Feb 24, 2015 David and I sadly left Curry Hammock and The Keys, but were excited to be heading out on a new adventure.
We’re driving down Krome Ave in Homestead, Florida enroute to “Alligator Alley” in the Everglades. This is one of our favorite routes to take headed from the south to the Gulf Shores and Panhandle.
For those of you that have been reading my blogs, Homestead is where my bicycle was stolen while we were shopping, a few weeks back.
Well, we’re driving down Krome Ave through the Old Historic Downtown section of Homestead and suddenly steam starts spraying out of all the vents in the RV. We get lucky and there’s a parking spot big enough for David to pull the R V over. We get out and water is pouring out from under the hood.
We are Good Sam members and David calls for assistance. The customer service guy is great! There is a Ford service center 1.3 miles from where we are (the RV has a Ford Chassis, Engine and parts.) The Rep says he’ll get a tow truck right out. David says hold off on the tow he thinks he can drive it the 1.3 miles. Fortunately, our fresh water holding tank has plenty of water. We fill gallon bottles and David refills the radiator. We make it to the Service Center and find out it has a bad heater core.
So, are we lucky or not? It could have been worse. We could have broken down out in the middle of nowhere. Now we have to wait for the Service Department to get the part… Tomorrow!. We have nowhere to stay. It’s Florida in February and beside all the “snowbirds” it’s school vacation week.
We find another, pet friendly, Motel 6. This one is not in as nice an area as the one in Pennsylvania and costs almost three times as much. We still considered ourselves lucky to find this one with a vacancy. My ex husband has a condo an hour and a half from us and had offered to let us stay there. If we hadn’t found the Motel 6 it was nice to know we had an alternative. Hopefully, the RV will be repaired in the morning and we’ll be on our way.

Feb 23, 2015    I know, the first thing your thinking … “Did she see the Iguana before or after Happy Hour?”   The Iguana sighting was first thing in the morning.  E T and I were out for a walk.  We were heading to a bridge that David and I would  be kayaking  under and I wanted to check the tide.  You can only kayak this portion of the trail during high tide.  Just before we get to the bridge I spot something HUGE in the roadway.   First thing I think “Anaconda” sunning himself on the hot pavement!  This thing is HUGE!   I had just zoomed in as far as I could with my camera lens to see what it was.  It turns it’s head toward me.   Aaaaarrrgggghhh!  It’s not a snake, but it sure is something ugly.   E T and I high tail it back to the Ranger Station.  The RANGER told me it was a 7 ft Iguana that someone had just hit with there car.  That’s why it was in the middle of the road.  Someone was on the way to “take care of it”.  Those of you that have had a hit or near miss with a deer,  imagine a 7 ft Iguana. I had no clue that they could get this big.  No photo, too gory.  I do have two taken from about 200 ft (proof).

David and I spend about 3 hours Kayaking.  The trail starts out in a canal at Curry Hammock State Park and takes you under a bridge and through very thick Mangrove patches for about a  mile.  Then you enter a shallow  bay, aka horseshoe crab mating ground (see photo).  Then we round the corner and are circling “bird island”.  I actually laughed out  loud in joy when I saw the 50 plus birds, mostly pelicans and cormorants, nestled in the trees.  It was like a page in a  Where’s Waldo book.  My photos are only so, so.  I had our old point and shoot.   I couldn’t take the chance with the new camera on the water.  But this might give you an idea of what a fantastic photogenic place this is.

While we were out in the ocean we saw hundreds of Portuguese Man of War (the photo that looks like a glass sneaker).  It looked like a hatchery.  There were some larger ones, but the majority were tiny.  Reason # 1 why I only kayak in the ocean when the waves are calm.  I would not have wanted to tip over  into that mess.

When we get back to shore,  I take E T out for a ride … she is a  “Sea Dog”.   Sorry,  no  photos.   We are just teaching her to Kayak.  David was on “shore duty”,  in case she jumped out of the kayak.   We haven’t seen her swim yet, so we don’t know if she can.  I read an article on taking dogs into the ocean.  It said that not all dogs can swim, some need to learn.  David was on standby if he needed to give her a quick lesson.

Happy Hour!!    If there is such a thing as an everyday holiday,  that’s what Happy Hour is in the Keys.  It doesn’t matter if your sitting under a tiki hut at the beach,  at the picnic table at your campsite or in your favorite Keys hangout, Happy Hour is to be celebrated.  Since this is our last night in the Keys we are going to make it special.    What’s better after a day “in the sun” then a cold beer ($1.50), wings (25 cents each) and shrimp (25 cents each) at Sparky’s Landing in Key Colony Beach?  E T is welcome too!!  I’m convinced in a previous life she was a Pirate!  She settles in at Sparky’s like it’s old home week. She’s greeted by wait staff and patrons like an old friend.  Although there was no parrot, a pelican did wave Hello!

