It was actually great fortune that we went to Key West first, because the day we headed north, we had rain. It rained for most of the drive to Bahia Honda. We set up the RV on Sunshine Key, and the rain cleared out enough to take an evening swim, and then we had a big storm overnight. Incredibly, I slept through most of it!
The next day was cloudy with sporadic rain, but it didn't stop us from getting on our bikes and riding through the State Park. I found a huge sponge on the shore and brought it home. I planned to clean it so I could actually use it, but it's still in the garage......hopefully not stinking too much! When the rain got too heavy, we went back to the RV and downloaded pictures and read. But again the rain cleared enough to let us have another sunset swim. Yay!
On Thursday we took off, planning to spend the night in Miami. We passed a place called Theater of the Sea on Islamorada, and decided to check it out. It was interesting, with bird, dolphin, and sea lion shows, and a nice garden. After seeing the shows, we thought we'd make sandwiches and take them to the swim beach at the back of their gardens. We stood with our bags and bottles at a little bridge, waiting on the tour guide to take us through to the beach and she pointed out the different species of mangroves as we walked. We crossed a little bridge to the beach and I heard Jesse snort. The "beach" was a pile of sand next to a tiny pond-like inlet covering an area about 2,000 square feet. The pond had a lot of big fish that looked like carp. You could rent snorkels and fins (some kids took advantage of that) or buy snacks at the little thatch-roofed shack. We were hungry, so sat down under an umbrella and ate our lunch and laughed. This was no beach, particularly to some one who knows Fort Myers Beach!
(There was a sort of nasty incident with a manipulative, controlling woman who was sitting next to us. She was talking very nastily to her husband and children, which made us cringe having experienced similar people in our pasts - and we were glad to get out of there.)
Next stop was to look around at John Pennekamp Park on Key Largo and we found a place to camp. Not surprisingly, it rained then too. A lot. We lost electricity, but were able to switch to generator so we didn't swelter.
If you make it to Pennekamp, be warned that snorkeling at the swimming area is not good. We saw a few fish, but the water was very murky. There was supposed to be a "sunken ship" there, but we couldn't see it. Later we read that it was only a "re-construction" of a Spanish wreck as it would appear after 400 years underwater.
Save your snorkeling for a reef trip from the park. We didn't take it this time because it had been canceled due to seaweed, so the next day we left for Miami and the zoo. And the rain was fortunate, because it was cooler for walking around outdoors all day, though we were damp most of the time. Also, there was no crowd, so we could ride the little tram around the park without waiting, and it was cool enough that the animals were outdoors for our "viewing pleasure."
We just missed getting a great video when we were watching the tigers. There was a large bird of unknown species, about the size of a hawk, that landed in the tiger habitat, and one of the big cats hurtled toward it with deadly intent. He made one swipe with his big claws, but just missed when the bird took flight. That would have been a great video! Sorry you missed it. :)
At the end of the day, we boarded the RV and made a 2-hour ride north to Fort Myers....in a driving rain. Again. We arrived home about 8pm, unloaded the refrigerator, and saved the rest of the unpacking for a clear and sunny Saturday.
It was a lovely - and too short - week!
Flow - Just Livin'
Florida Sunrise
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
A Key West Street Musician
We really liked this guy. Nice, smooth voice, and no theatrics. I don't think we got his name. When there were little kids nearby, he would sing a nursery song such as Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Key West Chapter Three
There are so many pictures to show you that I decided to create a little slide show, and I must say I'm rather proud of how it turned out, considering I haven't done one before. It even has music.
These were taken at the Miami Zoo, Key West, Fort Zachary Taylor, and while snorkeling on the reef. Mallory Square in Key West is right on the waterfront, and you can see by the photos that in the evenings there is a carnival atmosphere. There were mimes, painters, potters, musicians. Oh darn, I just remembered a picture I left out! Oh well, I'll post it separately.
These were taken at the Miami Zoo, Key West, Fort Zachary Taylor, and while snorkeling on the reef. Mallory Square in Key West is right on the waterfront, and you can see by the photos that in the evenings there is a carnival atmosphere. There were mimes, painters, potters, musicians. Oh darn, I just remembered a picture I left out! Oh well, I'll post it separately.
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Sunset in Key West
Can you believe this beautiful sunset???? This has not been touched up or filtered, and Jesse just handed the camera to another tourist to take a picture of us together. We were so happy we made it to Mallory Square the first night, after the Bus Stop incident, because that was the prettiest sunset of our entire stay.
I will post a video of the Catman and maybe a slide show once I figger out how to do it!
Hope everybody is having a good su
mmer!
mmer!
“Snorkeling on the Reef.”
My previous post makes a good segue to the Vacation Report.
It was bright, but not too early when we set off for downtown Key West on our bicycles. We arrived about an hour before departure time, so toured the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society & Museum where I was apprehended by a savage pirate, but managed to elude his clutches … probably because he had only one “clutch” and a hook on his right arm (photo above).
On display in the museum are treasures recovered from the Atocha, a ship that sank en route to Spain from Havana in 1722. Gold, silver, emeralds, amethysts … You can even buy a little bit of gold, if you’re willing to forfeit a lot of green. One item of interest was a $60,000 snuffbox. I don’t remember if it was gold or silver, but it was about four hundred years old. Wouldn’t it be interesting to touch it, and imagine the aristocrat who may have last carried it in his pocket?
