5th update June 10 - 13 Florida Keys

5^th Installment

Writing from Charlottesville, VA on Sunday July 3 and continuing on the 4^th.  Hope you all (in the US) have (had) a nice Holiday.

It’s about 6 in the evening on Saturday the 3^rd and lightning just knocked out the power in the Budget Inn and all around us as far as I can see as I started to write.  Power came back on almost immediately, but then went out again and is still out, so laptop running on the battery.  Great strikes of lightning all around.  Nearby too.  Plus pouring rain.  The lightning and thunder seem to have passed after about half an hour and after 45 minutes the rain has stopped too.  (and the power was restored about midnight.) We do have our camping lantern with the gear we unloaded from the car into the room, so at least we have some light in our room besides the glowing laptop screen.   There’s a restaurant across the street that stays open until midnight and we were planning to get some dinner there later, but with the power out, it looks like peanuts and wine may be it.  Oh, and maybe some cereal as we have some milk in the mini-fridge and our camping food too.

We had planned to be in DC or Baltimore for the 4th of July, but the car quit running yesterday afternoon as we were starting to enter the grounds of Monticello (Jefferson’s home you might remember – I didn’t.  Montpelier, which was Madison’s home, is also nearby) here in Charlottesville.  It wouldn’t restart, so instead of visiting Monticello, we got towed to the Budget Inn.  This afternoon I used my Idiot’s Guide for Keeping The VW Running and diagnosed problem as coil.  We’ll see what the mechanics say on Tuesday morning.  Since we’re planning to fly home from DC on Wednesday the 6^th at 3 in the afternoon to attend to some business and to take a brief hiatus from our trip, I hope they can get us on the road by Tuesday afternoon.  We’ll see.

It’s odd to say, but we are actually looking forward to a vacation from our vacation which we started 2 months ago on May 3^rd.  I will get the blog completely caught up while I’m home, but here’s a bit more for now.

June 10 Friday

We were up early and headed into the Keys.  We went via

Card Sound Road

instead of staying on US 1, so we could travel a few miles in the very north end of the Keys before connecting up with US 1 again down to Key West.  We passed through Crocodile Lake National Wild Life Refuge and stopped at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park about 9 in the morning to see what was there ($4.50 per person for day use).  I went snorkeling from the shore and water was fine and clear but not so many fish near shore among the mangroves.  We decided to pass on the boat trip out to the coral reef for now and see if we would find decent snorkeling as we continued down the Keys. 

Looking south from bridge onto the Keys via

Card Sound Road.  I haven't figured out why some of my pics have this blue tint.  It's possibly operator error with my month old camera and having it accidentally on some setting that does this.  At first, I thought it came from reflection from car's hood, but I have it in pics that weren't taken through the windshield too.

Reyna on the beach at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  It was a bit windy as you can see from the palm trees.

Here’s where I went snorkeling

We stopped again a bit further down the Keys at Anna’s Beach where we watched some kite boarders.  They were really moving.  The ocean is shallow (ankle deep) for 100 yards at least out to sea.  There are troughs a few feet deep where people have waded through the eel grass and killed it off, and you can see paths through the grass all along the Keys.  I snorkeled out in the trough for quite aways and saw one 2’ barracuda and a few smaller fish.

Reyna in a trough.  You can see the color change from sandy in the trough to darker and shallower behind her because the eel grass is growing there.

Kite boarder at Anna's Beach

We continued down the Keys and stopped on Deer Key to tour the National Key Deer Refuge and hopefully see some of the endangered deer.

 

Key Deer which are small (this guy about 3' tall) and live only on Deer Key where there is a large refuge to give them some protection.  This gal (I think) was right beside the road and grazing around a stop sign.

We got to Key West later that afternoon and drove around a bit.  Narrow and one-way streets with quaint/old houses.  Lots of traffic and it was not even peak season by far.  We didn’t visit any of the bars (Key West has plenty of them), as we are not much for crowds and it is difficult to park.  We found the Harborside Motel (http://keywestharborside.com/) that had houseboats for rent in addition to rooms, so we stayed on a houseboat. The place also had a pool.  We liked it and would have stayed longer, but we could only stay one night as it was already booked for rest of weekend. 

The red green yellow marker is the southernmost point in US, and you can see the line of tourists waiting to take picture with it.  We just drove by.

Houseboat we stayed on.  Boats with returning fishermen who were after tarpon.

This dude was flashing his red throat around the swimming pool deck.

Brown pelican – I took lots of pics of this guy as he swam around near our houseboat, but don’t have any that are well focused and didn’t cut off some part of it.  Sucker kept moving and with the telephoto it was hard to keep him in sight and in focus and in the frame.  About 95% here.

