Florida Keys

We continued into Hollywood, FL. Most of the south eastern coast of Florida is continuous city, hugging the coast wherever the ground is solid enough to build on. We were visiting some of Thayer's close paragliding friends, Sven and Natasha, whom he hadn't seen for some time, and they enjoyed rehashing good 'ol days from the Lake Chelan fly-ins. Natasha brought out old photos and had many stories to tell. They showed us around the boardwalk/tourist areas, and other great places for people watching. We spent two nights with them, a slight change in plan since our friends from North Dakota got stuck in the blizzard and had to cancel their trip. As usual, it worked out for the best. We had a nice visit with Sven and Natasha and didn't have to brave the wilds of Miami trying to track down Carla and Larry. We were very sorry not to see them however. There is a chance we will meet up in the desert somewhere.

Next up was the Florida Keys! It was driving rain and pleasantly cool as we headed south on to the Keys.

Bridge to the Keys

Key West mansion

One of the boondockers from Virginia Beach put us in touch with their parent, John. He lives at MP 21, that is, 21 miles north of Key West. He is a 90 year old retired Navy nuclear submarine captain. In spare time he has written at least 3 books on the history of the Keys and many articles for magazines and the local newspapers. Still very sharp, John continues to write and volunteer time on the Ingham, a 230 ft. decommissioned USCG ship in Key West. He was also a sailor for many of his civilian years and he cruised the Carribbean and Floridian waterways extensively with his wife. We stayed with him a total of 3 nights, treating him with my "homecooked" meals and we had many lively conversations about sailing, the Navy, submarines and the history of the Keys. Our visits with him were really the highpoint of our Keys stay.

Turning point!

One of many fine schooners for hire.

Two of our days were spent in Key West, tourist mecca of the Keys. The first day we rode our bikes around the town and along the harbor. There are many beautiful old homes with wonderful tropical yards and landscaping. There were also a multitude of little funky shacks and bungalows each having lots of character. In the harbor we discovered an armada of large sailing vessels, trimarans, schooners and such, most of which take tourists out for tours of various lengths of time and providing different activities. Most were of the sunset cruise variety, serving lots of booze and blaring loud music. Key West is really for a younger crowd than we comfortably fit into anymore. If you don't drink much or enjoy partying all night the evening activities are limited.

Having bicycles was definitely the way to go, the downtown streets are narrow and crowded. There are city blocks lined with touristy shops which, after six months on the road, are not very interesting. The one and only one I shopped in was the "$5 for Everything" store. Those of you who best know me can easily imagine my favorite kind of shopping!

Although there for three days, we only spent one night actually in Key West, nervously parking in a residential area that turned out to be just fine. They don't welcome RVs all that much in Key West and have many restrictions on campers or vehicles over 20'. But that didn't stop us from having a good time  and we had a nice dinner at a little Cuban restaurant, a local hangout that John recommended.

...and then the hurricane hit the coast....

The Rialta in a few years.

Key Westian

Key West Arts Center

The next day we met John at the Ingham and after he gave us the introduction to the boat we did a self guided tour. It certainly is a fascinating floating museum and a National Historic Landmark. In 1985, the Ingham became the oldest active duty and most decorated Naval ship serving the U.S. She was decommissioned in 1988 after 52 years of service, having cruised the Bering Sea, escorted 31 convoys across the North Atlantic in WWII, sank a U-Boat, led convoys to the Mediterranean and Africa, served in the Vietnam War, rescuing survivors of sunken boats & ships, and finally served as the command ship in the 7th Fleet in the Pacific. She was involved in a lot of actions and earned many citations and awards.

The mighty Ingham

From the bow

The most interesting thing about the ship is that she has been preserved exactly as she was the day she was decommissioned. The Navy simply walked away, leaving all of the original equipment on board. For Thayer it was a walk down Memory Lane. He recognized much of the same equipment he had used during his years in the Navy. The Ingham is now operated by a struggling non-profit and her future is uncertain. It would be a sad thing to send this museum to the scrap yard, but the city of Key West would like to put a marina in its place on the waterfront. Not many cities can accommodate a ship of this size and it simply cannot generate the funds it needs to stay afloat.

