Key Largo, Florida…

One last morning I enjoyed watching the sunrise and boats navigating their way through the St Lucie Locks. Sharon and I had breakfast afterward and hit the road. It would be a long drive down the congested Florida toll road to Miami until we pulled into our next campground for a one night stay at Larry and Penny Thompson Park in south Miami, FL.

Larry and Penny Thompson Park is a reginal park near the Miami Zoo.When we arrived it was under massive renovations as many of the campsites were unavailable. The campsites are arranged in circular pods and after checking in we pulled into our site for a night. There are some great walking/biking trails adjacent to the park and after strolling around we decided this would be a good spot for an extended stay. Maybe, next time…

The next morning we made our way down to Key Largo, Florida in the northern Keys to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, We set up camp and didn’t do much for the first few days as the weather was stormy. It rained intermittently throughout the day. but we were happy to be chilling in the Keys nonetheless.

Key Largo is more populated than anywhere else in the Keys but still has the scenery making the Keys what they are, a tropical paradise. We took many walks in and around the park taking in the sights, This state park has a few nice but short trails with one doing a great job of identifying the vegetation of the hummocks in this part of the Keys.

This park is known for its snorkeling but don’t expect as we did to see anything near the shore within the park.To really have the great snorkel experience, one has to go out to the reefs about 7 miles offshore. We did a little snorkeling off the shoreline of the park and although we saw a few fish in the sea grass covered bottom it really wasn’t worth the effort.

Sharon’s snorkel disintegrated while she was snorkeling meaning we would need a new one should we decide to do anymore. Fortunately we discovered the park has an on premise dive shop with decent prices for snorkel gear. However, after watching a few of the chartered snorkel boats leave the docks packed with people we decided in this Covid world we wouldn’t charter a boat to the reef this time around.

While we totally enjoyed our stay in Key Largo we were certainly disappointed that we didn’t get in any quality snorkeling and with the windy, choppy sea days we also didn’t bother to inflate our inflatable sea kayak to tour the mangroves. To add to the depressing circumstance of our Covid world , the park had a ghost town feel to it as we never saw more than one charter go out daily, There is also a free aquarium within the park which receives high reviews but is closed due to the virus. The normally happy, bustling park was very quiet indeed..

However, there were also highlights. We enjoyed driving further south on highway 1 savoring the views of the turquoise waters while stopping to stroll on the abandoned bridges. Our morning walks were delightful as we often saw interesting birds and even saw a foraging Ray in the sea grasses just offshore.

Best of all we were able to enjoy some little tiki bars with outside decks overlooking the waters offering that wonderful, relaxing Keys experience.Our favorite was Sharkeys! Other days just simply sitting outside at our campsite watching the birds and the iguanas in the mangroves was very entertaining. . While the green iguanas are an invasive species they are still great subjects for photos and as we watched them we couldn’t help but see the miniature dinosaurs they really are…

NOTE:  We are currently in Alva, Florida at the Franklin Locks COE Park.

Free things to do along the La Jolla Coastline…

The best way to start a day according to Sharon is to drive to La Jolla and go to the beach. We usually enter at the southern edge of La Jolla Shores by car and then drive north along Coast Street to street parking near Jenner and Prospect Street (2 hour free parking) unless we are lucky enough to land some of the 3 hour free parking near the La Jolla Cove.

A stroll along the shoreline from just south of the Children's Pool north to the La Jolla Caves really cleanses one’s soul with the panoramic ocean views, the white sand beaches, the sandstone cliffs and the waves rolling in and crashing onto the beach. Now Sharon is still a bit nervous along the cliffs especially with all the warning signs (like the one above) but she is starting to get over the fear of falling again and her healing has been going exceptionally well.

Besides simply walking along this 3/4 mile of beach there are other activities we find very fun, free(great for the budget) and interesting to do:

• we enjoy simply observing the artistic beauty of the slowly eroding sandstone cliffs that, over time, leave behind some of nature’s art. 
• another interesting activity we enjoy doing is exploring the tidal pools to observe the remnants left behind by the high tide,  such as the anemones that are always fun to watch
• all along the shore there are opportunities to watch birds, seals and other wildlife; we saw many California Ground Squirrels, Harbor Seals, Sea Lions and I also got to see several juvenile Spotted Sandpipers and some Black Turnstones…

• A couple of blocks away from La Jolla Village there is a place known as La Jolla Cove. It is accessible by a stairway and at low tides the tide pools hold hundreds or even thousands of hermit crabs.At the bottom of the stairs lies a small and popular sandy beach. At this beach the surf is lessened because it is in a cove making it  excellent for a swim, to just sit and catch some rays or  to look at the tidal pools at low tide. Also at La Jolla Cove there was some excellent snorkeling where we were able to observe two things we have never seen before… we saw lots of Garibaldi, the California state fish which are a striking orange color and we got to swim with Harbor Seals and Sea Lions!!!

