Key Largo

Thursday, June 30 - This is where we are camping here.

Today we explored Key Largo, both on land and sea.  First thing this morning, after our trip out to the Circle K for Joe's morning soda, we drove over to the ticket office to find out our options for snorkeling. On the way, we encountered several huge crabs just waltzing across the parking lot in the campground.  Who knew there were parks where crabs roamed freely like this!?!

After careful consideration, I chickened out on the snorkeling (too much swimming, too high of seas since I tend to drink the ocean, and in my old age now get seasick).  So Joe went snorkeling, and I went out on the glass-bottomed boat.  Here's Joe getting ready for his outing.

And here's the boat I went out on.

The channel from this dock out to sea is very narrow because the water here is very shallow.  Mangrove trees, which are fascinating trees, line both sides of this channel.  They are the first defense against hurricanes because their root system absorbs a lot of the wind, and they also filter the salt out so the tree can absorb the water.  They are an essential part of the ecosystem here.

My boat was very comfortable, air-conditioned inside, with two big partitions of glass bottom.  I saw lots of beautiful fishes, and coral (which I will deal with later), a stingray with a 7-foot long tail, and even a huge turtle.

The pictures didn't turn out very good but we could see everything very clearly, and there was a "guide" who looked with us and identified what we were seeing.  The turtle was really a lucky sight.
  We headed back in, through the same narrow channel, and there was a lot of water traffic behind us, including jet skis as well as both small and large boats.

Joe said he saw a lot of really cool stuff too, and the snorkeling was very good.  He remembers more of the names of the fish than I do, but he really enjoyed his trip.  We went back to the RV and he showered off the ocean, then we drove into town for lunch.  We had been trying to hook up with Rick's cousin who lives down here and is involved with (founded) the Coral Reef Restoration Foundation, trying to restore coral reefs that were destroyed in the 90s by bacteria probably brought in from the Panama Canal on boats that destroyed the sea urchins, which ultimately destroyed the coral reef by depleting its food source.  Ken and Denise Nedimyer have been developing nurseries of the elkhorn coral which was almost completely destroyed, and Denise gave us a tour of their work area and explained what they are doing (successfully).  Their daughter has taken over their previous business, which is collecting and selling tropical fish, so we also got to see some of the tanks and aquariums she uses for that.  She had several lion fish in tanks, which is an invasive species here, and they catch any they find and usually kill them.   It was all very interesting.  We think John and Bridgette would really enjoy getting involved in this coral reef work if they ever find any spare time, so we have information to pass on to them.

AND THEN, we found the Holiday Inn where the African Queen is docked, and walked around there a little (it was sprinkling rain on us by then, so we didn't do this very long).

So we finally called it a day, and headed back to the campground so we could watch "And You Think You Can Dance," which Bridgette got me hooked on (Joe is a little less enthusiastic).  Tomorrow we move on to Key West.  I may have to have an umbrella drink there!