Key West

Saturday, July 2 - We watched the snorkel boat go out this morning and stop in front of our campsite, we assume for their safety instructions, but then it turned around and came back in.  It was pretty choppy out there, no fun to snorkel when it's choppy, plus it was pretty cloudy, so they cancelled the snorkeling.
John called to check on us this morning.  They were mowing, house cleaning and working on their presentations for the conference this week, so we were lucky to be away from all that work.  We were sorry they were unable to join us down here, but they are very busy people.  He did tell us, though, that he thinks his dad has started a new trend with the flying crab in Texas.  John said they were driving on the freeway, and a "flying mouse" hit their windshield (and smeared all over it).  There were no trees around, so unless it fell out of a birds mouth, it just have been flying.  Something else for me to have the camera ready for, I guess.

We drove around the state park a little before we packed up this morning.  Over past where they were fishing last night, we found a bay (this on on the Gulf side) where we could see lots of fish around a coral shelf -- but no swimming or snorkeling here.

We drove back past the beach where we swam yesterday, and at high tide, it was a little more inviting, but it was still weedy.  Joe did find a conch shell when were out here yesterday (it's illegal to remove anything form the park, so we couldn't take it with us).  There were several people out in the water this morning, but when it started to sprinkle (and lightning), they all headed in.  Yesterday, Joe swears he saw a naked woman in the parking lot, changing out of her swimsuit.  When I looked, I could she had on see ivory-colored underwear, and a top of some kind, so I don't know if he actually saw her before she got her underwear on, or it was wishful thinking on his part. But women don't usually have underwear on beneath their bikini, so I'm assuming he was right.  Made his day, anyway.

Part of this beach area is roped off for nesting turtles.  We had hoped to see some but were told they usually come up on the beach about 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., and we didn't make that sighting.

We saw a little whirlwind out in the water, like an Arizona dust devil, only over the ocean.  It disintegrated when it hit land. 

We went back to camp, packed up and hooked up, and continued on our way, leaving this very nice state park.

The drive on down to Key West was just a series of channels and keys, each key had a channel on each side of it as a waterway to the Atlantic, with bridges over the channel.  Some of these bridges were just short spans, but coming out of Marathon we went over the "7-mile bridge."  All along this route, we could see the water was very shallow, and mangrove islands dotted both sides of the road.  For some reason, I thought there was only seven keys, but there are many more than that the the highway crosses, and there are islands all along the way.  There's even a "Cudjoe Key" (figures that Joe would have a key named for him).  We saw one island for sale. 

We saw an osprey as we were driving yesterday, but only a dead key deer today.  It rained on us on our way, lightly, but we got to our campsite about 1:00 --about 35 miles driven today.   Our campground, which we thought was on Key West, was actually about 5 miles before that on Geiger Key, but we found it easily enough.  Not sure how we will get out of here, but we pulled into a very nice spot, right on the channel, and we could fish, swim or snorkel right from the RV.  We even have our own little tiki hut.

This is the view out the front windshield (you can see some of the traveling zoo).  Unfortunately, the boat was not included in our rental price.  We sit here and watch boats come in and out, and a few swimmers, fishermen, and snorkelers go by every once in a while. 

And we had a visit from another iguana.  After we saw the first one, at Bahia Honda, we learned from Dr. John that the iguanas are an invasive species here (thought to be from Cuba, according to our current campground host), and they are trying to destroy all of them, so Joe missed an opportunity to get out his gun (I can't imagine what all trouble that would have brought!).  This one was smaller than the first one we saw, and he jumped into the water when Joe got too close with the camera.

After settling in, we drove into Key West, finally.

We decided to check out the beaches, and the first one we came to was Smathers Beach, a public beach on the Atlantic side.

But like the ones at Bahia Honda, it was another shallow, weedy area, not very inviting.  We have learned that the Keys really don't have any good beaches, because the shores are protected from erosion by the coral reef that runs parallel to the Keys, and the beaches are not naturally sandy. Most of Key West's beaches are fortified with sand that is brought in from elsewhere, but they are very shallow, and there are lots of seagrass growth on them, so it's hard to find turquoise, clear water to swim in. Having just left behind the Sarasota beaches, some of the best in the world, it's hard to get excited about getting in the water down here.  We are going to check out the Fort Zachary Taylor State Park and Beach tomorrow, which was recommended by our camp host.

We drove around to the Southernmost Point in the U.S., 90 miles from Cuba.  There was a line for picture taking, but I did get a picture. I might have to find a small replica of this as a souvenir -- it's pretty cool that we are here.

 Next, we worked our way over to the Gulf side and found the harbor.  We walked amongst the boats here, but it was hot and crowded, and we only had one hour on our parking meter, so we didn't hang around too long.

We did see some large (probably 4 foot) tarpon in the water here -- they hang around the fish cleaning station.  Parking is a problem down here -- actually, driving is a problem down here.  It's a bit like the French Quarter in New Orleans -- most of the streets are very narrow, with parking on both sides, they dead-end into the ocean, and some are one-way.  Pedestrian traffic is heavy, and the people driving (including us) don't know where they are going.  And parking lots charge $15-$20.  We'll have to brave this again to go watch the sunset at Mallory Square, but not today.  It actually was cloudy this evening, so I'm not sure there will be a view of the sunset anyway.

We pulled into a carwash, which we couldn't get to work, but there were a couple of chickens hanging out here.  We have seen a few of these around.

