We End Our Stay in the Keys

We checked out of our unit the following day and drove up to Florida City. We did some shopping to pick up some things for the next 12 days, then checked into a motel for the night.

Sawgrass river

Entering the hammock

Since our check-in time at our new condo wasn’t until 1600, we had a whole day to kill before driving back to Tavernier. Florida City sits right between two national parks—Biscayne N.P. to the east:  Everglades N.P. to the west—so we decided a daytrip to one of them was in order. On our last visit to Everglades N.P. we didn’t have the time to drive to drive the 38 miles to Flamingo on Florida Bay at the end of the park road. Sounds like a plan.We drove 13 miles to the park entrance, stopping at the Ernest C. Coe Visitor’s Center to pick up another stamp (different dates, you know!) a map, and schedule of ranger-led activities. It was Sunday and the offerings were few. We headed for Flamingo, but diverted off the park road at approximately the halfway point for a short drive to Mahogany Hammock. The Everglades is a flowing river of water over vast sawgrass prairies dotted with hardwood hammocks: areas of higher (sometimes just a few inches), drier ground. One can see the water actually flowing, but given that the highest point in the northern section of the park is only 8 ft. above sea level, the gradient is quite gradual. Hidden from historic logging activities, Mahogany Hammock features old-growth mahogany trees that have grown to record size. In fact, the country’s largest mahogany tree resides in the hammock. We parked the car and started walking the half mile boardwalk trail that is elevated over the sawgrass river. Entering the dense, jungle-like hammock we found a variety of lush tropical vegetation including gumbo-limbo trees, air plants, strangler fig trees, poisonwood trees, and all types of palms.

The big daddy!

At the Flamingo Visitor Center

We drove on through the coastal lowlands to Flamingo, and were surprised by how attractive the facilities were. Our first stop was the visitor’s center where we collected the Flamingo Visitor Center’s stamp and then viewed the exhibits and the museum.

The license plate says QUEBEC!

Our new digs

Ocean Point"e"

Beach and marina cafe

We wanted to have lunch at the Buttonwood Café, but the limited choices and services sent us back to the minivan for lunch from our own stores. We drove over to the marina which had a really nice public boat ramp and marina store.

The marina has houseboat, canoe, kayak, bicycle rentals and boat tours. We left Flamingo and drove the park road back toward the entrance, diverting once again the Royal Palm Visitor Center. However, we didn’t stop; we left the park and headed for Tavernier. It was a good addendum to our first visit and the first park we have re-visited in the National Park Service’s Centennial Celebration.

Jane at the point

Arriving at Ocean Pointe (the “e” on the end makes it classy!), we checked in. The complex is large (170 units), gated, and well maintained and lies right on the Atlantic Ocean just off of U.S. Highway 1 (the Overseas).

Capt. Lar's new friend

This would be home for the next 12 days. We unloaded the minivan and settled in, had some supper and called it a day. The next morning we explored the complex as part of our morning walk. We could really enjoy the facilities if the weather would cooperate.

Capturing those creatures

It seems like we have one cold front after another move through giving us cloudy skies, when it’s not raining, and cool temperatures. The weather pretty much kept us condo-bound, but the forecast for the next day was going to be a good one.

Beautiful

Having lunch

So many varieties

Scarlett & Rhett

Camouflage?

Add caption

The forecasters got it right and the next day was beautiful and called for a road trip. When we previously visited Key West for the Seafood Festival, our neighbor told us to be sure and visit Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. When we previously visited Key West for the Seafood Festival, our neighbor told us to be sure and visit Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. Way opposite the Seafood Festival on the southern end of Duval Street, we didn’t get a chance to see this attraction on that trip, but today would be perfect. We did our morning walk, cleaned up, and headed for Key West. Two hours later we had the car parked and headed over to the Southernmost Point, just around the corner from Key West Butterfly. There was a really long line for picture taking, so we just snapped a couple of pictures that framed the monument from a distance. After paying the Butterfly admission, we entered the exhibit area that had hundreds of butterflies on display and was broadcasting a video about the life cycle of the butterfly. We watched the video, viewed the exhibits, and then entered the conservatory. The sight of hundreds of different species of butterflies flying around the lush tropical vegetation in the glass-enclosed room simply took our breath away. This was going to be awesome. Capt. Larry started working his camera to capture the beauty of these creatures. Jane was also working her phone camera and was able to catch a “hitchhiker” that landed on Capt. Larry’s shoulder. We slowly worked our way through the conservatory snapping images at all different settings as we went. There were two flamingos, Scarlett and Rhett, that were constantly squawking to an almost annoying level. After we had worked our way to the path’s end, we backtracked and took some video of the butterflies in flight. We exited the conservatory, making sure we had no “hitchhikers,” and went to the gift shop. There were some very interesting butterfly art that are made from the dead butterflies (their life span only averages 10 days) that are shipped from all over the world. This artwork can be customized for wedding invitations, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. and is absolutely beautiful. The link will show you some of the things that can be designed: http://keywestbutterfly.com/gallery.htm.

Other creatures too!

It was lunchtime so we left the attraction and headed to a street-side Cuban sandwich shop, The Conch and the Cuban, and ordered a couple of authentic Cuban pork sandwiches and aside plate of rice,

I was here first!

 black beans, and fried plantains. It was delicious. Wanting to avoid rush hour traffic on the Overseas, we headed back to Tavernier.

Butterflies everwhere!

The good weather didn’t last, though, so we spent the rest of our extended stay walking the streets of Tavernier and hanging close to the condo.

Hmmmmm!

