January 8 -- sometimes things just don't work out!

Since we couldn't go on our ferry trip,
Smoky decided to go fishing! (ha, ha)

We set our alarms for 4 a.m. this morning so we would have time to get dressed and on the road to Key West to make the 7 a.m. arrival time for the ferry to the Dry Tortugas. We actually left our apartment at 5:15, just 15 minutes later than we had planned, and we pulled into the parking lot at the ferry terminal right on time.

Just as we started to check in, the captain of the ferry announced to everyone that the seas were very rough this morning. He said that this trip was going to be very difficult even for him. He encouraged us to reschedule or cancel. Smoky talked to him personally and found out the swells were likely going to be between 6 and 10 feet, both going to the Tortugas and returning. He also said that the seas would be too rough (not to mention the chilly weather) for snorkeling. We decided to postpone this trip to a later time.

That left us a whole day in Key West. Smoky's photos do a great job of painting our day.

Breakfast: Oops, no photos of breakfast. We found a coupon in a handout at the ferry terminal for Two Friends Patio Restaurant. The coupon provided free orange juice or key lime pie with an entree. The OJ was fresh squeezed; I wanted that! Smoky picked the key lime pie. My entree consisted of the house special hash browns (which they described this way: "shredded potatoes, cream cheese and cheddar pan fried golden brown with sour cream") topped with smoked salmon, eggs, and wheat toast. Smoky's entry: french toast. Mine was delicious! Two Friends also has a karaoke bar, in case you are interested!

After breakfast, we walked through "Old Town" headed for Ft. Taylor, a sister fort to Ft. Jefferson (located on the Dry Tortugas). On the way, we walked by the Truman White House and saw a number of the facilities (from the outside) used during the Truman administration. Many are privately owned now, but the White House has been used through the years by various Presidents.

Smoky had a great time photographing the bottom level of the fort. I love the colors in the walls, floors, and ceilings, and one can't help but wonder what caused them. Was it simply the activity at the fort during its use, were the walls painted, or has time and moisture caused the variation? I'm not sure we'll ever know. Perhaps a combination of all these and more.

We glanced out of one of the small windows in the lower level and found a flock of blue-winged teal dabbling and feeding in the moat around the back of the fort. Be sure to click the image to see the larger version. These little teals had been startled out of the water and were settling back in when Smoky clicked the shutter.

Reasonably close to the fort is the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, a large facility dedicated to increasing awareness and appreciation of the need to protect and conserve the ecosystem of South Florida. Visiting this center is free (one of the few free places we found in Key West!) and very well done. This center is operated by NOAA and National Marine Sanctuaries. One of their many exhibits was a 3-D movie of various scenes around the Keys, including Ft. Jefferson and the underwater world around the Dry Tortugas. At least we had a small taste of what snorkeling there would have been like!

Key West rooster

After this stop, we headed back toward the busy part of Old Town, looking for a place to have lunch. Our cousin Stephanie had commented last week on Facebook that the roosters in Key West insisted on waking everyone very early in the morning. We found a number of those colorful roosters today as they wandered the streets looking for food. The hens seem to stay better hidden; their mates, however, were on every block and still crowing!

These roosters show their colors all around Key West!

Angel statues decorate the top of a crypt in the old cemetery,
Key West

After lunch we walked several blocks over to the historic Key West cemetery, having seen a particular monument in a brochure about the city that piqued our interest. This cemetery was intriguing. It is built on a parcel of high ground (for Key West) -- 12 ft above sea level! The cemetery dates from the mid 1800s up to the present time. It was most interesting to walk through and look at headstones and crypts. Sometimes old cemeteries have a forgotten feel about them, but not this one. Even the oldest graves felt cared for and revered. Each family also fixed up their plot as they wished, for example, surrounding it with fencing, decorating with angel figurines, hanging beads on statues.

Jewish sector of the old Key West cemetery.

The sign out front had explained that early on there had been separate sections for the Catholics, the Jews, veterans, and several other groups. We found the Jewish section just beyond the monument that had interested us so much. I was intrigued by this Jewish section. Each grave had random stones on top of it, and inside the fence was a large urn of stones that appeared to be placed handy for visitors. Just looking at the urn and the graves with their stones, it seemed to me that visitors must have acknowledged their presence by placing a stone on each grave they visited. It was a beautiful, touching scene.