Last but not least we walk over to Sunset Beach in Key Colony Beach for our last Keys Sunset … for this year 🙂  David and I agree this is our favorite place in the world.

Feb 22, 2015    It’s 8:00 a.m. and I just saw my fisherman off to hopefully catch his supper.  It’s already 80 degrees and sticky.  E T is sacked out in her favorite spot looking out the screen door waiting for some …. excitement???  Not here, this is one of the quietest campgrounds I’ve ever been to.  There are only 28 sites.  The most excitement we’ve had this morning was three Ibis (birds) walked in front of the RV.  E T thought they came to play with her, but when she went out they flew away.  What teasers!

My fisherman just called with the first “report”.   They are headed out of the channel and it’s pouring rain.  I’m maybe 10 miles from him and it’s not pouring here,  just a couple of drizzles.  Good news, he says he can see the Reef ahead and its clear and “flat ass calm”. That’s fisherman talk for no waves.  Hurray!!  I really hope he has a good day.  I was on the fence about going with him.  I love to fish, but my dilemma was how much do I love to fish vs a little alone time.  After a month of almost 24/7 togetherness,  alone time won.  Now that the wind has died down I know we are going kayaking tomorrow.  I’ll get my time out on the water.  I’ll have the best of both worlds 🙂

If the wind didn’t die down we were planning a trip into Key West.  I like Key West and David only goes because I like to.  If we were staying in the Keys longer I would go by myself.  I can spend a whole day just walking through the art galleries.  If we lived down here I would be tempted to start my own walking tour guide business.    I will never tire of walking by Ernest Heminway’s house, down Duval Street, through Mallory Sqyare or having my photo taken in front of Mile Marker 0.  I may have to change my routine of lunch at Fogarty’s and Happy Hour at The Bull.  I’ve been told E T is welcome for both at Schooner Wharf.  Next Time

E T and I spend the morning walking around the campground. There is one particular path that we like to walk.  I have noticed hundreds of holes in the ground.  There are even some that are on the path.  For a  fleeting moment, once or maybe twice,  I thought they might be snake holes.  If this were the case,  there would be hundreds of snakes slithering around and we haven’t seen any.  Have you ever seen or played that game Whack a mole?  As we are walking along, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye.  Little critters are popping in and out of these holes as we walk along.  One was as big as my fist.  If I didn’t have my trusty watch dog with me I might have been scared.  Instead it’s like playing a game.   As we approached the holes one darts in and further down the path another darts out and in.  I took E T back to the camper and got my camera.  I spent the better part of an hour trying to get a photo of one of these critters. I got tons of hole photos and only one crab (it’s just a little off center in the photo).  These guys are quick 🙂  I met people walking the path. We all stared into the holes.  You could see there legs, but they wouldn’t come out.  Along came a Ranger and guess what they are?  Land Crabs!!!   I like them a lot, not as much as the Kite Boarders,  but this might give you an idea how easily I am entertained.

I took this murel photo yesterday.  It is on the side of a building where The Marathon Lady, charter fishing boat, is docked.  It is SO Key like!

David caught 3 mangrove snappers and three grunts.  He came home happy.  It’s been a long time since he’s been out on the water.

Feb 21, 2015   Other than too much wind for kayaking and charter fishing it’s a beautiful day, 70+ plus degrees and sunny.  We are on Key Time, which means no set time to do anything or go anywhere.

We start our morning walking E T along the beach.  We are in for a treat.  Yesterday we thought seeing  4  KITE boarders was amazing. Correction:  Yesterday, I called them sail boarders,  then I googled and found out they are Kite boarders or surfers. oops!  Today there are (David counted) 14  fourteen on the water at once. There are at least 1/2 dozen on the beach waiting or setting up to go out on the water.   I am going to compare it to going to a Hot Air Balloon Festival. The KITES are so colorful.  It is so much fun to watch!  The Kite  Boarders are amazing athletes.  The acrobatics that they were doing were taking my breath away.  I’m hoping they’ll be back tomorrow and E T and I can go watch.  She likes watching them too.  I think she might think they are birds.

E T meets a couple of her favorite friends, two springer spaniels.  I asked the owners if I could borrow one or both for a couple of days to entertain E T.  I think E T is in love.  Good thing she is spayed, we could have been in trouble.

