Life is Good in the Keys!!

Marathon, Keys, FL

Knights Key RV Resort

 

Finally, we saw alligators!  While driving through the Everglades.  Of course, they were everywhere, all along the sides of the road in ponds, canals and waterways.  They were huge.  Very cool to see.

 

The drive through the Keys to Marathon was beautiful.  The sun was just starting to set.

Our beautiful campsite which backs up right against the beach in a little cove.  #52.  This is a very nice little campground.  It has a nice marina and you can dock your boat (if you had one) right in front of your site.  There is a nice Tiki Bar and a small restaurant.

 

 

Someone asked what the sticker was on Big Red.  We picked this up at Rainbow Springs.  Makes our kayak a little easier to tell apart from others.

 

Off we went to do some paddling in the ocean, tie up the kayak to have some lunch at the pier and paddle back.  We hope to see some Manatee.

Beautiful, easy put in.

I liked the light posts made from heavy chain link.

There were some beautiful homes lining the harbor.  Some had beautiful beaches and their own piers.

The mangroves thickly cover a small island.  There are a couple of entry/exit points if you look closely that lead to an interior lake.  We had a map with GPS coordinates to find your way.  There were many birds hanging out.

In the shallower part of the lake there were lots of fish jumping out of the water all around us.  We paddled right past these horseshoe crabs, busy, er, mating? 

 

Leaving the lake back through another channel in the mangroves, you see it is very narrow.  It's kind of eerie, but was a lot of fun.  We had to break the paddles down and use them as a single.  Even then there were many times we had to pull/push our way along the branches.  It was that tight.  Every now and then there was a larger area you could turn around in.

 

 

Here's what it was like paddling through the Mangrove tunnels.

I know the picture is blurry, but I was relieved to find out that what I at first thought were large spiders crawling around the low hanging branches, were just crabs.

 

We were hungry and looking forward to eating at the dockside restaurant, Burdines, which is on a dock overlooking the harbor.

Finishing our kayakaing just as the sun was setting.

 

There was plenty of time for bike riding too.  We looked forward to riding the old bridge. The Old Seven Mile Bridge was originally called the Overseas Railroad.  After the railroad sustained considerable damage due to the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.  It was then sold to the US Government who refurbished it for automobile use.  Another hurricane caused further damage in 1960.  A new bridge was finished in 1982 leaving the old bridge to be used for fishing piers and access to Pigeon Key.

 

 

Pictures of Pigeon Key, the turn around point.  There were many boats anchored out for fishing.

 

 

An Osprey with a fish in his claws.

Back at Marathon Key, we rode to a small place for lunch and the fish markets.  We had calamari, shrimp and crab.

 

This guy has an interesting passenger.

 

More Pelicans!

 

 

On another kayak trip we were looking for more Manatee, but didn't see any.  Instead, we came upon a little island with lots of iguanas.  Big ones, little ones, green ones and very colorful ones!

This guy was close to 4 feet long!  Not sure I'd want to walk near him!

 

 

Hmm, which house do I want?  Sun's going down, time to get back to land!

Time to drive down to Key West.  This time we walked all around.  All day!  We went to the two places that lay claim to being where Ernest Hemingway did all his writing.

 

   
We popped in to Sloppy Joe's Bar for a drink, then later checked out Captain Tony's.



I love the old wrought iron and how the tree is growing over this building.
  Never did find out what it originally was.

 

We came upon the Key West Rum Distillery was a Coca Cola Bottling Plant and a saloon before that.  Now it distills light and dark rum from Florida sugarcane.  Interesting process, but much too strong for me unless it's mixed with coke or foo foo fruit juices.

 

 

 We walked around the Seaport Boardwalk which is filled with hotels, shops and many restaurants.  Speaking of restaurants, we had a nice lunch of oysters on the half shell at Alonzo's Oyster Bar.  There were many fish you could see swimming around the pier.  There were very large Tarpon (about 4 ft long), Parrot and Snook.

Tarpon

Oysters at Alozo's

 

 

There were so many beautiful homes and churches all around.  The streets are filled with restaurants, bars, bakeries and many souvenir shops.  When you get further south in the Old City, there are many roosters running around.

I loved the dog with deer antlers.  Neither he nor the rooster cared about each other.

Hmm, which way to go?

 

Many hotels claiming to be the southern most located.  They were also beautifully painted and decorated for the holidays.

 

 

Here we are at the tip of the Keys.  We didn't want to wait in the crazy line for a photo, so we took one from the back.

 

The lighthouse was first lit in 1849 and deactivated in 1969.  It was destroyed by a

hurricane in 1846 and rebuilt, standing at 100 feet.

Ernest Hemingway's home.

 

I like the shape of this palm.

Very interesting car.  Covered with shells, bones, fish, sharks and barnacles.

The Bull.  A 3 story bar.  The Bull is an open air bar street level, the Whistle is on the second floor

an on the 3rd floor is the clothing optional Garden of Eden.

 

 

We walked our way back to the boardwalk and took an outside seat to have some dinner and watch the sun drop down into the ocean beyond Key West.  There were many ships sailing about to do the same.  There was also a very large cruise ship docked.

 

 

This is our First Christmas on the Road.  We're have some lights up inside the rig and some outside.  We also have a very small live tree that sits on the coffee table at the far end of the trailer.  We're not sure if we'll keep it or plant it before we leave Florida.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!