Sanibel Island

Our final day was a relaxing one. Barbara did some serious shelling on the bar at Blind Pass. She sat in shallow water for two hours sifting through the sand. She followed that with another hour walking the shoreline ostensibly to dry out, but still more shells appeared. Satiated, I whisked her off to Poco Loco once again for gelato.

We pack up in the morning for the trip home. It has been a great trip.

Sanibel Island

Today was pretty much for the birds! And, the shells I guess.

This campground has a nice little aviary with a number of exotic birds. The pond also is home to a number of pretty cool waterfowl, too. Barbara spent a good bit of time with them this morning. In the shot below she found a Peach Faced Cockatoo that liked having its head rubbed. Think of a dog that likes having its ears scratched and will not let you stop. That was what this bird was like. When Barbara would stop the bird would keep rubbing its head against the change near her to ruffle the feathers. It worked every time. Barbara was there forever.

 

They also had two pair of Lemurs from Madagascar. Now these guys were cute.

We spent some time at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Sanctuary, but at midday there were very few creatures about. We were told that there was good shelling at Blind Pass, so we spent a few hours there. Barbara shelled and I did what I do best. I snoozed in a beach chair. Can’t beat it!

Heading back down the island we dropped in at Poco Loco for gelato. Oh, yeah! That was worth a stop! Mint Chip: my kind of lunch.

We rounded out the day at the southern tip of Sanibel where the lighthouse is. It is an unusual design since it is all metal. There was a large osprey at the top eating a large fish it had caught for dinner. Since bills do not have lips it is best not to stand beneath these birds when they are eating.

We spent a little time over at the fishing pier, too, watching some dolphins and then headed home for a libation. 

The weather was great: clear skies and reasonable humidity. Is life good, or what!

Sanibel Island

We were up at the crack of noon! A cup of coffee and a bit of yogurt and off we went. Luckily there is a self-serve gas station just as we left the campground, so we topped off before leaving the base. We needed to get to the Sanibel campground by four, so stopping for fuel once underway would not be good.

The traffic coming back to the mainland wasn’t bad, but a lot of the way the speed limit is only 45 MPH. It is a long slog, but the scenery is superb.

After the long eastward leg to leave the keys we did a 180 and headed west to the gulf coast via FL Hwy41, the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades. The scenery is much different since you are running through a trough in the trees the majority of the way. We occupied our time looking for alligators and other critters.

 We made it to Sanibel around three-thirty and set up camp. Barbara could not wait, so off to the beach we went in search of shells. She found a few, but the shore was pretty well picked over by the time we got out there. There is always tomorrow.

In the mean time there is always DWTS, the finale! Yep, even on the road.

Key West

Our last day in Key West was a great one. We got a nice long paddle in as we toured the east and southern shores of Sigsbee Island and a canal that cuts through the center of the island.

The afternoon was spent cleaning up our gear and getting the coach ready to depart in the morning. There was a potluck gathering late in the afternoon, so Barbara prepared her baked bean dish and off we went with our folding chairs. Turned out to be a nice group of folks. They ran the spectrum of ages and I suppose economic situations. Most of these people are living here long term. Some for months; others for years. Nine years in one case. The keys tend to attract an interesting mix of folks and Key West has always been known for the quirky ones. This campground seems to cover the gamut, and it all seems to work. We have had a very good time here, but we are off again in the morning. 

Next stop Sanibel Island. Barbara is on a mission to find some shells.

Key West

Well, well, well. We finally got to downtown Key West. We parked at Truman Annex and walked the town. For anyone planning to visit, Truman Annex offers free parking at the Coast Guard Cutter Ingram museum area. It is also near the entrance to Ft Taylor. Parking in Key West is at a premium and the pay lots charge $20 a day.

Our visit started at Ft. Zachery Taylor State Park. Zachery Taylor was our twelfth president and one of the few that died in office. Half way through his first term as I recall. No, not from personal experience, the park literature. Anyway, he died while the fort was under construction and it was dedicated to him.  The fort was built to protect our southern borders and was used as a base in the fight against pirates at first, then the Spanish American War and the two World Wars. It was decommissioned in 1947. It is amazing, though, just how much of the Key West area is military property. We could cut the national debt in half by selling all this property to developers. Seriously, look at a map sometime. I am thankful for the chance to use the facilities on this trip, though. Thanks America for the opportunity.

We walked south from the fort to Mile Marker Zero, the southern most point in the contiguous 48 states. Tourists were lined up fifty deep to get a picture next to the marker so we abstained. We just butted in and got a picture of the marker itself during a brief shift change.