One of our favorite things to do in the Keys is walk the Seven Mile Bridge.  The  “New” bridge is really Seven Miles.  The pedestrian bridge is about 2 1/2 miles out to Pigeon Key.  The bridge was constructed between 1908 – 1912.  It was “modified” for autos and used between 1935 and 1982.  Now it is a wonderful way to walk/bicycle safely miles out across the ocean and enjoy unbelievable views. We have seen dolphin, tarpon, sea turtles.  Today we saw one boat with two fisherman.   We watched one of the men reel in a fish.   When it’s windy, die hard fisherman will fish the bridges.  If David’s brother was down with his boat I’m sure David would have been out fishing one of the bridges today.

I learned how birds (in this case a Pelican) ride the thermal currants.  This pelican was using the bridge.  I wondered why I would see birds gliding along the bridge railings.

There is also a very nice park/walking trail that runs along side the parking area for the bridge.   We took E T Iguana hunting.  In the past we have seen many Iguanas in the mangroves  and along the ocean banks.  Today not a one.   I’m wondering if they scent E T coming.  She likes the chameleon’s at the campground, I’m curious what she would think of an iguana. She’d probably want to play with it.

Because we’re on Key Time,  it didn’t dawn on us until we were driving past San Pablo Church that we could go tonight and not miss Mass his week.  David is going to go fishing tomorrow morning on the Marathon Lady.   We go to 4:00 Mass and who is sitting in front of us but an old friend of David’s.  Isn’t it funny sometimes how things just seem to work themselves out.

Feb 20, 2015       It was a beach and biking day.  The wind is not cutting us any slack.  We only have a couple more days in the Keys and we want to get in some Kayaking and David wants to go charter fishing.  We’ve got our fingers crossed for Kayaking tomorrow morning.  Fishing may happen Monday morning.  We have church at San Pablo Sunday morning.   God may be asked to forgive us Sunday,  if Mother Nature backs us into a corner and we must chose between Mass or going  kayaking or fishing.  We leave the Keys Tuesday morning.

First thing in the morning we are getting ready to head to the beach and E T is sitting like a statue in front of the R V.  David and I are trying to figure out what has her mesmerized,  It is this awesome bird walking up the road in front of our campsite.

We head out to Sombrero Beach,  another pet friendly beach.  Sombrero is pretty.  It has a park, pavilions and boardwalk.  There is a lot more sandy beach than Cocoa Beach.   If you’re looking for a romantic spot to watch a sunset, Sombrero Beach is it.

E T is becoming quite the beach bum.  She is making lots of friends, Canine & Human 🙂   We take a side trip to Cocoa Plum Beach on the way home.  There is a lot more room for E T to run and lots more canine activity there.  How spoiled is this?  She is not fond of the cold water rinse at the park so when we get her home  she gets a nice warm water shower from the outdoor faucet  outside  the RV.

Our afternoon is spent on  the Grassy Key Trail, a portion of the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail.  If you are into biking long distances on a nice flat trail, this is it.  David and I biked for miles.  At one point on our return trip, headed back to Curry Hammock,   I say to David “Do you remember biking this far?”  All of a sudden we see a sign for the Curry Hammock Nature Trail.  We have biked a mile past our turn off.  We both laugh out loud. How can anyone get lost biking a straight trail?  When your relaxed and your enjoying the ride and the scenery,  it’s easy.

Before dinner, we are headed out to let E T run off some energy in a field across from the campsite and one of the campground hosts tells us that several sail borders are setting up on the beach.   We head on over to the Curry Hammock Beach and watch.  Even E T laid  down on the grass and watched.  It looks like so much fun. I’m sure I would have liked to have tried in my younger days.   If the water were warmer I might still try it 🙂

Feb 19, 2015   To do! To do!  What do you do in the Keys when it’s windy and cool and you have friends visiting that have never seen a Key Deer?  Take a ride across the Seven Mile Bridge to Big Pine and No Name Key to see if you can spot one or some.  Oh! and of course, when you’re in the neighborhood stop for lunch at the No Name Pub.  Surprise!!!  A couple of Key Deer had decided to hang out at the pub and see if they could spot a few people.

I’ve actually named these photos. See if you can put the names with the photo.

I’m so Pretty!   Attached at the Hip!   Peek A Boo!  Lean on Me!