Next up, a cruise to the western Caribbean.

Sunrise

A Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo Stone Crab Festival, and Back to the Everglades N.P. - We End January in the Keys

Birds on the wire

John Pennekamp Park

We spent the next couple of days cooped up in the condo, because a front had moved through bringing rain, wind, and near record thermometer plunges. Jane painted, and Capt. Larry worked on the blog and the taxes, organized several folders of pictures, and concocted some new dishes in the kitchen. We also had a date and went to see the movie The Revenant. Not a good date film, as Jane didn’t like the violence and Capt. Larry was impressed only with Dicaprio’s performance and the cinematography. We should have seen Sisters.

When we finally got a nice day, we headed up to Key Largo to the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, America’s first undersea park.

Cannon from the shipwreck

The park was created to protect and preserve a portion of the only living coral reef in the continental United States. Extending three miles into the Atlantic Ocean and 21 miles along the Florida Key chain, it is named after a Miami newspaper editor who worked to see the reef preserved and who also helped establish the Everglades National Park.

Lots of kayaks...

Within its mangrove swamps and tropical hammocks, the park is home to a wide variety of tropical vegetation and shorebirds, as well as the sponges, shrimps, crabs, turtles, lobsters, and hundreds of species of fish that inhabit the coral.

...and wet suits!

Snorkelers, divers, kayakers, and anglers flock to enjoy the park’s resources, and we were surprised at the numbers of visitors for a mid-week afternoon.

At the visitor’s center we saw a video about the coral reef, and then toured the nature exhibits. The 30,000 gallon saltwater aquarium was quite impressive. One can spend an injudicious amount of being transfixed by undulating fish. It's like staring at a fire. Leaving the center, Jane headed for the gift shop while Capt. Larry strolled over to Cannon Beach. Artifacts from a 1715 Spanish shipwreck adorn the beach and feature an anchor and cannon from the wreck.

The glass-bottomed boar

At the marina, a glass-bottomed boat was preparing to take its last flock of observers out to view the reef. We didn’t have time to join this tour, but it is something we would like to do on another visit. By now, Jane was finished and empty handed (nothing exciting) so we headed back to the condo. Along the way, we stopped at an art supply store where Jane signed up for an art class for next evening. It started to rain as we arrived at our condo.

Jane's jellyfish painting

We spent the next few days wishing for better weather and narrowing our list of places we think we’d like to rent for next year. We experimented with some new recipes and saw the hilarious movie Dirty Grandpa. It was our last week in the condo, but we enjoyed the routine in spite of the weather. We made another run up to Florida City to pick up some staples, and went to nearby shopping centers to pick up things we thought we needed, but more for something to do.

Long line at the stone crab festival

We sent some emails to some property owners expressing our interest in renting their properties next year on a return visit. A couple of days passed and we got a call from the owner of the house that was our number one choice for next year. The house is a 2BR/2BA with an enclosed porch, Jacuzzi, outdoor kitchen, and immaculately remodeled recently. To top it off, it is located exactly opposite the Harry Harris Park with an ocean view of the Atlantic. We had seen this property on several of our walks, but didn’t think we had a chance of renting it. We were floored when the owner called us and gave us a price break to boot! We received the rental agreement and sent our deposit in right away and hope that this may be the place we return to in future years. Life is unexpected, but usually really good!

Feeling really good about our unexpected good luck, we struck out to the Key Largo Stone Crab Festival. By the time we arrived, about an hour after it opened, we found that we had to park about one-half mile from the entrance.

Black Ceasar at the festival

We entered and found the relatively small grounds overrun with people. This was not going to be anything like the Key West Seafood Festival. We arrived around noon and decided to have some lunch. Stone crabs were what we had a hankering for, but a fish sandwich with pork ‘n beans and coleslaw is what we settled on..

Been there!!

The line for the stone crabs was over 45 minutes long, and we decided to opt out and get some stone crabs at a local seafood restaurant later. We had our lunch and listened to a band play, then perused the vendor offerings. Unlike Key West, the vendors at this venue were not as artsy, original, or suited to our tastes for us to buy much. Jane did buy a couple of things to decorate our beach home, but after one pass through the grounds, we decided to head out. Back at the condo, we got a text about the rental agreement for next year’s rental. We couldn’t find the email until Capt. Larry looked in his spam folder. There it was along with a message from our condo owners telling us of our check out time on Sunday. We had rented the condo from 1/3-1/31 and figured we would check out on 2/1. However, we only paid for 28 days and counting on the calendar, we were short one day

Back in the Everglades N.P.

and had to leave one day earlier than we expected. And we had to pack everything up on short notice!

We checked out of our unit the following day and drove up to Florida City. We decided to go back to Everglades N.P. and drive completely through the park to the visitor’s center at Flamingo.

Entering Mahogany Hammock

After stopping again at the Ernest Coe visitor’s center and collecting our second stamp, we started to drive the 38 miles to Flamingo. Along the way we stopped at the Mahogany Hammock, a stand of huge mahogany trees that were not detected during the logging activities in the Everglades and are now preserved.

Large mahogony

Our half-mile walk through the stand provided several surprises.We left and drove on to Flamingo and were surprised by the facilities the park offered at this remote site.

The license was from Quebec!!

We collected another stamp at the Flamingo Visitor’s Center, viewed the exhibits, and had lunch. As we left we toured the marina and headed back to the park entrance. It was a good addendum to our first visit and the first park we visited in the National Park Service’s centennial celebration. We headed back to Florida City and checked into a motel for the night. Tomorrow we would be in our new condo.

Last sunset at the condo