Where’s the Advil – May 16-17, 2013

It makes no sense to pay extra for a campsite on the water and then go out everyday.  That was my rationale for staying close to home yesterday and it must have sounded like a good idea because Jim didn’t disagree.  So that’s what we did.  We read and slept and read some more.  Then we walked down to the restaurant on premise and had conch fritters and conch chowder.  Then we took a run to the local Publix for some baby back ribs and read and slept some more.

I guess I was saving up my energy for today and boy did I need it.    We started the day with a two hour kayak trip around the cove.  There was no wind and the water was like glass with only the current to deal with and that wasn’t bad.  The cove is full of mangrove islands and one of the largest has a stream that cuts through it.  We found the opening and went into the mangroves for a short distance.  It was really different to actually be in the middle like that.

Then we found a section that formed a secluded area.  It was fairly shallow and I could see things moving at the bottom.  They looked like 4 inch snowflakes with a striped band around the bottom.  Suddenly, I noticed the band was opening and closing and it turned out that what I was seeing was a form of jellyfish that liked the seclusion of this area.  There were hundreds of them.  Once we were back in the main cove we were joined by a stingray swimming around us.  By now our time was coming to an end so we headed back in.There really is a stingray in the water, the camera could not pick it up.This is our campsite from the water

After lunch we put our bikes on the truck and went to Bahia Honda State Park on Bahia Honda Key.  This has to be the prettiest State Park in Florida.

The closest cove is on the west side of the key and the one on the top of pictures east side or the Atlantic Ocean.
The park is 524 acres with extensive white sand beaches almost all around the island.  You can bike the full length of the island on a paved road and explore the beaches on the Gulf side as well as on the ocean side, which of course, we did.  There are 80 campsites and 5 cabins, fishing, snorkeling, swimming and just everything you would want in a State Park.

Most of the vegetation on the island was blown here by the hurricane winds or carried by the birds from the Carribean and there are some really unique plants.  One in particular that caught our attention was the Spider Lily.

The last thing we did was to walk on the remnant of the Flagler Bridge that was built in 1912 to take the railroad to Key West.  During its hay day, Key West was the largest city in Florida and the wealthiest per capita in the U.S. mostly because of the access afforded by the railroad.  In 1938 the bridge was converted to a automobile bridge by creating a roadway on top of the train bridge because the track portion was too narrow for two lanes of car traffic.

A quick dip in the ocean to cool off and I was done!  Take me home, let me take a shower and take me out to eat before I fall asleep.