Feb 18, 2015   Weather Report … Three nights ago we had the heat on in the RV. Two nights ago  no heat,  but windows closed.  Last night we had air conditioning on all night.  Tonight we have the heat back on. This is the craziest February weather I’ve ever experienced in The Keys.  Last night we had a storm come through with torrential downpours. This morning we had a brief bit of sun pop through the clouds.  The rest of the day was dark clouds and wind.  Good thing I brought my winter coat, rain coat, windbreaker and sweatshirts!

This morning we took E T to Cocoa Plum Beach.  One of the Rangers here at Curry Hammock has a dog and gave us a list of dog friendly places,  including a couple of restaurants.  I loved the Rangers descriptions  … Burdines Restaurant has the best french fries.   Sparky’s Landing has a great Happy Hour.  Florida Park Rangers know a lot about all kinds of things 🙂

E T was a happy beach comber today.  It was low tide when we got there and she was a lot braver in the water than at Jekyll Island.  The water is a lot warmer here than there, that helps.  She met a couple of friends and I’m sure she would have been swimming with them if we could have let her off leash.  She still has some “wild puppy oats” to shed before we can trust her off leash.

Our friends Gerry and Lenny from northern Florida  came to visit for a couple of days.  Hopefully the weather will warm up a bit.  We went to one of the local restaurants, The Wreck,  for dinner.  The company was better than the service and food, but it’s The Keys in February.   If you’re in a hurry you better head to the Mainland and find a McDonalds.

Crappy weather and all it was another good day.

Feb 17, 2015    We have signed up at the park to go on a  1 1/2 hour Ranger led hike on the Curry Hammock State Park Nature Trail. The trail head is almost a mile from the campground.  We ride our bikes.  Thank goodness, I have my new Huffy!   Remember this is February … bring plenty of water, wear bug spray and sensible hiking footwear.  Doesn’t sound like back East does it?

One of the things that we have learned in our travels … National Park and Florida State Park Rangers are AWESOME.  No matter what level of comprehension you have of nature you will learn something from attending a Ranger Program.

Today is hot, humid and sticky.  I have on hiking boots that I wear in 10 degrees below zero or 100 degrees above.  I am prepared. When we were out west a few years back a Ranger told us that 90 % of tourist accidents are from wearing inappropriate footwear.  First thing we walk through is muck.  It hasn’t rained here in a long time. Where does it come from?  The bay of course.  We are maybe 5 ft above sea level.  Then we walk out onto rotting sea weed, to a coral rock formation.  Thank You … trusty hiking boots.  The “ladies” that wore their sandals are left high and dry!

Next Ranger Bob gives us our one and only “Warning”.  No, it’s not alligators.  It is the  “Poisonwood Tree”.   Ranger Bob asks “Who has had a reaction to poison ivy?”  There isn’t a person in the group that hasn’t.  Well this is the “Tropical” version times 10. He points out this tree that is right along side the trail.  A few years back my 13 year old grandaughter and 11 year old grandson came to The Keys with me.  We hiked the Curry Hammock Trail.  How did we ever walk the 1 1/2 mile trail without any of us touching one of these trees???  Thank You God for looking out for us 😉

Along with sharing his knowledge of the area and trail flora and fauna, Ranger Bob has a sense of humor.  He points to one tree, it has a green base and is shedding a flaky red outer layer.  It’s really known as the Gumbo Limbo Tree, but he says “it’s better known as the Tourist Tree  …  green but after staying in the sun to long peals and sheds it’s burnt skin”.  I thought that was funny.  Who hasn’t visited Florida and not gotten sunburn?

We hiked out to the Florida Bay and back.  Our 1 1/2 hour hike was more like two.  It was great hiking in the nice shady hammock.

Cousins John and Nancy came to catch some rays and enjoy the park with us.  I got to take my first cameleon photo and missed an iguana. He was too quick for me.

E T’s nose always has coral dust on it. She has been trying to catch  a cameleon, but they are to quick for her.    I actually think it would be funny if she did catch one.  She would be in total shock.   She’s having lots of fun.

Again, the day flies by.  Tomorrow there is “talk” of rain.  The main topic of conversation here is the weather.  If it’s another day like today, kayaking is on our agenda. If it rains, it’s errands and shopping. I’ve mentioned lots of positive reasons for liking RV-ing.  A couple of negatives are  … no maid service and shopping and preparing your own meals.

Feb 16 – 23, 2015     Fiesta Key Vs Curry Hammock …  Commercial Campground vs Florida State Park Campground …  Fiesta Key is owned by Encore Enterprises. They are in the business of making money.  Any Florida State Park Campground is in the business of attracting tourists and promoting tourism.  In a nutshell, both are in the business of bringing people to Florida to spend money.

