return to the hotel to relax at the pool or in the jacuzzi spa. If desired, Road Scholar's coordinator and hotel staff will help you with suggestions.

Dinner: Dinner is at your leisure - cash will be provided by coordinator.

Evening: After dinner enjoy Key West's lively night scene. Chose from visiting or revisiting your favorite watering hole; take in a cabaret revue or jazz venue; stroll some quieter neighborhoods on a Ghost Walk or simply saunter down to the Westin Marina or Old Seaport to see a visiting celebrity's luxury yacht.

Lodging: Westwinds Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, A National Historic Landmark / Windley Key State Park/ Farewell Dinner

Breakfast: Hot and Cold choices for breakfast by the pool.

Morning: Hotel check-out and return drive up the Keys. Visit the Florida's southernmost state park on our way to Key Largo and learn the fort history , as well as U.S. military history. The fort was one of a series built in the mid-1800s to defend the nation's southeastern coastline. Completed in 1866, Fort Zachary Taylor played important roles in the Civil War and Spanish-American War.

Lunch: Picnic style lunch at an appropriately scenic venue.

Afternoon: Visit to Windley Key State Park. We will walk along eight-foot-high quarry walls to see cross sections of the ancient coral and learn about the quarry and its operation- an important part of Florida's 20th century history. Samples of the quarry machinery have been preserved at the park. Formed of Key Largo limestone, fossilized coral, this land was sold to the Florida East Coast Railroad, which used the stone to build Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad in the early 1900s.

Dinner: Return to hotel and time to freshen up for the farewell dinner at a local restaurant.

Evening: Recap of program and special event for following morning.

Lodging: Ocean Pointe Suites at Key Largo

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at Local Restaurant

Morning: Very special visit to Biscayne National Park.Within sight of downtown Miami, yet worlds away, Biscayne protects a rare combination of aquamarine waters, emerald islands, and fish-bejeweled coral reefs. Here too is evidence of 10,000 years of human history, from pirates and shipwrecks to pineapple farmers and presidents.

Lunch: Immediately after last activity depart for the Miami Airport.

Meals Included: Breakfast