Recovering from Keys Disease (02-16-13)

Our leaving the Florida Keys coincided with a cold front that arrived.  Both events served as a “wake up” call to me. I literally felt like I was coming out of daze that had gripped me for the 6 weeks that we were in the Keys. Life in the keys is slow, warm, sunny and revolves around eating, drinking, and the water.  Low temperatures at night were in the 70s, so putting on pants and a jacket were a fairly rare occurrence. When we left, the temperature at night dropped into the 40s, with a high in the mid 50s the next day.  What a difference!

Luckily, before that all happened, we were able to squeeze in a few fun outings.  We took a snorkel trip out to Sombrero Lighthouse one day.  It’s a half hour boat trip out to the reef, and I enjoyed every minute of the trip.

   Not everyone did, however, because by the time we got to the reef, the seas were a bit rough and a few people weren’t feeling very well.  I had a little trepidation about heading into the water with 2-3 swells, and Paul could tell I was a little nervous.  I put on a BC vest to keep me more buoyant, even though he and I had both opted for full wetsuits. The water was pretty warm, but any water can feel cold  when you’re in it for an hour.



  I was completely surprised by the whole snorkel experience.  First, the water roughness wasn’t much of an issue. It was “swelly” but it wasn’t too “choppy”.  Secondly, having snorkeled in awesome snorkel locations all over the Caribbean, I wasn’t expecting Florida to measure up.  I was pleased and surprised by the quantity and variety of fish we saw. 

   We had dinner out another couple of times, taking advantage of the warm weather and all restaurants on the water. 

We also enjoyed the wildlife that came to visit while we were eating our $.25 shrimp at Sparky’s Landing. Actually, Paul ate the shrimp- he said they were great.  I don’t like shrimp.

 

So, immediately after leaving the Keys, life snapped somewhat back to normal.  At least, what we consider to be normal for us.  One of the perks of the cooler weather was that we could sit by the campfire.  The weather actually felt nice, kind of like “Fall” was in the air.

We  took advantage of being near Everglades National Park to hike several of the nearby trails.  The 2 mile long Marsh Trail took us past a flock of Roseate Spoonbills, beautiful pink and white birds.... 

 ...

 and a small meadow full of butterflies.


 

  Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk is a mile long walk through a swampy area.   In addition to the turtles, alligators and exotic birds, we saw a young Bald Eagle.  Unfortunately, neither of the parents were around, but it was still neat to see the eaglet.

Vacation Week (01-25-13)

Not our vacation week- my brother Ray and sister-in-law Dawn’s vacation week. They flew down from Boston to spend a week with us here in the Keys.  As I flipped through my pictures from the last week, I realized that they will definitely need to recover from their  “vacation”.  Oops. We certainly packed a lot of activities in a 6 day period. 

We started by eating lunch outside, at a restaurant on the water- It’s one of the things I like best about the Keys, eating outside whenever we want.  With the temperatures in Boston this week plunging into the single digits, they sure were happy to shed their jackets!

When Paul and I realized we wouldn’t have reliable TV reception, we scouted out sports bars to find one appropriate for watching the Patriots play in the AFC Championship.  We ended up back at the Sunset Bar in Marathon, where the beautiful view didn’t do much to take the sting away from watching the Patriots lose to the Ravens.

We took the glass bottom boat tour from John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  I enjoyed the trip out to the reef- I just love the water down here- the colors are so vibrant, especially when the sun is shining.

It was an easy way to see some underwater wildlife on a beautiful day, although the actual method of viewing left a little to be desired. We were some of the last to arrive at the glass windows, so the view we had mostly consisted of other peoples’ heads, and we had to shuffle around quite a bit to be able to see anything. 

We took a day trip up to the “mainland” to Everglades National Park, and walked the Anhinga Trail, where we saw tons of alligators, and many species of birds, including the Anhinga, after which the trail is named.

  I have always heard that this trail is great for wildlife viewing, so I’ve wanted to walk it for a long time.  It did live up to it’s hype!

After seeing wildlife in the wild, our visit to Alligator Farm was a bit ho-hum,  but we did learn more about alligators and crocodiles, got to take a ride on an airboat.



movie of our airboat ride



resident Panther at Alligator Farm

We also got to visit with the resident Panther.  Apparently panthers are common in this area.  The first time I saw the “Beware of Panthers” sign, I thought it was referring to a local football team or something, but nope, there are Panther Crossing signs all around the Everglades. It turns out that the Florida Panther is a sub-species of the cougar, and is the State Mammal of Florida. Their numbers are dwindling, which is creating genetic issues due to inbreeding.

In keeping with the wildlife theme, we stopped in at the nearby Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center. This center is run completely on donations and works to rehabilitate birds that have been injured.  If the bird cannot be reintroduced into the wild, it can  live out it’s days at this sanctuary. I enjoy seeing the owls, hawks and shorebirds up close and personal.

No visit to the Keys is complete without a visit to Key West (so says me), so off we went.  We elected to spend the night there because it’s a 2 hour drive from Key Largo. Our first stop was the Truman Little White House on Key West. The house was originally constructed as housing for Naval Officers.  It has been used by 6 presidents, but more by President Truman than any other. After only three months as Vice President,  Truman was thrust into the presidency by the sudden death of President Roosevelt. The stress of handling the added responsibilities took a tremendous toll on his health and he was told by his doctors to spend time someplace warm and sunny, to regain his composure.  He chose Key West, and over time spent 175 days of his presidency at
“the Little White House”.



sunset at Mallory Square



Sunset at Mallory Square is pretty much a required outing on Key West.  Watching the sun go down over the water is a relaxing way to end the day.  Except, of course, the day doesn’t end at sunset on Key West. 

After sunset we ate dinner at Margaritaville before hitting the  bars.   Drinks at Sloppy Joe’s was followed by more drinks at Hogs breath Saloon.  I love wandering the streets of Key West.  Everywhere you turn, there’s music!

Back home after our adventure, we spent a quiet night relaxing with some frozen Mudslides. I love Mudslides but I can’t drink the whole bottle myself,so having Ray and Dawn here was a good excuse to make some!

On our last day together we rented kayaks at Robbie’s on Islamorada and paddled our way out to Indian Key. I have no pictures of the kayaking, since I didn’t want to risk bringing my camera.  Ray and I snorkeled for a little bit, but with the wind blowing, it was a bit rough, and we didn’t last long. It was Ray and Dawn’s first time kayaking, and by the time we were headed back from the island, they were paddling (not rowing!) like a well oiled machine!

We ended our visit as it began- eating a meal outside. The weather was perfect so we headed to Snapper’s Seafood Restaurant.

After an awesome dinner we sat and listened to some great music for an hour or so before heading home. 

We had a great visit!