Many of the older homes are now inns, but quite attractive, as are the older hotels. We walked through residential/inn neighborhoods as we headed north on Duval to the Butterfly Conservancy. What a neat place. Once you have your ticket (everything in Key West costs $12 to visit) you enter the butterfly equivalent of an aviary. It was an amazing atrium filled with foliage and hundreds of butterflies of every color. It was a very pleasant experience to walk through the area with so many fluttering creatures flitting about. You exit through the obligatory gift shop, of course, and Barbara did not make it though unscathed. If I were to ever live here full-time I would want the wallet-vac maintenance contract.

We walked the length of Duval Street. Lots of shops selling the usual stuff, and bars of course. Plenty of bars. This has to be right in there with New Orleans as a party destination; maybe even more so. In New Orleans you also have music and a unique cuisine. Here they are just bars. We did find a particularly good ice cream shop, though. And, there is an interesting hammock shop.

We did visit the scene of an earlier crime. Like the No Name Pub, alcohol was involved during the last visit.

Barbara will post some better pictures, but she unfortunately broke her camera today. That will slow down the multimedia aspects of our dialogue a bit. Hopefully we will be able to get it repaired when we get back home because it is a great point and shoot camera.

Tomorrow we will get back on the water. It is just too convenient to not take advantage.

Key West

We got out to see some of the area today. We drove up to Big Pine Key with the intention of finding the ‘No Name Pub’, a cool little eatery way off the beaten path. I had visited with friends around the turn of the century and had fond memories of cold beer and good food.

On the way we visited the Key Deer Sanctuary and spent some time at the blue hole there. It wasn’t so much a blue hole as a typical Florida small lake created by a sinkhole. That makes it something of a green hole, but there were critters hanging around. Barbara got good shots of deer and iguana. There was an alligator, too.

We worked our way across the back roads of Big Pine Key, and were happy to find the pub still there, tucked in an out of the way area. Barbara wanted a picture of the two of us, so I obliged.

She now says she will take all of the pictures. No idea why. Must have been something I said. Anyway, we had a great grouper sandwich and a beer with-in the dollar bill insulated pub. It is a pretty cool place. If you are ever in the keys we recommend it highly.

We drove further east to visit Bahia Honda State Park. This is a nice park with camping and a marina. It is a great place to come if you have a boat and wish to camp and fish the area. There is a lot of beach area, but on this visit there was a lot of sea grass on the beach and in the water, which made the beaches a little less attractive. Still a nice place though.

It was nearly ten degrees hotter today so we elected to put off visiting downtown Key West until morning.

The keys are a great place to visit, and having the chance to stay in the military campground on Sigsbee Island is a wonderful benefit. The people here are great. We ended today watching the sunset from the area we launch the kayaks. This is maybe a hundred paces from our campsite.

Key West

We never left the base today; at least not on land. We spent a few hours kayaking around the island. It was great. The water was warm and clear, and there was not a cloud in the sky. There was just enough breeze to help cool us off, but too much to paddle against.

After a late lunch we took a nap that must have been needed to catch up from the short ‘whale’ night because we slept for a solid two hours. Rather than being refreshing, the nap kind of took the fire out of us so we just goofed off for what little was left of the afternoon.

 Home while in Key West

Tomorrow we will do some exploring up towards Big Pine Key to find a little pub I remember from several years ago. We will then return for late afternoon in Key West to check out the town and the famous sunset.

Key Largo to Key West

Early start today. REAL early. The alarm went off at 3:00 and Barbara dragged herself out of bed for some cereal. I didn’t.

By 3:30 it was obvious that she really meant to go hang out with these whales and that I was actually going to get up when many in the keys are just going to bed. It was a great cause, so off we went. This was a Barbara experience, so here is the story in her words:

“I had the most amazing experience today.  On May 7, a pod of pilot whales beached themselves near Key West. Four of the six survivors were transported in a Publix refrigerated truck to the Marine Mammal Conservancy in Key Largo, FL. The Conservancy is a totally volunteer organization that rehabilitates these animals with the goal of returning them to the sea when they're well. Our friend, Judi Walker, took us over to see the whales yesterday, and I was able to volunteer for a four-hour night shift from 4:00 am to 8:00 am this morning.  Bill drove me over at 3:30, dropped me off, and went back to the RV to get some more sleep.  I struggled into a wetsuit and waded into the water to meet my assigned whale, #303.  She is about 3 years old, 12 feet long and 900 pounds. Three of us were assigned to her and our job was to hold her up in the water so she could breathe - for four hours.  Fortunately, all the whales are relatively calm and easily float.  We just needed to make sure she didn't try to get away, to keep her skin wet, and periodically count her number of breaths and heart rate.  We had an uneventful four hours but fascinating.  At 8:00, the doctors arrived to give the four whales their morning physical.  Because of this, we were able to get an extra hour with the whales and a chance to help maneuver the whales to allow the doctors to examine them.  I finally said goodby to #303 at 9:00 am and left the water.  It may be another month before the whales are well enough to be let go.  I could go on forever about what it felt like to be able to help these whales and all that I learned about them in just five hours. Given another opportunity, I'll be there in an instant.”