Camping at Fiesta Key is what I call camping in a sardine can.  They pack you in as tight as they can and it stinks (pick the photo).  When space is limited businesses look for alternative means to make it  attractive, such as view, marina, swimming pool, recreation hall etc.  You live in a sardine can, but there’s lots to do outside it.  Florida State Parks use nature.  A lot less expensive to maintain and much more attractive.  My perspective is people respect nature much more than property.  Hence you have a more conscientious “neighborhood” in a State Park vs Commercial Property.

Last year when we traded in our RV,  we received a one year membership to Encore/Thousand Trails, that offers us discounts at their properties.   We were able to get an electric and water site at Fiesta Key for $44 a night (for four nights).  Other campers  paid any where from $20 to $120 plus a night.  Commercial properties can offer all kinds of discounts, promotions and specials.  It can get pretty frustrating when your parked next to someone that is paying half of what you are paying or making you feel like you got a real “deal” when the person next to you is paying a lot more than you.  This just doesn’t seem right to me, but go figure.

Did we enjoy our stay at Fiesta Key?  Yes, we had a very nice time.  Are we looking forward to staying at Curry Hammock? Yes, very much!  Variety is the spice of life!!

David had gone on line diligently, trying to get us a reservation in a Florida State Park in the Keys, for two nights that we were here where we had no reservation.  We were both thrilled when just a couple of days ago,  procured a site at Curry Hammock.

When we arrived at Curry Hammock they had no record of our reservation.  What a disappointment. The short story, it was  a credit card screw up, “fraud alert”,  they did not process our payment.  The reservation was dropped.    The Ranger was awesome and put us in “overflow”,  parking lot camping.  What could we do?  We were happy to get that.

We were  frantically trying to figure out an alternative for the next night.  Only some Florida State Parks offer  overflow camping. Those that do, only permit a camper to stay one night in a 6 month period.  A park volunteer comes over and tells us the Ranger would like to see us.  We go to the ranger station and she tells us that they had a 14 day reservation cancel. Would we like any or all of that reservation.  To make a long story short,  we cancelled our reservations at our next Keys campground,  another sardine can and are here for nine nights (see Photo).   It is so beautiful, we would gladly have stayed the full  14 days,  but we have reservations heading north.

We spent most of the day “moving” and didn’t get a chance to explore much more than the beach.  Tomorrow morning we are signed up for a Nature Walk with a Ranger.  Hopefully the wind will calm in the afternoon and we’ll get in some kayaking.

Another “exciting” day in paradise!

Feb 15, 2015  We are using bringfido.com a lot this trip.  Since the addition of our four legged “baby” to the family, our choices of activities have changed a lot.  Anne’s Beach has always been on our list of great places to bring a picnic lunch, take a nice leisurely walk on the boardwalk or beach and if we’re really lucky enjoy watching some para-sailing.   We were very happy to see it was listed as “pet friendly” on bringfido.com.  I don’t know who had more fun in the water, David or E T.  I’m the photographer 🙂

Today is our first day of “real” Key weather, it was just delightful.  High 60’s low 70’s, light breeze, low humidity.  It took awhile getting here and I hope it stays awhile.

The days seem to fly by.  I wonder why I’m always so tired at the end of the day.  Today, besides going to Anne’s Beach we took E T to another “pet friendly” venue Robbies Marina in Islamorada.  Robbie’s is a must stop .  There is something for everyone. The most entertaining is feeding the Tarpon. There is also kayaking, a craft fair, restaurant and much more.  We stopped at Robbie’s and it was very crowded and the atmosphere was very  festive.   There was an excellent live band playing on the dock,  but it was VERY loud.  I think it hurt E T’s ears. She stood her ground and would not go into the restaurant or dock area.  We didn’t push it.  Maybe next time she’ll get to feed the tarpon  🙂  We also bicycled about 5 miles (round trip) to Long Key State Park, from Fiesta Key on a paved bike path.  We got some good tips from the Ranger on duty at Long Key on getting a site for one night.   We still don’t have a reservation for a campsite for the night of the 17th.

E T enjoy going with us and “our cousins”  to Sunset point again, for another fabulous sunset.

Tomorrow we move to Curry Hammock State Park in Marathon (about mile marker 50).  We got very lucky and were able to make a reservation for one night.  I’m hoping for a day as nice as today. The kayaking at Curry Hammock is suppose to be excellent and if the water is warm enough we might “kayak with some manatee”.