June 11 Saturday

We left Key West this morning.

Key West is famous for sunsets, but this is sunrise.



Typical view from the highway with Keys out to sea.



We stopped at Knights Key for some lunch. 

View from deck at Sunset Grille at Knights Key looking south with one of many bridges in background.  This may be part of 7 Mile Bridge.

 

Ceviche was good. 



I liked the way this Key had it’s own cloud.

We stopped in Key Largo this afternoon, so we could go snorkeling on the reef at John Pennekamp State Park tomorrow.  The places we stopped along the Keys were kind of disappointing for snorkeling from shore, so we’re hoping the trip out the reef will be worth it.  The State Park was full so we stayed in a private campground next door for $40 per night for camping.  The place did offer electrical and water hookups which we didn’t need and had wifi and a pool, but still --- $40 to pitch a tent!  We noticed that some tent campers had fans going inside their tents thanks to the electrical hookups.  Not a bad idea considering the heat and humidity, but we were comfortable enough as temp not so high nor humidity either.

Two lizards in this pic by the pool at the campground.  I tried not to disturb them, but they were pretty oblivious.

As I mentioned, I don’t know why some of the pics have this bluish tint.  I thought it may be reflection from the car as I have taken lots of pics through the windshield, but I was walking around the Key Largo campground for this pic.  The campground rents permanent sites and whoever owns this place thinks that strapping their house down is going to help if there is a hurricane.  I’m dubious, but when I was in the Army in Pusan, Korea we did the same thing with ropes over quonset huts as typhoon approached.

Our gravel campsite in Key Largo.  Not the most scenic site we’ve had.  Fortunately, the sites to either side of us were not being used as the sites were definitely crammed in close together.

June 12 Sunday

We went snorkeling on a noon trip out to the reef today.  Notwithstanding there was a flotilla over the reef, it was great in the water.  Temp was perfect and after an hour in the water, Reyna and I were both tired and ready to come out when the boat blew its horn to let us know it was time to get out and go.  Regrettably, we did not have a waterproof camera to use.  We saw one barracuda about 3’ long just lurking.  We also saw a ray of some sort that was about 3’ across and maybe 5-6’ long.  And we saw countless other kinds of reef fish.  They were everywhere in just a dazzling variety of colors.  There were several varieties at least of coral too.  It was definitely worth the trip and the $29 or so per person that it costs.  Since I didn't get any underwater pics, here is a link to Park's website with a few. http://www.pennekamppark.com/reefinfo.html

aboard the boat that took us (and about 40 other people) to the reef

channel from the park out to the ocean -- it was about 40 minute ride out to the reef

looking back at Key Largo

Reyna with her dive vest on

Lots of company at the reef where the boats anchor around the perimeter

This woodpecker (red bellied?) had a nest with babies in the hole in front of him.  The tree was about 20' from out tent.

Sunset over Key Largo campground

June 13 Monday

It’s time to get the VW serviced again after another 3000 or so miles since Dallas.  I used the CarTalk website to find a mechanic in South Miami Beach and another in Pompano Beach that specialized in VWs.  I called on Sunday and left messages at both shops, and the fellow in Pompano Beach called me Monday morning, so that’s where we headed when we left Key Largo.  We actually bypassed Miami.  We did get to enjoy Miami traffic on the freeway and turnpike around the city, which easily the equivalent of LA’s mess with mid-day traffic jams.  We found that Florida’s turnpike system has tolls, but you can’t pay cash anymore.  You can get a pass like we have in SoCal or they take a pic of your license plate and send you a bill.  Haven’t seen the bill yet so don’t know how they figure the toll, but Nadine told me that we had a preliminary notice at home to expect a bill.  I assume they match up pic where you enter and pic when you leave.

I liked the sign for the shop

The owner and mechanic, Bruce.  He had a really clean shop.  He didn’t mind if you waited and hung over his shoulder while he worked.  He willingly explained what he was doing and why.  He had engines in various stages of repair, so he could show me examples.  He used to have 4 bays operating, but never wanted to deal with the water cooled VWs and all the computers, so he is a one man / one bay shop now.

Interior of the clean and neat shop.  Repair bay is to the right.

Bruce had the car tuned and ready to go that afternoon as Reyna and I spent the afternoon at Extended Stay America motel in Pompano Beach.  Motel was only about 1/2 mile from the shop, so convenient for me to go back and forth.

Just had another lightning and thunder storm pass through Charlottesville at 3 this afternoon.  More are threatened, but might clear up in time for fireworks tonight at the local high school.