We chained our bikes behind the Key West Art & History Society building (http://www.kwahs.com/customhouse.htm) with the enormous statue (about 30 feet high) of a dancing couple, and walked to the pier where we boarded a catamaran for a thirty-minute ride to the reef.
While we enjoyed the sail, one of the mates instructed us on the use of our manually inflated buoyancy compensator (BC) vests. I couldn’t help laughing because it reminded me of Eddie Izzard’s routine discussing life saving techniques in the event of an airplane crash. “Care for a top up?”
I overfilled my BC a smidge, so I had a little trouble diving, but that was ok, because if I had dived I might have hit the reef, it was so near the water’s surface. The initial problem I had, however, was when I first jumped in. The seas were choppy, and we had to “butt-walk” down a folding stair which bobbed around like a cork. It made me slightly dizzy, and I held tightly to the ropes to prevent being pitched in head-first. I was doing OK, but forgot to pull down my mask! So naturally I couldn’t get it cleared of saltwater once I got it on, and my eyes were stinging, and my rhythm was thrown completely off. So I dog paddled – tossed and bobbed would be a better description – back to the “cat” and crawled up the steps to dry my mask and adjust it so it wouldn’t leak. Poor Jesse thought I was going to chicken out, and I thought I might not be able fix my mask so I could use it, but tried it again. I never got it to be leak-proof or fog-proof, but was able to clear it enough to see the pretty fish, coral, and even found a stingray and a needlefish. Time flew past, and they whistled us back to the boat. Jesse had bought a dry bag for his little camera, so we have some nice pictures to post. On the return sail, we were served wine and beer, listened to island music and enjoyed the scenery, including a school (pod?) of about five dolphins.
Back on shore, we weaved our way to our bikes and peddled through Old Town, stopped at Cheeseburger Key West for – of course – a cheeseburger. Stopped to listen to a flute player on the street with his “singing” dog, and rode through the city cemetery as we looked for the Haitian art gallery. The cemetery is very interesting, both culturally and historically, and I hope to go back to spend more time there. At last we found the art gallery, only to discover it was closed, so we rode to Fort Zack for a leisurely beach afternoon in the sun followed by a windy sunset.
And that’s the second chapter of another day in Paradise.
It was bright, but not too early when we set off for downtown Key West on our bicycles. We arrived about an hour before departure time, so toured the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society & Museum where I was apprehended by a savage pirate, but managed to elude his clutches … probably because he had only one “clutch” and a hook on his right arm (photo above).
On display in the museum are treasures recovered from the Atocha, a ship that sank en route to Spain from Havana in 1722. Gold, silver, emeralds, amethysts … You can even buy a little bit of gold, if you’re willing to forfeit a lot of green. One item of interest was a $60,000 snuffbox. I don’t remember if it was gold or silver, but it was about four hundred years old. Wouldn’t it be interesting to touch it, and imagine the aristocrat who may have last carried it in his pocket?
We chained our bikes behind the Key West Art & History Society building (http://www.kwahs.com/customhouse.htm) with the enormous statue (about 30 feet high) of a dancing couple, and walked to the pier where we boarded a catamaran for a thirty-minute ride to the reef.
While we enjoyed the sail, one of the mates instructed us on the use of our manually inflated buoyancy compensator (BC) vests. I couldn’t help laughing because it reminded me of Eddie Izzard’s routine discussing life saving techniques in the event of an airplane crash. “Care for a top up?”
I overfilled my BC a smidge, so I had a little trouble diving, but that was ok, because if I had dived I might have hit the reef, it was so near the water’s surface. The initial problem I had, however, was when I first jumped in. The seas were choppy, and we had to “butt-walk” down a folding stair which bobbed around like a cork. It made me slightly dizzy, and I held tightly to the ropes to prevent being pitched in head-first. I was doing OK, but forgot to pull down my mask! So naturally I couldn’t get it cleared of saltwater once I got it on, and my eyes were stinging, and my rhythm was thrown completely off. So I dog paddled – tossed and bobbed would be a better description – back to the “cat” and crawled up the steps to dry my mask and adjust it so it wouldn’t leak. Poor Jesse thought I was going to chicken out, and I thought I might not be able fix my mask so I could use it, but tried it again. I never got it to be leak-proof or fog-proof, but was able to clear it enough to see the pretty fish, coral, and even found a stingray and a needlefish. Time flew past, and they whistled us back to the boat. Jesse had bought a dry bag for his little camera, so we have some nice pictures to post. On the return sail, we were served wine and beer, listened to island music and enjoyed the scenery, including a school (pod?) of about five dolphins.
Back on shore, we weaved our way to our bikes and peddled through Old Town, stopped at Cheeseburger Key West for – of course – a cheeseburger. Stopped to listen to a flute player on the street with his “singing” dog, and rode through the city cemetery as we looked for the Haitian art gallery. The cemetery is very interesting, both culturally and historically, and I hope to go back to spend more time there. At last we found the art gallery, only to discover it was closed, so we rode to Fort Zack for a leisurely beach afternoon in the sun followed by a windy sunset.
And that’s the second chapter of another day in Paradise.
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