I'm playing catch up here, its May 16th and we are in Crystal River, FL
April 30, 2015 From Patrick AFB, we headed down the A1A keeping close to the coast until we got into West Palm Beach and then I got over onto I-95 to avoid all the stop and go in the closed in town areas. I waved to Rush Limbaugh and continued on to Pompano Beach. It was a good stopping point to spend the night because somehow a three hour drive according to Google Maps seems to take six or more. That and I wanted to stop at Dive Gear Express and pick up a few things.
We dropped off the trailer at Breezy Hill RV Park, not a place we wanted to spend more than one night at and definitely not in peak season. Then we found DGX on the Google Map.
Turns out that DGX doesnt have a show room and does all its business online. I have been a frequent customer of DGX and always look forward to seeing boxes wrapped in their special tape appear in the mail. Anyways, Geoffery May, DGX's vice president took us for a tour of their facility. It was quite impressive and he gave Patrick a large bundle of stickers. Thanks Geoffery!
May 1, 2015 We left Pompano Beach and continued down I-95 until it ended at US 1 and rode through Miami, past the University of Miami and down into Homestead and jumped off into the Keys. Finally, what so many people come to Florida to do. I have since realized that Florida is a diverse and wonderful state. From swamps to pine forest, to rolling hills full of horse ranches, from fresh water springs to white sand beaches, mangrove swamps to the River of Grass and the American Caribbean.
The drive was beautiful, the sun high in the sky and the temps in the high 80s. In Ohio they were still having near freezing temps at night. I had made reservations at Sunshine Key RV Resort and Marina, on get this, Ohio Key (ha ha!). Palm trees, iguanas, and beautiful beaches.
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| Historic Pigeon Key along the Seven Mile Bridge |
If you have ever watched the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film, True Lies, then you know the bridge scene where Arnold is hanging off a helicopter trying to rescue Jamie Lee Curtis from an out of control limo. They filmed this on the old Seven Mile Bridge. I was reliving the movie was we drove across the bridge, and the limo goes off .....there!
Back to the present. Here are some pics from the campsite.
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| Lots of these guys everywhere in Florida and the dog loves to chase them. She has about wrecked me several times while on our runs when she sees one of these guys and squirrels and rabbits and birds. |
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| They had this really nice walkway out over the water so people could use it to swim off of. There were nice ladders and lots of fish to see. There was a ten foot section of deep gravel and a set up on the dock. They needed to to a little more work and connect it to the concrete around the marina. |
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| A Barracuda lurks in the waters. He was a little one about a foot long. Lots of parrot fish and mullet in the marina schooling under the docks and around the big center-console boats. Made me long for a boat again of course they're never far from my mind. |
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| This is a little nurse shark cruising around the mangroves along the pier. He was a little less than two feet long. A cute little guy. |
From the dock we watched a few beautiful sunsets. Its a big thing to watch a sunset in the Keys. In Mallory Square, all the drunk tourists turn out to watch a sunset. We did it from the privacy of a quiet dock with a local kid who comes with his uncle to fish and a guy with a home built pontoon motor sailer waiting out the weather. It was pretty windy the first couple of days were in the Keys. It blew out the visibility underwater and kept people off the wrecks. I don't like diving in 3-5 foot seas.
May 2 We went to a flea market that had some fresh produce and we looked around. Most of the vendors were closing up for the summer season. Guess its too hot and the threat of hurricanes keeps people away.
In the afternoon we drove up to Marathon Key and went to Sombrero Beach to do some snorkeling. Becky wanted to get in some practice. We all were ready for the beach, some sun, sand and water.
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| We snorkeled around that point watching little minnows and other fish swim around. Saw mullets, barracudas, old sponges and a dead seahorse in the grass beds. |
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| Then there was this yahoo. Never seen a boat set up like that, then again I haven't seen a lot of things. |
We finished off the evening at
Sunset Grille and Raw Bar. This was our view. We had burgers and hog fish sandwiches, mixed drinks and key lime pie!
