TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

Jordan Taormina and nine classmates enjoyed the sweet sites of success

last month when the select group traveled to parts of Florida as a reward

for getting good grades and showing good sportsmanship.

Kline School, a private school in Costa Mesa, offers this incentive

every year. The long-distance trips are paid for mostly by the families,

and two teachers chaperon during the vacation. Last year’s excursion was

to Mount Rushmore. This year’s centered around the Florida Keys, the

island chain at the tip of the sunshine state.

“Every year they take them to some place other than the traditional

Disneyland, some place a little different from your resort kind of

place,” said Jordan’s mother, Colette Taormina.

The students learned about Florida and the sites they would see months

before they left, Taormina added.

When they got there, the students stayed in hotel rooms for a week and

the experience of hanging out with friends at night made the simple task

of sleeping more like a slumber party.

“We would talk and watch TV., all the funny channels and stuff like

that,” said 13-year-old Jordan.

Trip highlights included visiting the Everglades on an airboat, going

from Key Largo all the way to Key West, swimming with dolphins, visiting

the Harry Truman Little White House and stopping by Ernest Hemingway’s

home.

They saw treasure hunter Mel Fisher’s finds, canoed around Cudjoe Key

and ate new foods. They visited the Southernmost Point of the United

States, which is at the tip of Key West and is only 90 miles from Cuba.

Jordan had never been to Florida before.

He had also never gone swimming with a dolphin.

“It was just like this place where they held dolphins but they opened

it to the people,” the Newport Coast resident said. “I thought one was

going to bite me, but they were really gentle.”

In Key West, Fisher’s finds at the Treasure Museum included heaps of

silver bars, silver coins, gold and jewels. Jordan said that he learned

that Fisher had spent nearly his whole life looking for the hidden gems

in a Spanish sailing ship called the Atocha.

“It was like a sunken ship,” Jordan said.

Animals besides dolphin also played a part in the trip. In addition to

the alligators in the Everglades and the denizens of an animal refuge in

Key West, Jordan and his friends also saw 10 of the most dangerous snakes

in the world.

“They were in boxes, but they were well kept,” he said. “The guy that

showed us, he got bit like 70 times so he doesn’t care.”

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.