Links for Slideshows: Looe Key Snorkel and Dry Tortugas National Park

Looe Key Snorkel Tour Bahia Honda State Park

Dry Tortugas National Park & Hemingway House in Key West

Enjoy

Goodbye to the Florida Keys

Wiring Project and Curry Hammock State Park

We are having fairly windy weather. The wind keeps boaters on shore and most of the tours and kayak rentals close down.

So, Jim is undertaking a somewhat complicated wiring project to make hitching and unhitching the tow car a little easier. It is a good thing Jim was half way through the project before our son called last night.

It has been our plan to transfer our 14 year old Camry to our son's family. He seeks cars with 100+K on the clock. Let other people absorb that depreciation (this time it was his parents who absorbed it). Our Camry just went over 100K and now he wants it.

Our son's idea is to fly one way to Lost Wages, Nevada for a western vacation tour, then drive the Camry back to their home.

This means Linda has to shop for a car she wants. It is definitely her turn to choose.

If I had realized the wiring project was such a brain teaser and the custody transfer of the Camry was so imminent, I would have continued with the old hitch up. Well, the engineer in me has to take something that works and see how it works.

"If it ain't broken, take it apart anyway to see how it works!"

The brake controller wire is being used to monitor the tow car braking system and the transmission lube pump is using the backup lights wire on one end of the cable and the Aux connection on the other end. It is all wired and ready to test. Whew!

Before testing, we decided to ride bicycles to Curry Hammock State Park. With the wind, it was easy to get here. Now, we have to go back against the wind.

Curry Hammock is known for a real sand beach. Indeed, it is a very nice white sugar sand. However, just a few feet into the water, the floor turns to weeds and muck.

Tomorrow is our last full day in the Keys. We've already decided to go to Sombrero Beach for the fourth time. It is still the best we have found in the Keys.

Photos

Zippy at The Turtle Hospital and Dolphin Research Center

Photos Bahia Honda beach

Bahia Honda Sunset

Bahia Honda State Park and Looe Key

Friday, November 01, 2013

This morning we awoke to the sound of rain on the RV.  After breakfast, I took the garbage out to the dumpster and discovered the humidity was quite high.  This is the first day in over a week that the wind has died down.  Since Jim was hoping to take the snorkel tour to Looe Key from Bahia Honda State Park, we were glad for the calmness of the ocean and Gulf.

We took our bikes with us to Bahia Honda State Park.  We arrived and checked in for the snorkel trip.  Weather was still calm.  We rode bikes around the State Park and walked up to the Henry Flagler Bridge.  Flagler was a big name in the Keys as he put in a railroad all the way to Key West years before there was a road to drive to Key West.  In the photos, you will notice a gap in the bridge.  The hurricane of 1935 shut down the railroad and it was never rebuilt.  The gap is not from the storm, it is a gap to allow taller ships to sail through. The uniqueness of this bridge is that there is a road for cars atop the railroad portion.

After our picnic lunch, it was time to board the snorkel trip.  The State Park has a very large pontoon boat which serves as the snorkel boat.  The boat goes about 18 to 20 mph and it takes about 35 minutes from the bridge to the reef at Looe Key  The captain says it is 8.35 miles. 

Read more about Looe Key at:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looe_Key

Also, have a look at the under water webcams maintained by TEENS4Oceans at:

www.teens4oceans.org

If you look under webcams, you will find Bahia Honda State Park

We pulled up to the anchor buoy at the reef and almost everyone on board exclaimed how clear the water was and how you can see corals that are 40 feet deep.  I must say, this was the best snorkel I have done except for the snorkel days in the South Pacific.  There were thousands of tropical fish.  Schools and schools.  All sorts of corals.  The only disappointment would be the bleaching of the corals.  The State Park allows 1-1/2 hours in the water and I used every minute of it. I was the second one in the water and the last one out when the whistle was blown.  No one made fun of my shorty fins after the trip.  You see, most people use those huge scuba fins.  They get tired really quickly, and they are awkward.  If you’ve gone to scuba school, you learn to train in scuba fins to get good with them and scuba divers need big fins because they have all that gear.

You will have to wait for photos…  Or maybe I’ll get a few posted here and add some more later. 

Back at the dock at 4:30 pm….   Linda and I had snack, then rode our bikes to the other end of the park.  We really liked the campgrounds and beaches.  You have to book the campgrounds on the first available day which is exactly at 12:01 am 11 months before your reservation request.  All sites are booked within minutes after midnight.  The only other way to get a camping spot is to be lucky to get a cancellation or take on a volunteer position. 

Sunset at 6:41 pm.  We watched another sunset and took more sunset photos.  This time, we have the Flagler Bridge in the scene. 

At the RV Homebase, we fired up the Weber grill and cooked our salmon on a cedar plank.  It was delicious.  

These photos are from the Google camera. Just Google Images Looe Key.