And last, but not least, here is the marker that we thought was so great. This makes me wonder what the rest of the story was.

At the top of the building was another one that I loved. It reminded me of my mom, who used to say the same thing whenever I thought she was taking a nap.

"I'm just resting my eyes."

Life is good! (enlarge to see
fishing pole!)

On the way out of town, we drove by the beach and couldn't resist stopping for a quick walk. By this time it was late afternoon. The light was beautiful. On the beach near the water was a man stretched out in a chair with his hat pulled down over his eyes. In front of him was a fishing pole, set into the sand, with the line extending out into the surf. He seemed to be saying that it didn't really matter whether he caught anything or not; life was good regardless!

We headed for home with less than an hour left before dark, wondering if we could get to Big Pine Key to see the Key deer again. Just as the sun set, we turned into the drive toward the Key deer refuge. That meant we had about 30 minutes of light left. Right after we crossed onto No Name Key, we spotted four deer going down a side street. Driving further down the road, we pulled over when we saw another doe. As soon as we slowed down, she headed toward the car. Smoky got several really nice photos of her and another female before night fell.

Aren't they beautiful!

I'm including a photo showing a lady who stopped behind us to photograph the deer. See how tiny these deer are!

This photo added to show the size of Key deer -- 24 to 32 in. at the shoulder.

Home at last. Another really nice day in this lovely place.

--Shann

January 7 -- 'tween day

Yesterday was our dolphin adventure and tomorrow is our trip by boat to the Dry Tortugas National Park, so we decided today would be a rest day. That didn't turn out to be quite the case because we also wanted to try the canoe trail in the Long Key State Park, which just happens to be accessible across the lagoon from where we are staying, and today the wind was very light.

It has been a while since we canoed. However, the biggest obstacle was figuring out how to get into the canoe from the dock at low tide! It was a bit tricky, but Smoky managed it. We had found a small take-out point just beyond our driveway, so he picked me up there. In fact, if the path around the house had been wider, we would have tried carrying the canoe to that take out.

Regardless of the drama getting the canoe in the water, we had a great paddle through the mangroves. We saw a number of little fish and jellyfish, and the weather was beautiful. Later I'll post some photos of this trip, so check back. I wish I could tell you we saw a lot of birds, but that wasn't the case.

Tonight we are getting to bed early so that we can get up at 4:30 to drive to Key West to catch the ferry to the Dry Tortugas.

Following up on yesterday's experience with the dolphins, here are a couple of Smoky's photographs.

Both these photos show the dolphins doing one of their learned behaviors. In the first one, the dolphins were skimming across the water like a motor boat. In the second, the dolphin is standing on his head.

--Shann

January 6 -- Dolphin Encounter day!

Reminder: click a photo to see the larger version.

Today was a very special day, one we had been looking forward to for quite a while. We found out about the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key (close to Marathon Key) from Rachel, one of Smoky's first models. He did some portfolio shots for her when she was 14 or 15, and she modeled for his classes at UT until she went away to college. Now she has graduated and works at the Dolphin Research Center as a photographer!

Smoky gets a kiss from Louie.

Smoky saw a Facebook posting of Rachel with one of the dolphins and that started it! When we decided to travel to the Keys, we knew we wanted to visit the Center, so we asked Rachel which of the visitor programs she would recommend. "The Dolphin Encounter," she said, enthusiastically, so we signed up!

We stopped by the DRC a couple of days ago just to get a feel for the facility and find out what to expect. The people who work at this facility -- in the check-in area, as trainers, as photographers -- are all so friendly and helpful. Best of all, each one we talked with that first day and today really care about the animals here. And they are doing a great job. It costs a lot of money to keep even one dolphin; there are about two dozen dolphins in residence, along with sea lions, birds, and some cats and iguanas! Some dolphins were born in the facility; others were rescued from oil spills or other situations that left them stranded and in need of a home. You can read more about the dolphins and the DRC at their website, http://www.dolphins.org/home.

Cayo had a kiss for Shann.

We arrived at the DRC today late morning so that we would have plenty of time to watch other programs and hear more about the dolphins. Our encounter was scheduled for 3 p.m. Smoky and I were among the first ones at the main lagoon waiting for our session to begin!