We found a place to have dinner (TGI Fridays, I wasn't very brave) and headed back to camp, but decided to drive on past our turnoff to go to the end of Geiger Key. There is a Naval Air Station right beside us, and the "dry" side of this road was fenced off and marked off as "U.S. property. "  After some housing, the road ended in a dead-end, of course, but we drove to the end and turned around.    This next is just hard to explain.  When we turned around, we saw this guy.  Right on the road.

Joe thinks he is training for Al-Queda.  He had his exercise mat out, and was going at it.  We tried not to be too obvious, but it was certainly an unusual sight.  Fortunately, we spotted a brown marsh rabbit across the road from him, so that gave us an excuse to be taking pictures.  I think we saw 3 of these rabbits on this drive.

Finally, we headed back to the RV to watch the NASCAR race.  Joe hooked up our little TV that Stacey gave us, and we sat on the brick sidewalk right beside the water and watched the race.  We had seen a mosquito-spraying truck on the highway (Thank God!) so we were ok for a while, but once the sun went down, we started getting buzzed by them (while Joe was getting buzzed by beer as well). 

That was our day.  A pretty full one for an old retired couple like us.

Bahia Honda State Park

Friday, June 30.  We are heading out this morning, so I decided to wash a load of clothes so we could get our mosquito pants ready to wear.  There were 2 washers and dryers outside, under roof, by the shower room, so I went over there.  I encountered another one of these free-wheeling crabs, but he scurried one way, and I scurried the other, so no harm was done.  After my load was done, we unhooked the RV (electricity) and headed out.  John had told us this is a really pretty drive, but the first part of it was wider, with mangrove trees lining the highway.  As we got further down, though, we were crossing lots of bridges, one key after another, and driving with the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic on the other.

We saw several stacks of these wooden boxes, but we haven't found out yet what they are for.  We assume they are for catching crabs or lobsters or something like that.  We'll have to ask when we get to Key West.

We are staying tonight at the Bahia Honda State Park, and it actually came up quicker than we expected -- it's on Bahia Honda, 12 miles south of Marathon.  We pulled in and got registered, unhooked the car, then I was supposed to lead the way to the campsite.  But I missed a turn, so Joe found it and got parked on his own, while I toured the campground trying to find him.  He backed in, but the view was so great, he turned around and pulled in, and we have a great view of both the Gulf and the Atlantic, right where the old bridge and the new bridge look like they come together.

 I finally showed up after he had all that done.  He was expecting a call from me, unaware that my phone was in the RV (who knew I would need it!).  Anyhow, we settled in and absorbed the view for a while, then he thought he would like to see the campground, since he missed my tour.  We put on our swimsuits and went out to the car, where he spooked an iguana (!#@!!) right next to the car.  These Florida critters are not among our usual suspects!  After that excitement, we drove around, finally deciding to get in the water at one of the many beaches.  But these are not sandy beaches, although there is some sand.  There's a lot of rocks, and sea grass, the water was really shallow (low tide) and very warm.  We walked out in the water and floated, swam and walked around for a while, wearing our new boat shoes, and saw a few fish, including a huge stingray. 

We  then checked out the gift shop where the snorkel tickets are sold, but he finally decided to wait for Key West for that.  After dinner, we braved the mosquitoes (of course, we did not put on any of our mosquito warfare gear, not even mosquito spray) and took a walk along the coastline, coming up on some fishermen under the bridge.  One kid caught a small grunt, and then a little big bigger snapper.

The sunset was somewhat hidden by clouds, but we did have a good view.

We had no TV reception here, so I read while Joe spent some time on the internet (it's wonderful to have our own little hotspot connector), then we called it a night.  No rain here today, although it did cloud up, and I think the temperature was in the high 90s.  Hot and humid!

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!

Biscayne National Park

Wednesday, June 29 - We had a few things still to do here before we left Homestead.  The first thing, we found the Military Surplus Store and bought 2 net shirts (expect a picture later).  We are now fully prepared to these pesky mosquitoes, if we just are smart enough to have all the gear on when we are exposed (which is just about all the time).  Then we drove back out to Biscayne National Park, which was established to prevent builders from putting up subdivisions in this beautiful country.  The park is 95% underwater, so we just walked around the boardwalk and checked out the visitor center.  We could see little fishes in the clear water (and big mosquitoes on our arms -- we left our new nets in the car).

Our next stop was the Homestead-Miami race track.  We went into the gift shop, and the clerk there graciously took us on a tour of the track -- we took the elevator up to the top and got to see the whole track from that viewpoint.  He said the elevation of the track is about 4 foot above sea level, and turns 3 and 4 are probably the highest points in Homestead.

This race track was built in 1995, with stimulus funds from the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.  For any non-NASCAR readers, this track hosts the last race of the season, in November.  It would be fun to get to come here for that race some time.

From there we headed back to camp and got ready to leave.  We took the Card Sound Highway down to Key Largo, which parallels Hwy 1.  We were driving through a rain storm for these 20 miles so I didn't take any pictures.  Except for crossing one big bridge, we mostly drove between stands of mangrove trees lining the highway, with an occasional view of bay water on either side.  We are in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park at Key Largo, which is a beautiful campground, surrounded by water.  They do scuba and snorkeling out of here, but we haven't committed to anything yet.  There are only 47 campsites here, and it is full, so we were very fortunate to have been able to reserve a spot here.  We got set up just before a thunderstorm hit here, so we didn't go exploring until after dinner.  We drove down to the beach, then drove around the town a little, and bought water shoes for each of us, since the beaches are rocky rather than sandy here.  We got back to camp just before it started to rain again, so we called it a day.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.