TAVERNIER, Fla. — We were warned: Our tropical destination was "totally hidden and off the beaten path."

Sounded just like what we craved: A mellow spot to watch a stunning sunset. No tormenting traffic. A soft hammock and an unharried weekend.

LINDA HAASE/Palm Beach [Fla.] Post (ENLARGE)
A cottage at the Bay Breeze Motel in Tavernier is only steps from a palm-shaded pool and a path to the sea.
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IF YOU GO • Bay Breeze Motel, 160 Sterling Road, mile marker 92.5. At the Dairy Queen/Circle K Gas Station, get in the right lane. Go two streets south to Sterling Road, turn right. The motel is on the right. 1-800-937-5650; www.baybreezemotel.com. Efficiencies, cottages and suites available. A KID'S POINT OF VIEW Cody Schisler, 10, who accompanied his mother, Linda Haase, on the trip, had these observations: • There's a great water playground at Jacobs Aquatic Center. There are lots of sprinklers and rip-roaring fun slides, but the big slide is the coolest — I nicknamed it Splash Mountain 2. There's even a huge pirate ship that has water cannons, a moat and lots of little tunnels to crawl through. • Try the incredible ice cream at Mr. C's in Key Largo. It's great homemade ice cream that has won awards. My favorite is Chocolate Oreo. Mr. C has been making Chocolate Oreo ice cream for about 20 years. He told us that Chocolate Oreo was the first cookies-and-cream flavor. Other flavors include Key lime pie, coconut cream, cheesecake and Reese's Peanut Butter. It's in the median at mile marker 98.9, next to Royal Furniture. Hint: It's a lot easier to find this out-of-the-way place when you are going south. • Have you ever eaten dolphin? Don't worry, it's not the dolphin you saw jumping for joy at the Miami Seaquarium or Sea World. It's a fish called dolphin (or mahi-mahi). I tasted it for the first time at the Fish House (mile marker 102.3) and it was delicious. Note to parents: The Fish House's kids' menu has unusual items, everything from half-rack of baby-back ribs to lobster tail (dinner only). RELATED LINKS Hemingway Days kick off All aflutter at Key West's butterfly center Historic Keys inn has four-star cachet - but at a price

We found it at mile marker 92.5.

An unpaved road brought us to the serene 19-room Bay Breeze Motel, where we unloaded our woes with our suitcases. From the sweet, welcoming dog in the office to the pink bougainvilleas shading the walkways, it was a perfect retreat.

Our one-bedroom cottage, with French doors leading to a cozy tiki hut, was just steps from the palm-shaded pool. Here, all paths lead to one of the Keys' perfect pastimes: comfy places to watch the sunset. There's a pier, a hammock, tiki huts with seats — even chairs in the water.

Guests can barbecue, fish, enjoy a waterfront picnic, snorkel or explore in a rowboat or paddle boat.

We were giddy over our private hideaway.

But it wasn't the only hidden gem we found. We visited everything from a secluded water park with a pirate ship that blasted water from behemoth cannons to a pier where visitors can feed leaping tarpon. And we ate in cool places: a 1930s conch house and a former drugstore that survived the horrific 1935 hurricane.

We're tempted to keep these places a secret, but they're too wonderful not to share. So, we're giving you our keys to a great vacation.

• Waterlogged pirates: Ahoy, families. Check out Jacobs Aquatics Center, at mile marker 99.6 in Key Largo, with an interactive pool featuring a pirate ship with a moat, slides, cannons and tunnels — all squirting blasts of water. There's also a multipurpose pool and a lap pool. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. $7 for adults, $5 for ages 11-17 and $4 for ages 3-10. 305-453-7946, www.jacobsaquaticcenter.org.

• Dining with a difference: With its lace curtains and fabric-topped tables, the Copper Kettle Restaurant in Tavernier is "a friendly little restaurant reminiscent of an English country cottage" that was once a drugstore. Its history is as rich as the chocolate chip pancakes it serves: It's part of the Tavernier Hotel, a 1934 structure used by the Red Cross in 1935 to house residents displaced by the hurricane. Breakfasts are cheap and hearty; the blueberry pancakes ($3.95) are exceptional. Mile marker 91.8. 305-852-4113, www.tavernierhotel.com.

And, at Ballyhoo's in Key Largo, diners eat in a 1930s conch house. The Dade County pine structure, once part of a fishing camp, serves some of the best seafood around. The mahi-mahi topped with almonds and burnt amaretto butter sauce is divine. Mile marker 97.8. 305-852-0822.

• Catch of the day: At Robbie's Marina at mile marker 77.5 in Islamorada, visitors can grab a bucket of fish ($2) and head for the dock to feed the school of 50 to 100 tarpon. Robbie's, which describes itself as "a place forgotten by time," began the tarpon feeding ritual about 20 years ago after one of the owners found a tarpon foundering in the shallow waters near the dock. He noticed the right side of its jaw was torn open. The tarpon's jaw was sewn up; it survived and was released into the water off the dock. Dubbed Scarface, the tarpon returned — with friends — and the tradition was born. 305-664-9814, www.robbies

.com.

• The great cookie caper: We discovered a scrumptious 7-inch chocolate chip cookie (only $1) at Chad's Deli in Tavernier. 305-853-5566.

Lindal Haase writes for The Palm Beach [Fla.] Post.