First we were assigned our dolphins -- Cayo and Louie -- and then we met our trainer, a young man who had come to the DRC right out of college as a trainer. He explained to us a little about how the session would go, emphasizing that the dolphins could choose to participate or not. The choice was theirs. Turning around, we realized that Rachel would be recording our adventure. The dolphin photos on this blog were all taken by Rachel! What a treat.

Smoky and Louie have a splash-off!

Cayo, an 8-year-old female who was born in the facility, is a bottlenose dolphin. Louie, her partner today, is also a bottlenose, who came to DRC as a rescue from the Exxon Gulf of Mexico oil spill. He was quite young when found after the spill. They estimate his age to be around 5 years. Most dolphins in the wild live 25 years or more, and at the center the oldest resident is in his 50s. So our two are just youngsters.

We had a great time interacting with our dolphins. Each encounter participant had a chance to give both dolphins the correct hand motions and words for specific actions, and we also had a dolphin pull. In our case, two of the other dolphins came over for our pull, since Cayo and Louie had taken a break! Taking turns, each participant swam away from the dock. Our trainer gave the dolphins a signal and they swam up, one on each side. We held onto the dorsal fin of each dolphin and enjoyed a fast ride around the training area! Smoky said this was probably the highlight of the encounter. But then again, he loved holding out his hand and having the dolphin swim slowly by so you could rub his back!

Reece and Santini provide the power; we enjoyed the ride!

Having a chance to interact with these curious, intelligent beings was incredible. Thank you Cayo, Louie, Reese, and Santini for this unforgetable experience.

Layton Trail, from Intercoastal Highway
to the Gulf of Mexico

Earlier today Smoky and I walked across the highway to a short trail through the mangroves. The Layton Trail is part of Long Key State Park. Smoky got inspired as we walked down the path and saw a lot of palmettos and other vegetation growing alongside the mangroves.

You can see some of his interpretations:

Palmetto leaves, by Smoky

Back in our room tonight, we are both tired and elated. What a day to remember!

--Shann

January 5 -- our 35th anniversary

Today was a wonderful day. Not only did I get to spend it with my partner of 35 years, we enjoyed a warm, sunny day in the Keys, we saw 7 of the approximately 800 endangered Key deer, we walked along a beautiful sandy beach at Bahia Honda State Park, and we had an absolutely marvelous anniversary dinner at Franks Grill. Now for the details.

We awoke early enough today to see the sunrise from our deck. It's not the best place for sunrise photography, but the early morning was delightful. A great blue heron was fishing just across the lagoon from us in one direction and white pelicans in the other.

Key Deer

After breakfast, we packed a lunch and headed for the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key and No Name Key. Smoky checked with the ranger in the Visitor Center to find out the most likely place to see the deer, which is a subspecies of the Virginia white-tailed deer endemic to the Keys. Of course, he learned that mid-day was not the best time for spotting these little animals, but we had seen them years ago in the middle of the day, and we thought we would try our luck today as well.

Key deer doe in her native habitat

Key deer buck

These diminutive creatures measure from 24 to 36 inches at the shoulder. Breeding season spans September through December, and fawns are born April through June. The young normally weigh between 2 and 4 pounds.

Closeup of a beautiful little doe

Until the 1940s, there was no law against hunting the Key deer, and the result was a diminishing population -- all the way to about 40 deer. Beginning in 1957, the National Key Deer Refuge offered protection for both the deer and their habitat, and today the numbers have increased to around 800.

We drove slowly to the end of the main road on No Name Key and were delighted to see several deer crossing from one side to the other. We learned they like to eat the grass growing along the side of the road, and today they popped out of the vegetation one or two at a time. Unfortunately, some people have fed them through the years, and they have grown accustomed to both cars and people, which means that quite a few are hit by cars every year. Today, in fact, we witnessed a near miss when a doe ran in front of an oncoming truck as we were leaving the key. Fortunately, the deer escaped, but it was a very close call.

She's heading right toward us!

Roadside grass is a favorite meal.