After touring the Ingham we had tickets for the Danger!, a 50 foot sailing schooner that was going to take 13 of us out to the Marine Preserve for some sailing, snorkeling and kayaking. Nick, the captain, and Vic and Joe, the crewmen, were very entertaining and knowledgable. As we sailed out to the preserve Joe gave us an abbreviated account of the history of the Key, from Native Americans to modern times. He was funny and engaging and told some great stories of the Keys (which we were able to flesh out a little more with our own reading of John's books the following day). This Marine Preserve is not on the reef side of the Keys, it is on the gulf side which has a very different ecology. It is shallow and warm with beds of sea grasses in the shallowest areas and sponge beds in the slightly deeper areas. We were able to see quite a few fish, eels, lots of sponges of various shapes and sizes, though it was nothing at all like reef snorkeling. They provided good equipment, wetsuits, fins and snorkel gear that worked.

After snorkeling for a while we launched the kayaks and went for a paddle around a mangrove island. We learned about the 3 kinds of mangroves, how they survive in salt water and the wildlife that depends upon them. The "islands" don't really have any land, just masses of mangrove tree roots. They are the basis for a host of living things, fish, turtles, and gobs of birds. We saw osprey, cormorants, egrets, gulls, and many others that I don't remember or were not identified. The mangroves have clever ways of excreting salt and getting enough air for their roots while standing in 2-3 ft. of saltwater. Afterwards, the crew served snacks, soft drinks, wine and beer the whole afternoon accompanied by their lively banter and cheerful conversations. Being the "quiet" boat in a flotilla of noisy sunset cruise party boats, we cruised until the sun finally sank in a colorful display. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening on the schooner.

Captain Nick receiving some sailing tips

Much cooler after snorkeling!

paddling

Aboard the Danger!

Sunset in Key West

Fearless crew: Joe, Vic, Nick

We stayed at John's that night and planned to leave the next morning but when he invited us to stay for another night we jumped at the chance to have a beach day. Contrary to my preconceived ideas about the Keys, there are very few sandy beaches and even fewer that are open and free to the public. The mangroves dominate the shorelines and the beaches are far and in between. We borrowed several of John's books on the Keys and found Veteran's Beach about 20 miles up the road. It is a small but lovely beach and we had a perfect day and a shady spot to enjoy it. The waters are very shallow so it isn't really a swimming beach but I wandered around finding some fish and several large sea slugs of the non-decoratvie variety. The pelicans were actively diving for fish out beyond the shallows.

Booking and beaching at Veteran's Beach

John, our wonderful host

I read John's book on the history of the Keys while Thayer focused on the sea story collection. The Keys have a colorful history, many cycles of boom and bust, good ideas, bad ideas, greed, shipwrecks, pirates, smugglers & indians, naval battles, struggles for power and control, and people who busted their asses to survive and prosper in a difficult land. With very few fresh water sources but an endless supply of biting flies & bugs, the challenges for any enterprise were significant. Anybody who had a good idea, worked to get it off the ground and began to make a go of it was invariably wiped off the map by a hurricane. Most folks in the early shipping days made their living off of the shipwrecks that occurred very frequently on the eastern and southern reefs, for a time earning them the highest per-capita income in the US. It was a culture of greed and corruption at all levels. Channel markers, current tables and GPS technology has virtually eliminated shipwrecks so tourism is the main source of income for pirates these days.

Turn around point!

Petrified coral at a quarry

After one more night with John we said our fond goodbyes. It seems that we have reached the turning point in our trip – we are almost 6 months into it, now at the farthest distance from Seattle (3,581 miles taking the short-cuts or 12,011 miles the route we came), and have begun heading back in a west and northerly direction. We hope this second half will be as wonderful as the first half has been!