The next stop in our eight day adventure was The Keys! We should have known that vacationing in the Keys in January is not a novel idea. The weather is impeccable at this time of the year. A warm 80 degrees with enough breeze to keep the mosquitoes and no-see-ums off your legs. Since all the cotton-heads and their RVs were flooding into the Keys we weren't able to snag a State Park campsite. So we opted for the next best thing, a marina/RV park campsite at Pelican May Marina.
A small RV park with four-five month residents + us in our cute red compact and tent.
To be honest, this campground was great for our needs. It reminded me of one of my stops in Australia where I stayed in a 1970's creeper RV with a painting of sand dunes and kangaroos throughout the camper. The host of PMM also reminded me of Esmerelda in AU. She is a straight speaking woman with lots of stories, insight, and grit. The campground fit our needs because Ry was yearning to fish while in Florida. So every evening Ry spent hours on the pontoon casting. He caught quite a few of these...
Blue Crabs! Which we boiled and ate...yum!
Early morning fishing
While sitting right here, Ry and I spotted two manatees passing through the channel! We were stoked to see two during our eight day trip. What a treasure!
Other than hanging out at the marina, we explored Key West (if you don't drink there's not much to do here), swam at Bahia Honda (worth the stop!), and drank our first Cuban coffee (oh so sweet). We also booked a snorkeling tour trip from John Pennekamp State Park. Although a little pricey (~$34/person) we were in the Keys to snorkel so we had to go. We went on the 2 1/2 hour long trip which was plenty of time on this particular day because the current was swift and the waves were between 1-2 feet (not ideal for snorkeling). Plus the visibility was around 10 feet. Check out what we saw!
It's a porpoise! No, it's Ry :)
Corals. It was a really shallow reef (<5 feet below the surface).
Turtle!! See it?
Turtle close-up :) We were the only ones on the boat that spotted it.
Pipe fish (bottom left)...the long skinny thing.
We spotted a horseshoe crab (below) on our last day in the Keys. These guys are prehistoric!
Back at the Marina we met Matty. This brown pelican frequented our docks in hopes of nabbing a fish or two from the fishermen.
This is Matty flying across the channel.
A placid canoe/fishing trip in Pelican Bay near our campsite.
Our last night in the keys. We had a lot of fun, but Miami was calling our names.
We first explored South Beach. We can sum up this experience with four words - boobs, skin cancer, and wealth. Sorry South Beach...we're not fans. But I guess we're not really the glitz and glamour kind of people you cater to.
Little Havana, however, was more our speed. This community started when Castro was about to take control of Cuba. Cuban exiles fled to South Florida and re-created their home...Havana. Although this area has the word "Little" in its name it is quite large. We parked in the shopping district and walked 15 blocks to Versailles (the famous Cuban bakery) to enjoy a couple sweet treats, which were delicious! They weren't overly sugary and the torte Ry got was super dense...yum. The walk, however, wound up taking one hour each way! Oh my! I guess we earned our sweet treats.
After exploring Little Havana we decided it was time to lounge in a real bed. So we headed to the hotel. A hot shower, fresh sheets and AC never felt so good. Plus we were able to wash our clothes before flying home. Thanks, Priceline for the super cheap ($38/night) hotel room :)
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope to post about our Christmas trip to Salt Lake City soon.
Don't forget to enjoy the simple things.
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