We read that one can snorkel with Leopard Sharks at La Jolla Shores Beach but have also heard they may have already left the area. We may return if we hear anything more about them being there as that too sounds like fun. We are definitely enjoying the weather and water temperatures.  It brings us a smile knowing that once again we have a beach bag packed and ready in the car in preparation for any spontaneous beach stop in the days ahead…

Mile Marker –1 and goodbye Keys…

Well we stayed in the Keys for 30 days and we decided that on our last day we really needed to splurge a bit and take a boat ride out into the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic ocean. We had met a really interesting person Captain Victoria who is a true Conch as she was born in Key West and has lived her entire life there. Her husband and first mate is Art who is a fascinating fellow with many stories to share about Key West having moved there 50 years ago as a Marine at age 17. What better people to go out into the waters with as they provided us with so much history and knowledge of the Keys and their surrounding waters.

    

So our last day started in the morning with us putting things away for our departure on Friday. At noon we headed over to mile marker 5 and met Captain Victoria at the wharf. We loaded our gear aboard her boat and set off four a four and one half hour adventure. We snorkeled at three or four different reefs in the Atlantic ocean side of the keys near where the Gulf of Mexico water mixes in with them.

A slight current allows for drifting along snorkeling and seeing a wide variety of hard and soft corals along with a large diversity of fishes. Some of the highlights we saw were a massive brain coral, a pencil urchin, a hogfish, a 2 foot long puffer, several nurse shares (including one up to 10 feet in length), lots of very large stingrays, and several turtles. We moved around the sea until we had completely circumnavigated the island of Key West. Looking back at Key West there was a cruise ship docked which dwarfed Key West

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We completed the adventure at around 5:00 and we had our last happy hour at the Hogfish Bar and Grille.  Then Captain Victoria and Art came by for the evening where we shared stories and Sharon treated Captain Victoria to a handwriting analysis session. We had some good laughs and the day ended on

what was definitely our most memorable day in the Keys. If you ever travel to Key West you must get out on the water, and I can recommend wholeheartedly that Captain Victoria is the one to go with if you can.

Friday morning came early as we stowed the remaining gear and left Bluewater Key with a tinge of sadness but we know full well new adventures lie ahead. Travel this day was 328 miles where we find ourselves at Wickham Park in Melbourne Florida. We will stay here anywhere from 2 to 10 days depending on what we find to do in the area. Goodbye Keys… Hello Melbourne…

Bahia Honda State Park and No Name Pub…

Well we have been down here in the Key West area for a couple of weeks so it was time for a road trip. Where to? Bahia Honda State Park was the destination since it is said to have the best snorkeling near the shore in this area, along with a great beach to boot!

So into the CRV with snorkel gear in tow and we headed north on the Overseas Highway till we got to the small brown sign announcing our arrival to the state park. Entry fee for this park – $9.00 – a little steep but what are you going to do, everything in the Keys is expensive. They also allow RV camping at this state park with a lot of waterfront sites for only $36.00 per night (which is a bargain down here in the Keys).

So we drove into the park near the beach and found a shady spot so we could sun when we wanted to and shade when we needed to. We donned the snorkeling gear and after about a 1 hour snorkel we were once again disappointed with the snorkeling. Now it isn’t like we didn’t see anything as one can see lobsters just about anywhere down here but there is a real lack of hard corals and not much diversity in the fishes seen in these clear blue waters.

Granted we are a bit spoiled as we have snorkeled in some wonderful places such as St. Lucia, Grand Cayman, Isle de Pins and Fiji but we were expecting much better snorkeling here in the keys than we have been able to find. Now we hear if you spend the big bucks they can take you out to a reef some 3-5 miles offshore and the snorkeling is great. Being as we have seen some great snorkeling in our past, spending 80-100 bucks to see some coral and fishes seems a bit steep for us in our new lifestyle.

