Glass bottom boat and an intruder

Wed. took a 7 mile boat ride out to Molasses Reef to view coral and fish.  Pictures didn't turn out well through heavy glass bottom. Pics, Nita on the way out, the reef and anchored dive boats, brain coral and poor picture of some colorful fish.

As I was doing this blog at the wifi hotspot at the park store this White Ibis hops up on the table where I am working and starts drinking out of the unbrella hole in the middle of the table.  He then shakes his beak and sprinkles water all over my computer, had to pick it up and move to a bench, that's my computer case and notebook I left behind, the nerve of some birds.

Hank & Chelsea from Ontario

When Chelsea was a pup Hank made a box on the back of his bike to take her for a ride.  Chelsea is now grown up and likes nothing better than a bike ride even though the fit is tight and she now weighs 80 pounds.  She is to heavy for Hank to lift her in the box so he parks the bike by the picnic table and Chelsea eagerly hops on the table and takes her place in the box, then off they go.

As I am writing this blog a White Ibis is on the table with me and the computer.  First Ibis pic shows him heading for his bath, next in bath, ooh the water is cold.

Iguanas at Bahia Honda

There is a little wild flower on the keys called wild poinsettia shown above. There is an area by the bridge in Bahia Honda where the iguanas sun themselves on sunny days, kind of like us humans, they pose nicely and don't seem to be afraid of us. The first pic is a big one, with tail probably about 5 to 6 feet long, the other is a smaller one.,

We are now in John Pennekamp state park in Key Largo, arrived yesterday in sunny 80 degree weather, raining today and in the 70's.  When the sun comes out we plan a 7 mile trip out to the reefs in a glass bottom boat.  Guess we will play some mexican train and read till it stops raining.

One way in - no way out

The ranger advised us not to drive into Key West, take the bus that stops in front of the park.  Off we went Thurs. morn, had to take a 2nd local bus to get into the old town.  It's a fun place to visit, kind of like a zoo, we seem to wind up here about every 10 years, next time may wait for 20 years.  All kinds of people there, young, old, backpacking kids, homeless, every nationality, etc. All kinds of transportation, rental bikes/motorscooters, electric cars, conch trains, accident probability high but fortunately saw none.  As through out the keys the place had chickens running around and crowing, are they for eggs or meals, tourist attraction or just plain breeding out of control, don't know.

We found an out of the way Cuban restuarant recommeded by the locals and had a good lunch, love the fried plantians.  Took in the Butterfly & Nature Conservatory where you walk amongst 100's of butterflies, flowering plants and birds, the butterflies land on you, enjoyed it.  Walked Duval street from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, Nita thinks we walked 5 miles, about 4pm she wore out and said let's go home.  Caught the local bus to the shopping center to catch the 5:30 bus back to Bahia Honda.  At 6:30 still no bus, getting dark and cool, local informs us there was a fatal accident on the 7  mile bridge below Marathon resulting in miles of back up both ways and bus may not run tonight.  The prospect of waiting more hours for a bus prompted us to hoof it off to a motel we spotted half mile away.  Don't get caught in Key West needing a room late in the day, spent a small fortune for a room that needed to be bulldozed.  Slept in our clothes and burshed our teeth with our fingers.  Next morning bus was up and running and it was a great relief to get back to our little motor home.

Pics, homeless recreational vehicle in Key West, Sloppy Joe's bar, southern most point in US, and some butterflies.

Flagler Railroad

Tuesday we attended a park ranger talk on the old railroad.  The ranger led up up to the remaining section of the old railroad bridge.  To our surprise and old Cuban lady stepped out from the mock train shown below and pleaded for help on how to get to Cayo Hueso. (The first spanish settlement in the keys was Cayo Hueso, meaning the isle of bones, so named because explorers found the remains of a vast indian grave, the British later Anglicized Cayo Hueso to Key West). She was a delight and went through the whole story of Flagler and the development of the railroad.  At the end of her  story the train whistle sounded and she rushed off to catch the train. It turns out that the Cuban lady is a park ranger who developed the act and designed the caboose. Last pic, Atlantic ocean side of Bahia Honda.

