Day 6 - Key West

It’s cloudy and windy when we wake up, which is kind of disappointing when you’re in the Keys. Not what I'd expected at all ... it's supposed to be a tropical paradise!

We take our breakfast out onto the porch where we’re shielded from most of the wind. Somewhere in the distance a rooster crows. For some reason there are a lot of free roaming chickens and roosters on Key West and you see them everywhere.

After we’ve checked out, Lucie, the receptionist, orders bikes for us and 5 minutes later someone comes to drop them off. There’s only limited parking so at $18 a person for a 24hr rental this is a great deal. They’ll even pick them up from the same place when you’re done. Here's Sandy with her bike (in front of Ernest Hemingway's old house)

 Duval Street during the day time. Even though it's early most of the bars are already hopping.

There are a lot of beautiful houses in Key West

We ride all the way down Duval until we get to the Sunset Pier, with its brightly colored stools. Only 90 miles to Cuba!

Surprisingly the clouds are letting up and at times it feels very hot. It's a good thing there's a little bucket on the bike to put all my excess clothing.

Mallory Square looks very different in the day light.

There are no street performers or throngs of people. There’s a cute collection box for the feral cats.

A huge cruise ship is moored right at the end. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cruise ship up close before and it’s a lot bigger than I expected. During the day we spot many more cruiseships docking in Key West ... it's a popular connection between the US and the carribean.

We’re right by a busy shopping area and we head into the Sponge factory to buy presents and we also find a nice license plate to put in our game room as a little reminder of our trip. A lot of the tour companies have stops here and the area is bustling with people exiting and entering trams and buses.

Sponge man in front of the store:

One of the island’s best beaches (oddly enough the Keys don’t have a lot of nice beaches) is supposed to be a Fort Zachory Taylor state park. As the name implies there’s also a Fort in the park so we do quick walking tour of the fort before going to the beach.

There’s not a lot to see and strangely the fort appears to be falling apart even though it’s less than 200 years old.

There’s a bike trail that leads down to the beach.

It’s quiet when we get there, probably because of the fierce winds, but it’s warm enough for a few brave souls to tan in their bikinis. Here too the water is very clear and a little boy is snorkeling near the shore. I think the water is supposed to be 71 degrees and while it doesn’t feel cold whatever is exposed above the water must be freezing.

For lunch we head to a small bakery called the Old Town Bakery that’s supposed to have the most amazing deserts. Most notably the OMG Brownie, which unfortunately was still in the oven when we get there.

Instead we have two delicious lunch sandwiches and desert to go and we eat it in the garden of our B&B. (Sandy’s eating her chocolate croissant right now on the plane and it is fantastic!) One of the cats in the garden.

After lunch we ride our bikes to Southernmost Point. It’s an oversized buoy that marks the southernmost point of the United States (although I read somewhere that it’s not truly the most southern) with a throng over people crowding around it trying to take pictures. After a short wait it’s our turn and we snap a few pictures, but there’s really nothing to see so we get back on our bicycles.

We ride past another beach called Higgs beach.

The beach seems pretty nice and there’s a long pier jetting out into the gulf. It says no diving, but I wonder if you can jump off it in the summer? There are lots of stairs leading from the pier to the water so maybe you can? Must be fun to just jump into the water again and again.

The island’s main beach, Smathers, is a bit of a letdown. I heard it gets really crowded too when the weather is nice so the social scene is probably why it’s so popular.

We cross over to the other side of the island so I can take some pictures of the mangroves growing near the shore. Yesterday morning we saw the most beautiful mangroves in the fog, while driving down from the upper Keys, but because we were in a hurry we didn’t stop for pictures. I’m really regretting that now because they don’t look the same in the watery sunlight and the wind is making for some difficult biking.

Sandy’s not used to biking as much and she decides to wait until I come back so I can go faster. I can’t quite remember where I saw them and it’s a lot further than I thought so I’m about to turn around when I finally spot them. They’re not the greatest pictures. I was pretty pooped at this point and it was getting late so I didn’t want to keep riding around looking for a better angle.

The ride back is a lot smoother; the wind is so strong I almost don’t need to pedal! I meet up with Sandy again and we ride down to see the lighthouse. It’s several streets land inwards and I’m not sure if it’s always been like that or if those streets weren’t there when the lighthouse was built. It’s quite a nice looking one though! For $10 you can do a tour of the lighthouse and the grounds, but we decide not to do that.

We drop the bikes off at the B&B and say goodbye to the other cat, Coose.

Then we walk down Duval street to look for some key lime juice (for cooking – I’m officially a fan after yesterday’s yummy dinner) and to stop at the ice cream shop at the corner of Duval and Truman. They smell smurf ice cream; blue raspberry with marsh mellows! Hmmmm good!

