During Thanksgiving break, I travelled to South Florida to visit Akshat, where I stayed with his parents in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. Arriving in the early morning, I only went out around noon. We visited and dined at the famous Little Havana of Miami, toured the Vizcaya Mansion and Gardens, and swam at South Beach at dusk. The sunshine was just as bright as California, though much warmer. I was very glad to take a break from the suffocating smoke covering Berkeley due to the tragic forest fires one week prior.

On the next day, we decided to go on a farther day trip to the Florida Keys. I was surprised by the length of the entire archipelago and how much was connected by a single highway to the mainland. Since Key West would've been another 3.5 hours away, we only stopped at one of the closer islands, Key Largo. After having some fried conch for lunch, we hopped on a rented kayak and paddled around the lush mangroves. The narrow channels and occasional low branches reminded me of punting on the Oxford canals. After that, we joined a snorkelling tour, where we were taken to an area of shallow reefs. Schools of colourful fishes swam in the clear blue sea, with the occasional lone barracuda in the distance. The area also featured a tall underwater statue called Christ of the Deep. We sailed back against a beautiful sunset and moonrise, and as we were entering the pier, we were greeted by 3 or 4 playful dolphins who chased us in the wake of our boat.