The Beautiful Florida Keys

I fell in love with the Florida Keys, or at least parts of it.  We left Vero Beach bright and early and headed as far south (& west) as you can get without riding to Cuba.  Along the way I was amazed at how kitschy everything looked.  The Keys were full of every kind of tourist attraction you would expect and there is certainly no shortage of dive shops.  The farther southwest you go though the shops seem to dwindle and the land is a little more open.  The water between each is beautiful with various turquoise colors and mangroves.

We stayed at Bluewater Key RV resort at MM 14.5.  It is an ownership park and with each lot landscaped with tropical plants and trees and tiki huts with outdoor kitchens, living areas and a dock for your boat.  This was such a peaceful place with not a sound at night and the stars were the brightest I have ever seen.

Sunrise from our dock

We ventured into Key West a couple of times, but it is really packed tight with cruise passengers every day on very small streets.  I was a little disappointed as I was looking forward to it, but we made the best of it.  The architecture was amazing and I loved the colonial style homes with wide porches and balconies.  I found a nice fabric store with lots of nice tropical, beach fabrics.

A Wyland wall

A Christmas tree made of lobster pots

the buoy marking the Southernmost point in the US

We took the Jimmy Buffet walking tour visiting the bars he sang at along the way.  We enjoyed the tour, but you know it's going to be a short one when the guide shows up in crutches.  We learned a lot about his early years and a little about the area.  After the tour we walked further down Duval Street for some coconut shrimp and margarita's of course.  We haven't been out past dark for a very long time so one was our limit.

lyrics to the song Last Mango in Paradise written on the bathroom wall

Jimmy with Captain Tony, the first bar he sang at.  Also the oldest bar in Key West.

Jimmy spent a lot of time here with Mel Fisher the treasure hunter

We traveled to Marathon Key one morning to visit the Sea Turtle Hospital.  They are doing good work here saving turtles that have been hit by boats and are suffering from the fibropapilloma virus.  this virus has hit the area hard and just about every turtle they rescue has it.  The poor guys get these tumors everywhere.  Some block their eyesight, some limit their flipper movement.  The turtles are kept at the hospital for 12 months after treatment then released back into the ocean.  We did the tour a second time so we could record the information for our daughters classroom.  She said they enjoyed it.

this is Tiny.  He was hit by a boat and had just arrived at the hospital

Hard to tell, but this little guy was only 3 months old.

We woke up real early one morning and headed to Big Pine Key, home to the endangered Key Deer.  These little guys are 2 to 3 feet tall and only live in the keys.  Since we didn't them anywhere else my guess is they are now limited to that Key.  They hang out in peoples yards and at the wildlife refuge.  You don't realize how small they are until you stop and really take a look.  We took a little walk down to a bird watching platform and there was an alligator there.  Someone must have put him there or someone is feeding him because there are signs that asks you not to feed him.  In addition to the gator and the deer there were literally hundreds of vultures in the trees.  It was a fun morning watching all the animals.

Lots of iguanas

A family of Key deer

Mr. Alligator waiting for breakfast

two of the hundreds of vultures

I love pelicans

This mama manatee brought her baby to the bar

Her baby 

We hated to leave the Keys as they were so nice and quiet.  But I had a flight to visit our daughter and our future son in law over their Christmas break out of Tampa.  Back to the real world for us.  As we were traveling north on I-75 towards Tampa a little silver Porsche passed us waving and motioning us to exit.  Small world-it was my aunt and uncle.  We pulled off and arranged to get together later that evening.  We negotiated a wide U-Turn thanks to a stopped school bus ahead, something we never ever have done before.  It's the little things that make our day.