Vacation in the Keys

John and I spent last week in the FL keys. We camped ocean side at Long Key State Park. Long Key is about midway down the Keys.

We were initially disappointed in the park because we had no trees on our site and we were pretty close to US 1 (aka The Overseas Highway). Turns out, all the photos of the park had been taken a number of years ago and a series of hurricanes has cleared the trees out since then. The road noise never really went away, but the wind flapping our tent covered most of it up at night. It grew on us over the week. You really can beat waking up to the ocean at your feet.

We took our market canopy frame with us but not the sun shade that goes on it, due to it's dubious waterproofing.

We took a tarp instead which killed 2 birds with one stone. The weather was great all week. Days in the high 80s to mid 90s with steady 10 mph wind. Nights were a different story...75ish and really windy! We were weathering gusts up to 25 mph. Our tent held up admirably. It flattened a bit and I woke up to it sitting on John like a fat man several times one night, but it never ripped out of the ground or lost pieces, so we considered it a success.
This is a sunrise pic I took from inside the tent, before I went back to sleep.
It was nice to wake up to the water.

We took a fishing trip one of the days and had a great time. John caught a big bonita.

Bonita are oily, nasty fish for eating, and so are considered baitfish.

I caught 2 snapper, a bunch of grunts, and one other fish that we never caught the name of. They were dinner!

John observed the fish cleaning. John wasn't the only one watching.

We also took a trip down to Key West. We wandered about that tacky town all afternoon, laughing at the chickens that roam the streets. We stopped at the southernmost point in the continental U.S.There was a bright orange flowered tree all over the Keys. It was so cheerful! We later learned that it is called a Royal Poinciana and it is not native flora.

This statue was in front of one of the museums. John was very taken with it.

We also took a snorkel trip. The reefs are about 3 miles out from the shore and the tops of the coral are only under 10 feet of water. We took a catamaran out to the reefs and spent about 2 hours snorkeling. We were on motor power on the way out because we were going into the wind and we were supposed to be able to sail back, but an oblivious guy and his 10 year-old son ignored the horn blast to get back to the boat and it took sooooo long to get them on the boat that we had to motor back because we were out of time. The reef was interesting and healthier than I expected, but then again it was in the Pennekamp Marine Preserve so I expected it to be in decent shape. Sorry I have no pictures. I didn't waste my money on an underwater camera because the day was overcast and the pictures would have been really gray.

After a whole day of laundry and unpacking we are back to normal here. Some good friends of ours are moving back to MI so I spent today helping pack. We will both be helping with the truck loading process tomorrow. Cross your fingers for no rain.

I already miss vacation..............