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Floridays

After a night of covert camping beach side at Key West, Tim and I decided it was time to move on.  We’d enjoyed our time in Key West but with no place to stay, it was time to go.  We drove out of town without a plan until 20 miles up the road, we turned right into the Sugarloaf KOA.

Lounging at Zachary Taylor State Park

Hard Day at Work

Here was, without a doubt, the friendliest, cleanest, nicest facility we’d come across in Florida.   Though we thought we’d just spend Wednesday there, we ended up staying here for 3 nights.  On our last evening on Friday, we struck up a conversation with our new neighbors, Kathy and Frank.  They were visiting from DC and had brought their kayaks.  Frank gave us some recommendations of places to see on Saturday.

Poolside Office in Sugarloaf Key

Our KOA Office

We woke up early Saturday eager to explore.  We’d decided we’d rent boats from the nearby Sugarloaf Marina and explore the mangrove creeks that split the Keys in all directions.  We chatted with Frank and they invited us to join them on their paddle, an invitation we eagerly accepted.

The Spider Hole

Kathy and I check to see what is swimming beneath us

Mangrove Exploration

Mangrove Exploration

We started from the Marina with the wind at our back.  We quickly left the main bay and ducked into a small channel cutting through the banks of dense foliage.  This small creek was the entrance into a different world.   The crystal clear water couldn’t hide the many varieties of  fish, starfish, conchs that find a home here.  I broke my paddle down to two pieces in order to steer through a mangrove tunnel that was no wider than my boat.   Tim and I worked to keep up with Frank and Kathy as they pointed out the many varieties of wildlife we passed.

Squeezing through the Spider Hole

Through the Tunnel

Our Friend Frank from Virginia

Frank Leads us Through the Mangroves

After 2 hours of creeks, we broke through to a larger bay.  Here we hugged the mangrove banks on a shark hunt.  Nurse sharks will doze on the bottom of the shallow sand flats allowing a kayaker to glide right over them.   This 5 foot shark not only didn’t mind us there, but seemed curious about our boats and swam to each of us investigating.

Photogenic Nurse Shark

Lazy Nurse Shark

We saw black bull sharks, rays and more nurse sharks as we slowly made our way up the banks.  We can’t thank Frank and Kathy enough for sharing these secret caches of amazing wildlife.

After we pulled our boats out, we said goodbye, packed up Frank and started to make our way north.  We are flying out of Miami on Wednesday for our annual 429-a-palooza trek to Park City so we are slowly making our Keys escape.

We drove up to Marathon Key, the midway point of the Keys, where we planned to go to the 1st Annual Keys Traditional Music Festival.  When we pulled up to the venue, we weren’t impressed.  A tent in the parking lot marked the stage where about 100 folding chairs were set up.   This wasn’t quite what we had in mind, so we turned around, keeping our $30 in our pocket and drove to an interesting restaurant we’d passed on our way.

Porky’s BBQ and Seafood sits right on the water.  When we walked across the uneven floor and sat down next to the pelicans, we knew were in the right place.   Here we ate oysters, ribs and conch fritters, sipped $6.00 pitchers of Key West Ale and listened to Rocketman, a local icon play Jimmy Buffett tunes.

3 hours later, we were still there, watching basketball and making new friends with the locals.  We ended up joining them at the Hurricane, a fun bar that is hidden in plain sight on the Overseas Highway.   We kicked back and listened to another good local band.  We felt like we’d still gotten our share of traditional Keys Music after all.

This morning we woke up after another covert camping escapade, wanting something a little more “permanent”.  We love to be able to camp almost anywhere, but there is something to be said for a place to come home to. And Marathon, though fun for the night, is not a particularly attractive town.   We drove away, passing two gold helmeted motorcyclists sporting matching “Jesus is Lord” leather jackets.  Time to get going.

Fix a Flat on Island Time

Fixing a Flat With an Amazing View

It was one of those days where we had no expectations.  We didn’t have plans or reservations anywhere.   We just decided to see what would come our way.  10 miles outside of Marathon, we noticed some amazing camp sites that were right on the ocean.  We kept driving and came across the entrance for Long Key State Park.  We pulled in to see what we’d find.

Camp on Long Key State Park

Long Key Camping

We couldn’t believe our luck when the host told us that for the first time in weeks, they had a few empty sites.  “This is the best camping in the Keys”, she said.  We agree.  We drove in and parked Frank 10 feet from the Atlantic Ocean under a palm tree.

Toes in the White Sand at Long Key State Park

Floridays

Here we had one of the best days we’ve had on our trip.   We made a delicious crab quesadilla for lunch, went biking on a hard packed sand trail through the hardwood “hammock”, and then grilled over a camp fire 5 feet away from the Atlantic Ocean.   We love Floridays.

Comments (1):

  1. John C

    February 1, 2010 at 6:36 am

    My Oh My! Just color me green!

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