The airport is only 3 miles from where we parked so we make it there without having to get more gas. We prepaid for them to refill the tank at a cheaper price (gas is expensive on the island) so we made sure to run it (almost) empty.

I think there are only four gates at the airport. The TSA screener is a nice woman who tells us there’s a beach and a waterfall after security so we’re kind of excited about that, but although it is a nice sandy area with tables and umbrellas it’s also extremely noisy so we flee back inside.

Funny painting at the airport restaurant

Unfortunately our plane gets in late so when we arrive in Charlotte we have only 10 minutes to make it from terminal C to E. It looks doubtful, but I take off running as fast as I can ... only to find out that our flight to Baltimore is also half an hour late!

Now I just need about a week's vacation to recover from our trip!

Total miles for today: 3 (plus many more by bike)

Total miles for trip: 914

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Breakfast: free at B&B
Lunch: Old Town Bakery
Dinner: The Conch Flyer at EYW airport

Day 5 - Miami to Key West

My goodness, I was so exhausted last night that I didn’t get to blog about our adventures at all. I might’ve been able to if I’d realized the clock in our room was off, but I just assumed it really was after 10pm and called it a day. Oops!

I didn’t get to do all the planning for this trip before we left so every night, after we check in for the night I have been blogging about the stuff we do, and planning for the next day so of course this is starting to catch up to me a bit. I must've been drunk with sleep when I decided to set the alarm for 6:30! Or maybe that would have been true if I didn’t snooze three times, but ...

Either way, once I was good and awake I realized I'd miscalculated and we tore through the room like little Tasmanian devils on crack. Crappiest packing job ever, but this was no time to be picky; we could either join the 9 o'clock excursion, or not get to go at all!!

The valet takes his sweet time bringing our car around and of course that only adds to my stress. Then to make matters worse the whole city is shrouded in dense fog and traffic's barely moving. Morning commute + fog = not pretty.

The estimated time of arrival keeps going up on the GPS and it's kind of like a train wreck; you don’t want to look, but you can’t look away either.

I call the park to inquire about the tour and to my surprise the tour doesn’t start boarding until 8:50. Apparently, as long as you get there in time to sign the waivers you’re good to go. In some ways that's a relief in that at least we now stand a chance, but on the other hand it makes matters worse because we won’t know if we’ve made it until the minute we get to the park.

Of course there was some construction and single lane traffic so by the time we drive up to the John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park entrance booth it's 8:55 and not looking good. But the sweet elderly ranger takes a quick look at th clock and says that we should still be able to make it if we hurry.

By the time we finish trying on our wetsuits it’s time to get on board. There are only about 12 people so it’s very relaxed and quiet. The boat ride starts with a short sail through the mangrove forests. Then suddenly there’s nothing but wide open ocean in front of you.

They allow us on the upper deck so a few of us get out and stand at railing near the bow. The fog has lifted and the view of the sunlight dancing across the clear water is amazing. You can see the seaweed flowing in the current, fish darting through the water and spotted stingrays gliding through the water. The boat speeds up faster and faster. My hair is whipping in my face and you can smell the salt water in the air. Wow, what a feeling of freedom! I never thought I’d enjoy being on a boat, but I do and I don’t even feel queasy.

For the first 15 minutes the ocean is so still it looks more like a lake, but the closer we get to the reef, the more the waves pick up. They’re gentle rolling waves and after a while it’s kind of like surfing; I can tell when a wave is about to hit by looking at the waves so I don’t get seasick at all.

The boat moors at Grecian Rocks a coral reef 5 miles out at sea and after a quick demo we put our snorkeling gear on. They tell us how far we are allowed to venture off and then it’s time to hit the water. I’m only wearing a half suit this time and I’m a little bit worried about how cold the weather is going to be, but it’s a comfortable 72 degrees. Much better than earlier this week!

Sandy’s a little apprehensive about swimming around in the middle of the ocean and bobbing up and down on the waves is making her sick to her stomach so after a few attempts she decided to climb back aboard. This means I need a new snorkeling buddy (they don’t want you to go off by yourself), so I hook up with a young couple who I think came out just to make out underwater. Gross! Every time I look away and turn back there’s heavy petting going on! The reef doesn’t look like I thought it would either, mostly sea grass with occasional pieces of coral sticking out and I wonder if this is really it.

A few minutes later I decided I’ve had enough and I swim off in search of a new buddy. I spot a few people nearby and when I swim over to meet them I find what I’ve been looking for; beautiful coral of all different shapes and sizes with brightly colored fish swimming around it. But what sticks out most are the enormous fish hanging out in small schools near the bottom; barracudas, some of them almost 6 feet in length. Yikes! Luckily they turn out to be very docile.  