Before we left Big Pine Key, we walked along the Jack C. Watson Nature Trail. Watson was known as the watchful stewart of the key deer. As the manager of the National Key Deer Refuge, he was largely responsible for recovery of these tiny deer from the low numbers in 1947. He was awarded the National Wildlife Federation Conservationist of the Year award in 1973. We were hoping to see some more deer on this trail. Even though we didn't, the trail was interesting.

Sandpipers on Bahia Honda beach

Bahia Honda State Park 

According to Deborah, one of the owners of the place we are staying, Bahia Honda State Park is one of the best snorkeling beaches in the Keys, especially if you don't want to take a dive boat out. We wanted to check out the beach this afternoon, and we found it to be a lovely place. We were there at a good time, just a few hours past low tide, so the beaches were reasonably wide and offered great beach walking. We saw a number of shore birds, too, and that is always fun.

Bahia Honda beach

Reddish egret doing her dance

With the temperature at 81 today, the ocean water felt wonderful. Quite a few people were enjoying the warm temperatures and the sunny day.

Dinner at Frank's Grill

Frank's Grill is a very small Italian restaurant a little off the main highway. It was very highly recommended to us by Deborah, who said to be sure to make reservations, as it fills up quickly at night. Now we understand why! The menu was varied, but we chose from the "specials," explained to us by our waiter. Smoky chose shrimp with penne pasta and pink vodka sauce; I had red snapper with capers. The salad we had first was so fresh and crisp, and the tomatoes were really good, especially for this time of the year. This was a good omen in my book. Our entrees arrived quickly, and they both looked wonderful. Then we tasked them and groaned with pleasure. 

I had thought on first looking at my plate that I would be taking about half of it back home. That was before the first bite. I shared a little with Smoky, and I ate every other bite myself! Smoky's dish had a great flavor, and the shrimp were very large. We had not planned on dessert until dinner turned out to be so delicious. Because it was, we decided that we couldn't pass up dessert. 

Salad at Frank's

My entree--red snapper with capers

We ordered the chocolate mousse, which arrived with a strawberry on each side and decorated with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. We were so eager to taste it that we forgot to take a photograph first! The mousse was layered with a rich chocolate cake. My, my, what a way to end a perfect dinner!

Before our dessert came, our waiter asked how we had enjoyed our dinner. I showed him my plate, on which I had indicated just how I felt, and I asked him to tell the chef how much I liked the dish. He chuckled and said Frank was in the kitchen and would like to hear that. A minute or so later, we heard a laugh from the kitchen as Frank got the news.

My message to Frank, the heart and soul of Frank's Diner!

Before we left, we stopped at the kitchen door to speak with Frank. What a treat to eat this delicious food and meet these really nice folks.

We arrived back at our little dwelling with the light of a full moon guiding our way. What a nice way to end a great day!

--Shann

January 4 -- exploring Long Key

Sunday arrived with sunshine and the warmest temperatures we've had so far. We reminded ourselves that we are on vacation and then took time to enjoy the lovely morning from our little deck. It is so quiet here, and the air feels so nice!

After a leisurely breakfast, we headed south to Long Key State Park to pick up a park map and see if we could get a multi-day admission ticket. Since they didn't offer those, we decided to drive on down the highway and come back to the park after lunch.

Next stop was the Dolphin Research Center. We wanted to ask a few questions before our "Dolphin Encounter" on Tuesday afternoon. We found the Center to be well organized, with enthusiastic staff members who seem to be very dedicated to the care of the dolphins. They were nice enough to let us enter the facility today for a quick look around since we had already scheduled our encounter. We found lots of educational exhibits and a great training area where the dolphins hang out and interact with visitors. Quite a few people were in the center today, learning about dolphins. We watched several groups who were doing the dolphin encounter, and I have to admit it looks quite interesting.

Our lunch spot; great fresh grilled
fish sandwich!

By this time we were pretty hungry. We drove further south, onto Marathon Key, looking for a likely restaurant. After seeing several that were either closed or had virtually empty parking lots, we spotted the Cracked Conch. This appeared to be an old building, and the parking lot had quite a few cars in it. On entering, most of the customers looked to us like locals -- a good sign! Their specialty was breakfast, which was served until 4 pm. The menu had several pages of omelets and other breakfast foods, but there were quite a few lunch and dinner items as well. We decided on the fresh fish sandwich. Smoky had his grilled with mushrooms and cheese on rye; I had mine grilled without the extras. Both were great! The fish fillet was juicy and cooked just right, very fresh and flavorful without too much salt. Yea! We enjoyed every bite.

