Florida Keys: Park Hops & Tourist Stops

 

Walking along the beautiful shore in Bahia Honda State Park, Florida Keys, facing East along the Atlantic Ocean. A Looper friend influenced me to collect garbage on my walks. Try it! Walking with a purpose.

NAPLES

The Intracoastal route between Ft. Myers and Naples was too skinny for our boat. We had to slip out of the canal into the Gulf of Mexico. Our chosen day turned out to have no swell and fairly low waves of one to two feet. So, it was an uneventful three hour run.

This leg of the Loop found us in real ocean. We watched the forecasts carefully, timing our movement to acceptable wave heights. We quickly moved down the West Coast of Florida and and into The Keys.

Turning into Naples Bay, I was immediately taken with the opulent homes on both sides of the waterway. So many breathtaking homes! The big deal for us in Naples was staying for one night at our friend’s home (thank you Radzins!) and hosting our old college friend, Kevin Melton. At the Radzins’ we got twenty-four hours to relax and catch up. And did a ton of laundry. And, a huge grocery store run. We knew that grocery stores were going to be sparse in the coming month. 

KEY WEST, THE ATLANTIC MILESTONE

Our plan was to take Kevin with us to Key West for four nights—all weather dependent. Our first day was also out in the ocean for a long, seven-hour run. We anchored the first night in Everglades National Park. It turned out that it’s very shallow within the park, so through-boaters like us anchor at deeper holes near the outside edge. We were surrounded by mangroves off in the distance, which was nice, but frankly, we saw little of interest.(1) 

Mike checking in with a fellow Looper about the safe path into Everglades National Park. Shallow waterways!

The next day was also a long run, this time across the gulf to Marathon, Florida. We couldn’t see land for a few hours. We arrived about an hour before sunset which gave us plenty time to have dinner on shore(2) and rest up for a third long run day to Key West.

Considering the rough outer appearances, which was typical for Marathon, the inside was surprisingly fantastic. Talking about the restaurant here—not Mike and Kevin!

Our final long boating day with Kevin was pretty chill, in terms of the waves and wind. What a relief to finally make it, as planned, to Key West. It was exciting to see and place a foot (of the boat) into the Atlantic as we rounded the corner of Key West and then up and into the bay at the downtown tourist area. 

It was hard to put into words how I felt about hitting the Atlantic again. It was about the magnitude of the trip we’ve made. Pride? Amazement? Satisfaction?

We had just two days more with Kevin, so we filled most of our time chatting it up at great, diverse restaurants with drinks in hand. We also took a short, guided tour at The Little Whitehouse, where President Truman used to come during his administration in the 1960s to escape Washington D.C. summer heat.(3)

A first for Mike and Kevin: a bike ride togther! Our marina in Key West had rental bikes. 

I enjoyed simply walking the neighborhoods of Key West, ogling the unique homes. We noticed that here, houses were not on stilts like other parts of the waterways in the South. Homes were tightly packed together and a little smaller than in other Southern tourist towns. 

This lovely, yellow home in Key West was lit up at sunset.

This was one of the larger homes in Key West that I strode by. Also amazing were the imposing trees. Not sure what these were. 

In the dark, the exterior of many homes were completely lit up. So dramatic. 

 

Another charming and surprising aspect of Key West was the colorful roosters and hens that roamed the island. I think there were more roosters, hens and chicks than pigeons! 

And then as suddenly…as Kevin came into our lives…he was gone. He rented a car in Key West and drove to Miami Airport. We appreciated Kevin’s flexible schedule and willingness to endure long travel days with us. It’s really hard to bring guests because of the unknowns of weather and our ability to find a good marina or anchorage. The Looper saying was, “I can target a place or target a date, but not both.” 

BAHIA HONDA STATE PARK

At this point, we were ready to stage our crossing to The Bahamas. We spied some Looper friends at Bahia Honda State Park, so we joined them to wait out nasty winds. We whiled away the hours playing games, going to a community theatre(4) production, and went on some solid hikes. Even though they live far away in Vermont, I hope we get to cross paths with these Looper friends again.

We took some nice walks along the shore at Bahia Honda State Park. So good to stretch our legs when we’re stuck in a marina, waiting out heavy wind.

As expected in a state park, there were campsites. We noticed quite a few of these teardrop types of campers. We were surprised to see many empty primo sites that faced the Atlantic, right up to the beach.

I thought these white ibis birds were pretty cool to look at. You don’t get to see them in California. The dramatic backdrop wasn’t too bad, either.

This bridge with a bite out of it was the original Seven-Mile Bridge in the Keys. Bahia Honda SP ends at the land on the right side of the photo. A swing bridge was removed after the bridge was replaced, creating this hole. The bridge base was part of the original overseas railroad that Henry Flagler built. I learned about the drama behind its construction, maintenance and demise. Hundreds of men died building it. And it was untenable in the regular storms. 

Here was the view of the original car bridge from Bahia Honda. Notice how narrow it was! Imagine passing cars wizzing by from the opposite direction. It made me think about how many fewer people there were living and visiting the Keys in the early 1900s (and in the world, if you think about it). Today’s Seven-Mike bridge is on the right side of the picture. It had two lanes in each direction.

STAGING FOR THE CROSSING TO THE BAHAMAS

Our plan was to work our way up to Key Largo and then cross. A Looper we met at a second visit we made to Marathon organized a small flotilla(5) to cross together. We were a hodge-podge of boaters, but just fine for our purposes. 

The skippers of our flotilla met and shared their sources of information about the waves, wind and best places to go through customs. It looked like we needed to wait just a few days for the planets to align for our crossing.

FOOTNOTES FOR FUN FACT FANS

(1) Everglades National Park was such a non-event that I can say it was merely a footnote. Because we arrived about an hour before sunset, we opted not to lower the dinghy and we never left the boat. The famous mangroves were a couple hundred of feet from us in the known anchorage.

(2) As soon as I stepped on the dock to tie us down, I immediately felt bugs biting. It turns out no-see-ums are a big issue for me. I really react to their bites and would encounter them just one more time—in Bimini, Bahamas. I’ve read that coconut oil repels them. I avoided walking around with bare legs in Marathon and Bimini around sunset, when they are out. I never had issues with no-see-ums on the boat.

(3) According to this website, President Truman traveled to Key West once via presidential yacht, the  Williamsburg. That was his last cruise to Key West. He got sea sick. Thereafter, he went by land or by plane to Key West. The tour guide told us that Truman had a personal piano transported by the presidential yacht. This piano sits in The Little Whitehouse today. I couldn’t verify this on the Internet, but it’s a fun story. You may like reading more about presidential yachts here. It seemed like a good way for Presidents to vacation or host important guests.

(4) I’ve never gone to any community theatre before. It certainly felt like a retired-person-thing-to-do in Marathon. Frankly, the theatre was tiny and kitschy, we may have been the youngest people in the audience—nothing wrong with that—and, we had great big laughs during the comedy we watched. The actresses were definitely senior citizens and amateurs, but the whole production was good enough to keep us occupied for one night in Marathon, Florida.

(5) A flotilla is a group of boats who agree to boat together. Typically, it’s to give each other support if there is an emergency. Flotillas also share information. We sort of did this as well when we crossed overnight from the Florida panhandle to Clearwater, Florida.