Paradise To Us

What a view! There are only 60 campsites at Long Key State Park and all overlook the Atlantic Ocean!! At left is the view out the front window of our rig…nice, huh? And each morning as the sun rises, the light reflects iridescently off the water creating a peaceful and beautiful scene.

Long Key is located 35 miles south of where we stayed last week and is halfway between Miami and Key West. The sites are fairly private with rows of hedges, bushes, trees, and native plants between, and a wood rail in front with a small walkway leading to the beach. The water is so clear and warm, and we can walk over about a quarter mile out into it and still not have it over our heads. At right is a picture from a short distance out into the ocean looking back (didn’t want to take the camera out any further and chance dropping it!)

The first couple days Russ and I walked quite a ways out into the ocean in the morning and mid-afternoon, enjoying the sun and sea while searching for critters. We saw fish, a stingray, lots of little crabs, plants, and some unidentified sea creature. It looked like a small stingray but with back frog-like legs! The third day I ventured out by myself taking along my snorkeling mask and saw a few fish but no sign of the “sea creature”. There are quite a number and variety of birds in the area, many walking right along the beach searching for food. Several people bring their kayaks while others bring their fishing gear. In fact, one guy had a large net that he would throw out into the water, catching mullet to use as bait when he went fishing for tarpon later off the pier. This must be paradise…if it just weren’t for the nasty, biting no-see-ums.

As I mentioned in our last post, Dick and Beth are staying here for a couple of weeks, and as it turned out, Alex and Susie decided to stay for a couple nights before heading home to central Florida. We invited everyone over Wed. night to watch the 5th game of the World Series since Alex and Susie are big Yankees fans and still couldn’t get their satellite dish working. Yankees lost but we enjoyed the time together.

Thurs. Beth needed to do some shopping and asked if I’d like to tag along. The nearest full size grocery store is 14 miles north in Islamorada, and there are several other “girlie” shops, as she put it, that she likes to visit when in the area. You know, they’re little retail stores that the guys generally get bored at and would just as soon not have to go to. But the first stop struck me as kind of odd initially…it was Worldwide Sportsman, one of the smallest stores in the Bass Pro chain. As it turns out, the store has a couple areas of jewelry and women’s clothing on the second floor and a little space with lots of trinkets and knick-knacks. On display in the middle of the store is “Pilar”, the famous sister ship to Ernest Hemingway’s boat. Customers are welcome to walk aboard the ship, where the cabin has been recreated as it was when Hemingway used it. The store also has a huge aquarium but unfortunately it was being worked on so no fishies to see.

Out back is a full service marina where they sell live bait. The view out back is beautiful so I ventured outside while Beth paid for her purchases. I noticed some birds inside the bait shop, and as I got closer, a lady was taking pictures and told me that the egrets were stealing bait right out of the bins! Sure enough, as I watched, they did just that! I couldn’t believe the staff kept the lids open but maybe they need to for circulation and to keep the bait alive. Beth joined me and we watched one stick his head in and pull out a live shrimp, then flip it around with its beak several times, until finally swallowing it. But there was one little shrimp that nobody seemed to like. The bird that grabbed it brought it over to a table near where we were standing, flipped it around a couple times, dropped it on the table, picked it back up, flipped a couple more times, dropped it again, and then another bird chased the first one away. Then he picked it up, flipped it a few times, and then he dropped it. Each time it was dropped, the poor little shrimp would flop around, seeming to gasp for “air”. Kind of sad but overall the entire scene was kind of funny. We finally left so not sure if anyone ever ate that shrimp. (If you click on the last two photos, you'll be able to see the shrimp better.)

Manatee mailboxes seem to be a big hit in the Keys, and we saw several as we drove around that day. Most are just gray concrete but we saw one dressed in island garb and a couple wearing Santa hats. We even saw one with its baby by its side. Of course, a couple folks just have to be different and have big mouthed fish mailboxes…tee hee.

The weather was sunny and gorgeous the first three days, but then we could see the storm clouds roll in across the ocean. Though we really didn’t get any rain at the campground, the wind picked up and the skies remained overcast the next few days. The air was still warm without the sun beating down, and the breeze kept the no-see-ums away. Evidently the wind was just right for parasailing as several guys seemed to enjoy themselves out on the water.

Tomorrow we leave here to head further south to Bahia Honda State Park. Originally we were to spend 9 nights there and then come back to Long Key for 4 nights before heading north to Orlando. Russ checked online to see if we could possibly stay one more night and discovered that someone must have canceled their reservation and an entire week had opened up. We made quick plans to change our itinerary, and will only stay at Bahia Honda for 3 nights, then return here to paradise for 9 nights.