Hawks Cay Resort Family Activities

Hawks Cay was designed with family travel and entertainment in mind. And whether you enroll the kids in Camp Hawk for a half or full day or set off around the resort in search of a family adventure together, the range of things to do reads like a summer camp schedule for the entire gang.

Indies Club
Let's start with the Indies Club -- a separate building housing the craft and play room that belongs to Camp Hawk and a teen area decorated like a tiki bar and decked out with Nintendo Wii, Playstations, Xbox 360 and arcade games.

Camp Hawk
Camp Hawk has two daily sessions, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and rates include lunch or a snack. The camp is open to kids ages 5 to 12, with a ratio of six campers to each staff member. Scheduled camp activities might include playing in the nearby pirate ship pool, snorkeling in the lagoon, making arts and crafts projects with a Florida theme or walking over to the Duck Key marina to feed the resident tarpon. Teenagers love to bring some spare change to the teen center to snack on an ice cream cone. And on Sundays, a sundae station is set up at the tiki bar where, for $8 a head, kids can slap together their own sundaes with as many toppings as they like.

Resort Pools
Families often use the main resort pool, which faces the ocean. But another dedicated family pool near the Indies Club is popular, too, since it's shaded by banyan trees and usually less crowded than the main pool. The pirate ship pool is the ultimate fun zone for younger kids, with all sorts of splash features and slides that they can run around while playing pirates. You'll also find a mini golf range in this area, right behind the pirate pool, as well as a large wooden playground with swings, slides and climbing walls. There are basketball and sand volleyball courts nearby, too.

Duck Key Marina Watersports
Duck Key marina is the place to go for watersports. It's a short walk (five minutes) from the main resort and villas to the docks, and here you can book everything from kiteboarding and standup paddleboard lessons to snorkel trips out to nearby reefs, fishing trips and jet ski tours. Families love to head here around 12:30 p.m. and again at 4:30 p.m., when the fishing boats come back to port and unload their fresh catches of the day. Posing for a photo opp with a large snapper or mahi is usually no problem. Massive residen' tarpon wait expectantly under the docks where the fishermen clean the fish -- ask for a few scraps and they'll let your kids play a role in the feeding frenzy, too.

For Teens
Teenagers like to hang out at the main pool, where they can get their hair braided for a few dollars or get a free lesson on SNUBA (like scuba diving, but with a surface hose apparatus and no compressed air) and listen to music under water. Special Teen Social Nights are also scheduled, and might include a friendly volleyball game or extended hours in the video room, so teens can mix and mingle with peers. Watersports offerings at Duck Key are another teen highlight, as teens can learn a new sport (kiteboarding or standup paddleboard). And renting bikes is another fun thing for tween and teens, since they can pedal through the residential areas and feel like they're exploring the greater island.

And while there's an extra charge to take part in the resort's Dolphin Connection program, where you can get in the water with the resident captive dolphins and learn some of their behaviors, you can also just watch the action for free by peering down from the boardwalk above their facility during show times (several times daily).