Following the whale assist we broke camp and headed to Key West. We had to stop at the Navy base at Boca Chica to register our vehicles for entry on base at Sigsbee Island. With the higher security levels on military bases these days it was very hard maneuvering between the barricades with the coach. I got a few more pinstripes on the high driver side from some bushes, but we got it done.

We ended up in a nice spot close to the water. We will be able to walk the kayaks to the water in the morning.

Barbara is getting some of the pictures up on the gallery and is trying to get some video of the Dolphin Plus activity. Take a look.

If this is paradise, where is my cheeseburger?

Wow, we had a great day! Well, I have to admit they are all pretty good, but today we had wonderful weather here in Key Largo, FL. Low humidity by our standards, and a nice breeze made the mid-eighties comfortable.

We picked up Judi at home and met Bob at Dolphins Plus as the morning therapy session got underway. Barbara has some nice pictures in her camera of our time there. Due to technical difficulties (somebody did not bring the adapter that allows uploads from the camera), they will remain there until she figures how to download them to the PC. In the mean time I am no help. My iPhone does a nice job with some photos, but anything requiring timing is not among them. As much as I tried I could not get a good shot of dolphins doing much of anything interesting. Not that they were not doing interesting stuff, I just could not time the shot since there is such a delay from release to snap. Here are two tries.

The therapy sessions are meant to add motivation to behaviors that improve what function issues the participants have. The excitement and newness of the activities often breakdown inhibitions that stand in the way of communication, for instance. There were young children that really opened up in the process, and the expressions on the faces of the parents were priceless. The interactions during these sessions are more than entertainment, but let’s face it; the participants are having a ball. God bless them.

From there we went to the Marine Mammal Conservancy’s stranded animal rehabilitation facility to watch their work with pilot whales stranded on a beach in early May. Four females remain in their care and require 24-hour personal attention. That means at least two persons in the water with each whale at all times. They are to keep the whale afloat as it rests and recovers from what ever (thought to be a virus) drove them to beach. The volunteers literally hold them and keep them from sinking, thus allowing them to continue to breath while too weak to control their level in the water through swimming. This kind of care requires considerable manpower, so volunteers are needed around the clock. Barbara volunteered to take a four-hour shift from 0400-0800 tomorrow morning. What a woman! Of course, I get to drive her over at 0330. She should have a good story to tell tomorrow so stay tuned.

Once she is done we will be off to Key West and the military campground on Sigsbee Island.

Key Largo, FL

Funny how these things come to mind, but on the way down to Key Largo I recalled the earliest joke my father told me. It was simple, but hey, I was just a kid.  “How can you tell a happy motorcyclist?” “By the bugs on his teeth!”

Are we having fun yet?

We got off from Orlando just before nine this morning with the hope of seeing the shuttle launch from the turnpike. Too cloudy, though, so we just pushed on south. Those of you that have spent any time in Florida recognize love bugs. We get these guys twice a year. If you travel early in the morning or at night you miss the joy. If you are running the length of the state you get the full dose. They have highly acidic juices when smashed so you need to get them off the paint as soon as you can. They do not come off easily, but drier sheets seem to work well once wet. Some folks Pam their front end before leaving, but I just can’t see oiling up the coach. About forty-five minutes of scrubbing got them off, and that was followed up by a good cleaning of the windshield to get off the stuff that got the bugs off. A Kalik topped things off nicely. No, not on the windshield. That is for internal consumption only!

We will top off our day by meeting Bob and Judi Stevens for dinner. Bob is a marine mammal veterinarian who works at Dolphin Plus, a dolphin experience facility in Key Largo that does wonderful therapeutic programs for people with learning or physical difficulties. He also works with stranded marine mammals such as a recent pod of pilot whales that beached here in the keys. We hope to visit those whales tomorrow in a rehabilitation facility here in Key Largo. You can see more about them at:

 http://media.keysnet.com/smedia/2011/05/13/11/Keys_Sunday_05_15.source.prod_affiliate.143.pdf.

Bob is at the far left. Is that a cool job, or what?

More tomorrow as we actually get out to do stuff.

New Sat Dish

Knowing that there is so little to do in Key West we decided to upgrade our manual Dish Network antenna to an automated dish.

The older antenna would only tune to one satellite at a time and had to be re-aimed for different channels. A pain to do. The new antenna will allow us to automatically tune to all available Dish Network satellites using three LNBs. The dish itself is much larger. It is a full sized dish just like a home system would use, so we will have much better signal strength as well. We will be able to have HD viewing on the main TV in the living room. The TV in the bedroom will be limited to SD because the wiring to that set does not allow HD bandwidth.

I will be doing the pre-departure mechanical checkouts today and we will provision the coach Sunday for a Monday departure. First stop will be Key Largo and Pennekamp State Park.