Smoky enjoyed photographing
the Long Key State Park trail

After lunch, we were well satisfied and thought it might be a good time for a long walk. So we headed back to Long Key State Park and spent the afternoon walking their trail through the mangroves and along the shore. We were keeping an eye out for the rare Key West quail dove, which had been spotted along this trail recently. This bird may have nested in Key West in the early 1800s; today it is rare in the U.S. The closest we got to the bird was a chair parked right in the middle of the trail that must have belonged to one of the bird watchers in the park today.

We marveled at all the types of mangroves. From a distance, they all look the same, but up close we discovered that there are many varieties. In fact, according to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary website, there are more than 80 species! In a few areas, the mangroves had created a canopy over the trail. We spotted a number of small critters, such as fiddler crabs and small lizards (probably brown anole), and some white ibis along the shore.

Beach morning glory

Brown anole

Louisiana heron fishing for dinner, Long Key State Park

After the trail we drove to the park campground. Smoky and I had camped there in our pickup truck with our son many years ago when Jason was just a young boy. The campground still looks the same. This brought back lots of great memories.

We got back to our lodging in time to enjoy the late afternoon light along with a glass of wine and some wonderful Brie. Tomorrow is our 35th anniversary. We are having dinner at Franks Grill on Marathon Key, another place the locals love.

More tomorrow.

--Shann

January 3 -- traveling to Long Key

Today was a travel day. We thought the drive from Florida City to Long Key would take about an hour or hour and a half. That meant we really didn't need to hurry through breakfast or get on the road early. Then we decided to stop at Walmart in Florida City for a few things before heading for the Keys.

Lunch stop

As it turned out, it was lucky for us that we did a little grocery shopping while we were at Walmart. We still felt like we had plenty of time to get to Long Key by 2 for early check in, that is until we actually got into the flow of traffic headed for the Keys. My, my. It seemed as though everyone in Miami had decided to spend the day in the Keys!

Smoky was a mostly patient driver, considering we were in stop and go traffic at its worst! He finally decided to adopt a very slow speed, hoping that this approach would eliminate some of the stops. It actually worked until he got tired of so many cars cutting into the line in front of him.

We had lunch on Key Largo at Hobo's Cafe. Their special was grouper with curried raisin sauce. This dish sounded like it had a lot of potential, but it turned out to be a sandwich, a little fact that somehow slipped right by me. We enjoyed it anyway!

View from common area at our Long Key rental

Back in the car, traffic was moving along a little better overall (not quite so many stops before a go). We were watching the mile markers to make sure we didn't miss our next stop. The Trading Post at MM 81.4 is well known for its key lime pie, and we planned to buy a whole one to enjoy this week. And of course, we had to get some whipped cream to go with it.

Not too far down the road we crossed onto Long Key and found our turn to the studio apartment we are renting for the week. Our host, Deborah, was here greeting renters who were checking in today. She told us the unit we have had been the one she and her husband Jerry used, and then they decided to fix it up and rent it along with the other three units. Since that time, they have had no place to stay!

Common area showing saltwater lagoon and mangroves
in Long Key State Park

Their building is right on a shallow saltwater lagoon. It has a great common area that all the unit's residents can share, complete with outdoor grill and eating area. From this common area, the view across the lagoon is of mangroves in Long Key State Park.

We enjoyed feeding the fish from the built-in dock that borders the common area, and Smoky tried out his GoPro camera, taking underwater video of the fish. Sunset was at 5:47 this evening, so we decided to stay and see whether it might be a good one. We weren't disappointed.

Sunset from our common area

After dinner and a short walk, we took flashlights down to the dock to see what kind of activity we might find after dark. Deborah had told us the manatees come down the lagoon, and we were hoping we might see one.

Well, we didn't see the manatee, but we did spot a large sting ray making its way slowly down the lagoon into the larger, more open water area! That was really exciting.

I forgot to mention that the key lime pie was delicious!

Tomorrow we'll explore around the area a little. Stay tuned. Maybe the manatee will come for a visit.

--Shann