Sunrise-Sunset

One of the biggest event in the Keys is the  spirited celebration of the daily sunset, usually with a lot of spirits.  Many do not realize that the sunrise is also beautiful as they have not yet recovered from the sunset event. The pic below is Nita toasting her photographer on Bahia Honda Key.  In spanish the h's are silent, so Bahia Honda sounds like bay-eeah own-da.

Big Pine Key

Big Pine Key is home to the Key deer, they are very small, around 3 feet tall, they wander all over the place.  Connecting to Big Pine is No Name Key, famous for a place called No Name Pub located just before entering No Name Key, had to be there because No Name Key has no electricity.  It seems everybody knows No Name Pub, it's hidden several mile off the main road and when you get there you have to wait for a while to get seated.  Worth the wait, had some great smoked yellow tail tuna and a pizza to die for.  Every square inch of wall and ceiling is tacked with dollar bills, heard estimates of  $100K.

Bahia Honda Key

Bahia is about 30 miles from Key West, one of the prettiest keys with the best beaches.  Pic below is view from our dinnete on the gulf side of the key, bridge on right is part of 7 mile bridge, on left is the 100 year old Flagler railroad bridge the went from Miami to Key West, now just rotting away.  Next is a morning glory on the key, gull friend(actually a Royal Tern), red seaweed, girl friend.  Last pic taken from old Flagler bridge of the Bahia Honda Key, Atlantic on right and gulf on left, campground is to far left.  We have had beautiful days here with some cool nights, been about 10 degrees below average this winter according to natives, sould hit 70 today.

Misc. animals

We have been kind of lazy this week, reading books, playing dominos, walking and biking.  Still at the Corps of Engrs Franklin locks near Ft Myers.  Sunday we depart for the Bahia Honda Key not far from Key West.  We have had a few cool days, up to max. of 65, but still in shorts.  Not far from here is a Manatee Park where they congregate to take advantage of warm water discharged from a power plant, when the water gets cool they come in from the gulf and lakes to warm up.  In the pictures you can see a baby with his mother, the marks on their backs are from boat propellers, their biggest threat.

Pics, sunset on the locks with a refreshment, Sandhill cranes in the park, power plant with manatees and vultures cleaning up the canal

Cane grinding festival

We went to the festival Sat., unfortunately I must have erased the pictures I took there, maybe the turtle ate them.  Since there is a lot of sugar cane grown in the area the Ortona fire dept. holds a festival each year.  They demonstrate grinding the sugar cane, extracting the juice and boiling it.  The juice mixed  with orange juice was great, further boiling resulted in cane syrup.  Along with the demo was a good bar b q lunch and some local young cloggers.  Two disasters struck the event, the advertised blue grass band failed to show and the poor ladies manning the dessert booth were attacked by the bees drawn by the sugar cane grinding, ravenous bees became stuck in the cake frosting, forcing disposal of many delicious pieces.


We are on our way to W P Franklin, Corps of Engrs. recrecation area near Ft. Myers.

Manatee Watchers

Our campsite is on the canal that drains Lake Okechobee and there is a damn and lock there to controll the water level and allow boats to pass.  This is a Corps of Engrs site located at Ortona.  Bert and Pat are Manatee Watchers, volunteers that count and watch the Manatees as they pass through the lock, prime missions is to alert authorities of any sick, wounded, or tangled Manatees and get them assistance.  The Manatees go both directions thru the lock, are smart and wait patiently to pass when a boat goes thru.  Bert and his wife do this from Nov. thru April and get a free site for this period, 2 couples do this and work about 20 hrs a week, a good deal if you like to stay in one place all winter.

Pics, cormaronts preening their feathers, unidentified small bird, seems each cow has a bird friend, cow must be a good source of bugs for the egret, and the lock at Ortona. Got a new high ratio zoom lens camera, it can really bring distant items in close, like the little bird.  Campsite is large and beautiful, canal is right behind site.