So we packed up the gear and headed over to No Name Key. Its fame is that No Name Key is known for not being connected to the power grid, the endangered Key deer live here and it is most known for the No Name Pub. Said to be the oldest establishment in the lower keys (since 1936) and they proclaim to have the best pizza in the universe. We didn’t go here to test either of these claims but we came to see it and to see all the dollar bills adorning every square inch of wall and ceiling space (and to have a cold beverage or two). Neat little spot – check it out…

As we left the No Name Pub we saw a nice male Florida Key deer in velvet which simply highlighted what was an overall great day despite the lackluster snorkeling…

Trading tan lines…

We have been in Key West for a week now and have been here just long enough to realize it is all we expected it to be… hot, humid, and fantastic!!! While there aren’t any really beautiful beaches like we encountered in the Caribbean there are a couple of nice beaches in Key West. We already visited Higgs Beach so the next beach on our list was at Fort Zachery Taylor State Park.

Fort Zachery Taylor State Park is a 54 acre state park that has a lot to offer. Besides the beach and snorkeling in the park there is a historic fort from the mid 1800’s that was used during the civil war. Later in history it was used during the Spanish-American War and by the 1940’s the Navy took it over. Now designated a National Historic Landmark it is a must see when visiting the Keys.

 

Our main goal on this visit was to check out the beach and the snorkeling. There are a lot of Australian pines which provide shade for the picnic area as well as providing shade along the edge of the beach for people like me that like to control how much sun I am getting. We seem to be getting quite tan none the less…

              

After laying out our beach mat we donned our snorkel gear and set out to one of the three rocky structures about 100 feet offshore to check out the undersea life. Snorkeling from the shoreline in the keys will yield some small hard and soft corals so if it is corals you want to see this is not the place to see them. The rocks however, shelter a wide diversity of critters and fish and is a fairly enjoyable snorkel in the Keys without spending big bucks to go out on a boat.

    

After a long snorkel it was back to our home at Blue Water Key Resort I have become aware of the fact that my Texas tan lines have changed… I use to have white feet with the classic “golfer’s sock tan line” but after a week in the Keys I now have brown feet and ankles with the “classic flip flop tan lines”… Life is tough here in the Keys… think we will stay a bit longer…

Our first day in the keys was exciting…

We left Jonathan Dickens State Park at about 9:00 am and headed south down the Florida Turnpike to Long Key State Park. We had purchased a mini Sunpass (a stick on transponder for the toll roads) at a local CVS the other day and had activated it online. We were advised to do this since we planned to take a lot of the toll roads south around Miami and using this device would save us 20 percent off of the tolls.

We got on the turnpike near West Palm Beach and drove on it till the last of it in Homestead Florida. Now here is where we did have some excitement on the road this day. We planned to fill up with diesel at the last service center on the toll road so we would be pretty full when we got to Bluewater Key. Well we pulled off the exit only to be advised that trucks and rv’s needed to stay right for diesel. So we did and found ourselves going right back on the turnpike… so no diesel here!!!

So a little further down the road we exited the turnpike right before Highway 1 where we planned to stop at the southernmost Walmart in Florida since everything in the keys is quite a bit more expensive. We stopped for one last haul of groceries and beverages. Getting in and out of the Walmart parking lot was not too bad (by the way they had signs everywhere that RV’s are not allowed to overnight there). From here we looked for a diesel stop when we saw a RaceTrac right before getting on the Overseas Highway to Key Largo.

Here is where the fun began… I knew it would be a tight fit but was sure we could do it. So in we went and we planned to take the easy number 1 pump but by the time we had lined up it was apparent that we would block all the other 14 pumps of cars from being able to exit if we filled up here. So we turned and went down to pump 16 (the last one) so we wouldn’t be blocking the traffic flow. Boy was this one tight and by the time I got us near the pump it became apparent we were going to have to unhitch the toad so I could make a backup maneuver to put us near the short hosed pump designed only for trucks not RV’s. After a few choice words and $150 dollars of fuel we left the station…

We stayed unhitched and both drove out of the gas station to find a better spot to re-attach the toad and then it was back down highway 1. An exciting experience I was sure we would have to do one day… check it off the list! The drive down highway one is slow even during this “off season” as we hit several red lights and several slowly moving vehicles. The road has quite a few quite a few stretches of one lane traffic each way and construction areas along the way.

