Key West and state parks

11-20-14 to 12-6-14

We continued on our journey south to the Florida Keys by taking I 95 and then the Florida Turnpike.

John bought the Sunpass that allowed us to bypass the toll booths and save time going down the turnpike. You put money on the pass and as you pass the sensors it automatically subtracts what you owe. You preload the money and it will also advance you money if you need it, through your charge card. They make is easy for you.

We passed Miami and took the Overseas Highway that runs from south of Miami to Key West. It's a spectacular drive from one Key ( Spanish for little island) to the next with water from the Gulf of Florida on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. Part of the highway is a seven mile bridge that makes easy viewing of the crystal clear emerald water.

Our first state park to visit was Curry Hammock, which is north of the town of Marathon and about half way down to Key West.

We had a great site that was located just a few steps from the Atlantic Ocean beach. Many of the sites are right off the ocean and very private. It would have been easy to launch our kayaks from the beach but we had some rainy weather and high winds and chose to go fishing instead. Mark ad Char, campground hosts from Ohio, took us under their wings and took us fishing for two days. We all caught fish and had a delicious dinner from our catch.

There is a large variety of fish here and you never know what you might catch. We caught Jack Cravells, Yellowtail snapper, red snapper and several other varieties. It was a lot of fun.

After spending a week at Curry Hammock we continued south to about 12 miles north of Key West to spend our Thanksgiving at Blue Water Key RV Resort. It's a lot different from camping in the state parks. Dare I even call it camping. We had a very nice large, paved site with full hookups and a large tiki hut right on the water with a boat dock. It was prefect for entertaining our friends Pete and Bonnie who flew down from Michigan and my sister and her hubby who drove down from Jacksonville.

We ordered a fully cooked turkey from the local Publix market but John and I made the side dishes to go along with the turkey. We even had Key lime pie supplied by Pete and Bonnie. A great time was had by all.

We made several trips into Key West to eat at some of their fabulous restaurants and to walk Duval street and, of course, see the sunset at Mallory Square. The architecture is very unique with Bahamian style homes and businesses. Lots of hurricane shutters, wrap around porches and bright colors.

Thanks to Pete and Bonnie and Jane and Terry for making our Thanksgiving so special. We will fondly remember eating Thanksgiving dinner in our own tiki hut overlooking the blue Atlantic.

After a week at Bluewater Key we next traveled north of Marathon to Long Key SP. Our campsite was just a few feet from the ocean. In fact, every campsite is right on the ocean. It made for easy launching of the kayaks and we enjoyed kayaking up and down the beach and along the mangrove swamps. It was great gliding along quietly and sneaking up on the fish, rays, and birds.

Our favorite thing to do was to get up in the morning and drink our coffee while watching the sun to come up.

There a lots of varieties of tropical birds in and around the CG. It's been fun watching the shore birds race up and down the beach, as well as, the many egrets, herons, ibis, etc. I could do without the occasional 3 to 4 foot iguanas or black snakes that come through our campsite. The iguanas are not indigenous to this area but were probably released from some collector. They are now spreading all over the Keys. We have also seen quite a few Portuguese-man-of-wars washing up on the beach in front of us when there is a strong offshore breeze.

The temperature has been pleasant, in the mid to high 70s, and not very humid. Most days we do not have the air conditioner on, but we have used it on occasion.