Sunday, December 20, 2015

Florida Keys

This was actually in the Everglades. There weren't a lot of birds there this visit - except for vultures.

Sunrise at Flamingo Park


The rest of the pictures are from the Keys - we are biking as often as possible. We've seen quite a few iguanas.



Evening beverage and a beautiful view...


This guy hangs out in the park

They sun themselves on the grass next to the highway - and when they see bikes on the path they run right in front of us to get into the trees. We've had to swerve to avoid a few because they'll run onto the path and then stop and look at us.

A few days after we got here it started raining and didn't stop for five days. It was like we were in Southeast Alaska all over again...but warmer.

This storm included quite a few lightening strikes. We kept losing power. It was impressive.

We were right in the middle of that...

Went on a tour of the local rum distillery in Key West - they started about two years ago - first time rum has been legally distilled in the history of Key West.

Had to take a picture of this radio at the distillery - it reminded me of my Dad's radio when I was a kid.

Same general process as Bourbon - but less time in the barrels.

This caught my eye on one of the rum barrels. The salt around it is to check for leaks.

Highly recommend a stop by there if your in the area.

The Navy band playing Christmas carols at Mallory Square.



Dinner at the parks restaurant for Scott's Birthday

Love this song - and to hear it live in the Florida Keys is a bonus!

Pelicans and Iguanas - they seem to be the theme of this blog...

I love watching how the color of the water changes depending on the weather



There are lots of bridges on the keys for bikes, pedestrians and fishermen - it's great to get away from the traffic.



The other day we parked on the south side of the 7 mile bridge and then biked down to Big Pine Key. We then took a right and biked out to No Name Key - and to the No Name Pub for lunch. Well worth the extra effort!

After we got back from the 30 miles bike ride I took off my bike shoes and waded into the water - it felt so good!


Sunset from our park


A path off the highway we found that took us to the beach in Layton.

Key Deer - they are located in the Big Pine Key area. They are small - about the size of a Lab.

The original bridge - the railroad came in first and then eventually they built a road.

Old and new...



Kayaking to Indian Key and the Mangroves

Indian Key - this is a few miles off of A1A at about mm78. Used to be a full town - most of the people were involved in salvage. Also used to have a Navy base here. 


It's now a state park - the dock is for tour boats

It's bigger than it looks from the water and has streets with names

The parade ground or town center - there was a sign saying they didn't know what this big hole was for - my thought is a big outhouse... ;-)


The beach was full of snails and hermit crabs


It was difficult to get a very good picture but this is a rock on the beach that must have had a coral in it at some point? The beach was full of formations like this.

A cistern - this was next to the ruins of a large house that you can't see because the trees have overtaken it.


We rented the Kayaks from Robbies - they have a little shopping area, a bar and a dock. Lots of pelicans hang out here...

Feeding the tarpon off the dock - hard to get a good picture of this but it's a bit intimidating having huge fish come at you while you hold some bait over the dock.






After a quick break we went out the other way towards the mangroves. We paddled for a ways in water that was about two feet deep - you can see the mangroves are trying to overtake the area.


Went through a few tunnels of mangroves.





At first I thought it was a statue...

Nope! His eyes were following us...talk about intimidating.

We decided not to go swimming here...

A very large male iguana - they are very common down here but still fascinate us.