Along the way we passed beside the eastern boundary of the Everglades National Park to our right and Barnes Sound to our left. The color of the water here in the upper keys was every shade of blue imaginable and reminded us both of our stops in the Caribbean. We slowly made our way through Key Largo as I could hear in my head several Jimmy Buffet songs. Then we passed John Pennekamp State Park (where I hoped to stay the night but it was always booked up). Next was Islamorada before we finally hit our destination for the night in the middle keys at Long Key State Park.

Our site (number 24) is right on the waterfront where we can see miles and miles of blue water. We set up and went out for a snorkel during low tide. The area in front of us is an expansive shallow area with a mixture of sponges and grass beds. Not particularly great for snorkeling but I did see my first lobster in the wild (a 2 pounder to boot) and we saw a nice sized puffer fish.

So here we are in the Keys!!! I am writing this blog as I sit listening to the morning surf with the azure waves steadily crashing onto the narrow strip of white sandy beach. As I enjoy my morning coffee I am reminded how fortunate we are to be here… life is grand!

Boarding the Rhapsody of the Seas and the Isle of Pines

Wednesday 10/27/2010

After waking up and packing we went for breakfast at a quaint little spot called Faith’s Café. Then we caught a cab over to the International Passenger Terminal at the Circular Quay. We then checked our bags with the cruise line porters and walked over to the “Rocks” of Sydney that consists of an area of the oldest buildings in Sydney that have been converted into a nice shopping area.  Here we visited the NSW Art gallery which is a great place to see unique Aboriginal art .

We then found a nice little pub in the Rocks at the Mercantile Hotel where we decided to have a couple of cold adult beverages since it was still too early to board the ship.  Once we boarded the ship we grabbed lunch at the Windjammer on the 9 deck and checked out the ship. It was a bit cool this day and a bit cloudy so we just checked out the ship until dinner time. We left Sydney Harbor at 6:30 PM and the views leaving were stunning.

10/28/2010 and 10/29/2010 - At Sea

Every day at sea is packed with activities...from deck games, to casino action, to live music and entertainment. This is the time we indulged ourselves in exercise or laid out in the sun or took a dip in the pools, hot tubs or “spas” as the Aussies call them. Just a totally relaxing time…

Saturday 10/30/2010  Depart at 6:00:00 PM

We arrived at Isle of Pines (part of New Caledonia) at 8:00 am and our plan for the day was to snorkel all day.  The Ile des Pins (as the French call it) is often referred to as the jewel of the Pacific and the currency is the Pacific Franc. Isle of Pines is known for its pristine beauty, prolific Norfolk pine tree skyline (up to 200 feet tall), aquamarine lagoons and powdery white sand beaches.

When the ship anchored we caught a tender over to the island. The Isle of Pines is said to have some of the best snorkeling in the area. The spot we were looking for was called sacred rock in Kanuméra Bay.  The left hand side of sacred rock is the place to go and the water is very clear with lots of varied corals and abundant fish within meters of the beach. The beach here had the whitest sand and it's almost as fine as talcum powder.  Once we were off the tender we took a short 5 minute walk over to a beach near sacred rock… the rock was stunning, surrounded by crystal clear blue waters. It was a bit cloudy and the water was a bit cooler than we expected but that didn’t stop us from snorkeling completely around sacred rock.  The most interesting thing we saw was a deadly sea snake called a banded sea krait. Their venom is ten times stronger than that of a cobra, making them extremely dangerous. Fortunately, this snake won’t bite humans unless they feel threatened and they are incapable of dispensing enough venom for a deadly bite. We saw two of them but always made sure there was plenty of distance between us :)

As we were about to go ashore the skies erupted and produced a torrential down pour of cold rain.  We could feel it hitting our backs as we were snorkeling and would dip under the water to warm up and to prevent the stinging rain from hitting our legs.  When it let up we went to the beach for a small walk down the coast line and then returned to circumnavigate the sacred rock a few more times.  After getting our fill of the wonderful corals and diverse and colorful fishes, we found a small café where we were able to sample the local beverages… a “number one” beer that cost eight bucks US but we still had to have a couple and spent most of our francs on beer.. oh well…