When we get back to the boat I find out that several people in the group ran into a large bull shark! It might sound strange, but I’m soooo jealous that I didn’t get to see it myself. The captains tell us there are several sharks that call the reef home, but that they don’t pose a threat to snorkelers; the water is too clear for them to mistake people for prey.

Sandy stayed on the lower deck the whole time and feels sick as a dog by the time I get back to the boat; she’s so happy when we make it back to shore. Me – I could’ve stayed out all day! I’ve already decided I will try to do more snorkeling trips in the future.

Although the park is mostly known for its coral reefs, there’s plenty to see and do on land. There are a few walking trails and several white sand beaches. They’ve even buried an old Spanish “ship wreck” about a hundred feet out. I don’t have my wet suit anymore, but it’s warm enough to go out without it and while Sandy recuperates on a bench in the sun, I do some snorkeling near the shore.

It’s a beautiful spot to sit and relax.

There’s an aquarium at the visitor center so at least Sandy gets a look at some of the beautiful fish that live on the reef and I get to take some pictures.

 

We get back on the overseas highway and enjoy watching all the mangrove islands out in the middle of endless stretches of water. (This picture was taken later in the day - hence the dark clouds)

Our next stop is Bahia Honda State Park; it is supposed to have some of the nicest beaches of all the Keys. My guide book praised Calusa beach, because of the great views of the 7 mile bridge, but really it looks just like any old bridge and it’s incredibly noisy.

Loggerhead beach is quieter, but just as narrow and it quickly feels cramped. The water here is so shallow you can walk forever and still be in knee deep water.



Before we get to Key West there’s one last stop on our itinerary: Deer Key. It’s home to a nearly extinct kind of deer called the Key deer. They get no bigger than a large dog and we’re lucky enough to spot one along the side of the road before even getting to the wildlife viewing area.

How cute is that?!

Unfortunately she doesn’t appear frightened by the cars zipping by, or the bicyclists. She barely gives me a second look as I walk up to take her picture. When you drive onto the island the road is flanked by high wire fences and cautions signs to alert people to the presence of deer, but there’s a small sign near the entrance of the refuge that lists the fatalities. So sad.

The weather changes so quickly we first think something’s on fire. It looks like smoke blowing across the road, but it’s actually dark low hanging clouds and the wind is picking up. In some ways it reminds me of the time we drove through hurricane Charley.

We check into our bed in breakfast right in time for happy hour. There’s a tiki bar by the pool and the bartender asks if we’d like a drink. Tempting, but we’re on our way to Mallory Square so we turn him down. I don’t think it’s legal to walk around drinking, but he assures us that in Key West you’re fine as long as you behave yourself so I let him fix me a drink. My god, does this man pour a wicked martini!

An impression of the main drag, Duval Street

Sex sells

Lots of eccentric people around, like this man with puppets and dozens of lights mounted to the back of his bicycle (blasting MJ songs from his boombox the whole way).

The sun’s long set (not that anyone is be able to tell with those clouds anyway) by the time we get to Mallory Square and all the artists are wrapping up their stuff. There’s a small crowd gathered around a man doing tricks and a few of the vendors are making last minute deals. In the corner a man is getting his fortune read by a tarot reader.

The party never ends at some of the bars.

We try a place called the Flaming Buoy Filet Co. for dinner. It’s a good thing we found it on Tripadvisor or we’d never have found; it’s tucked in the middle of a residential area. It’s a pretty small, upscale place and we don’t have reservations, but they’re able to seat us on their porch and what a joy it is to eat there. We start off with lobster mac and cheese and after that I have the best grouper ever. I’m now officially a fan of Key lime sauce.

After we get back I take a quick dip in the pool and it is so nice and warm I could have stayed in it for hours if I wasn't so tired.

A great end to a great day!

Total miles for today: 183

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Breakfast: trailmix on the boat
Lunch: hotdogs at John Pennekamp
Dinner: The Flaming Buoy Filet Co. (awesome)
Hotel: Duval Inn B&B (recommend)

Snorkeling at Grecian Rocks

Very poor quality pictures, sorry!

Through the mangroves:

Mangrove islands ... it almost doesn't look real with the bit of fog that's left.

Now time for the fishies!

The one in the picture above was one of my favorites. It's a rainbow parrot fish ... the picture so does not do it justice! When you see it in person it just explodes with color.

This is another kind of parrot fish; the stoplight parrot fish. Almost a stained glass appearance with a bright orange belly.

Okay enough with the fish. Last but not least, a creepy picture of me floating above the seagrass: