The Florida Keys
PARADISE!!! Yep, think we have found it! We are spending one long glorious week at one of the prettiest places we have seen yet on this trip. We are in Marathon, midpoint on the Florida Keys Island Chain. Our site is right on the sea wall of the Gulf of Mexico. Our front window has the most beautiful view of palm trees, blue water, soaring pelicans and us sitting in our loungers just taking it all in. This is a welcome break from the sometimes frantic pace we have been setting. It is almost half-way through our safari, so the timing couldn’t be much better.
We had lunch at the No Name Pub on No Name Key—known for its friendly people, lousy service and great food. A funny, funky little place that was sort of off the beaten path; we had our first conch fritters there and enjoyed the meal and drinks. We spent the afternoon paddling around the swimming/snorkeling area only 50 steps or so from our MoHo. There wasn’t much to see, but the water was clear and warm, fun just to enjoy the water.
Key West was our next adventure. We drove the 40 miles or so to southern most part of the Keys. What a “hopping” place this is, much more touristy than where we are staying. We spent the afternoon walking along Duval Street where most of the action is. We visited the original Margaretville; Capt. Tony’s Bar, (where Jimmy Buffet sang his first paid gig), did a bit of souvenir shopping and climbed up the Key West Light House to get a view of the town below.
The “Boys” have not been totally ignored. We found a nice beach not far from the camp ground where they can run and swim. Guinness has discovered that he is not afraid of the water. He and Nigel really have enjoyed running out into the swallow water, splashing and chasing each other and other dogs that we have met there. After one such splash and play, we ended up at Salty’s a rustic little grill that sits on the sand right off of the gulf. The 4 of us had a nice lunch and enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere that pretty much describes this area of Florida. Most restaurants here are dog friendly. We have met a play-mate in camp; he is a very handsome English Retriever named Zambuca, Guinness really loves to wrestle and play tug with him.
The highlight of this trip has to be our seaplane trip out to the Dry Tortugas National Park. We flew out of the Key West Airport to the island, about 70 miles west of Key West. It was a fantastic flight, about 40 minutes flying over the most beautiful tropical waters that one can imagine. Evan, our, pilot, was very good giving us information about what we were seeing. We flew over the Marquesas Islands, a couple of ship wrecks, underwater sand dunes, and quite a bit of marine life. The landing was amazing; we pulled in, right up to sand, getting only our toes wet when we disembarked. We then took a self guided tour of Fort Jefferson. Construction was begun in 1846, to control navigation to the Gulf of Mexico and protect Atlantic bound Mississippi River Trade. This fort is the biggest structure built out of brick in the northern hemisphere. After an hour of taking in so much history and improving our minds (????), it was time for some FUN. We snorkeled right off the island, around some old dock pilings, where the water was quite shallow, very warm and clear with a lot of very interesting coral, and quite a few fish. We saw a small momma squid and her young ones, a conch, some shrimp, several schools of fish (100s of fish) from ½’’ long to some almost a foot in length. It was a great swim! All too soon it was time to fly back to Key West. This was really a great day; the fun just keeps on coming. We enjoyed another fantastic sunset right in front of our MoHo – 7 nights, 7 amazing scenes. Going to be hard to leave this place, BUT we have a lot more to do and see on Our Southern Safari.