Christmas in the Keys- A Photo Journal

It takes some getting used to - but Christmas in a nice warm climate with bright sunshiny days beckoning you to take a shoeless walk on the beach is NOT such a bad thing. Sure, pine trees and snow make up the traditional look at the holiday, but the reality is that the reason for the season is celebrated everywhere, and lots of those venues have absolutely nothing to do with cold. We have always wanted to celebrate Christmas in the Florida Keys. Now we have done just that and there wasn't so much as a single moment of regret in the decision. In a word, it was GREAT! We would do it again in a heartbeat...and probably will!

As this post is in large part a photo journal, I'll remind readers once again that all the photos can be enjoyed in their actual size by clicking on them to enlarge them. Then simply click your "back" arrow to return to the blog.
Here's the official Christmas photo for 2007:

What did sunset look like where you were on Christmas eve? Did you even notice? Here, sunsets command attention and respect and are all part of the celebration of the day- no matter what the day.
I've tried to organize the "show" into some kind of order, although not a very strict one to be sure. So the first portion tries to share what Christmas looks like in the Keys. Some things stay the same no matter where the season is celebrated. But others take on a flair of their own, combining the theme of the region with the theme of the season. You'll see...




The portion of the wreath (no, not the reef) shown below will have to be enlarged to be appreciated for sure. This was an 8 ft. diameter wreath on the entryway to the hardware store in Key Largo. It's made up of lures, lines, boat parts, and fishing rod parts. By the way, that hardware store is reason enough to go to Key Largo: plenty of everything, fantastic personal service, and a friendly atmosphere that brings you back even if you don't REALLY need anything, just so you can say you were there again today. No large chain retailer will ever ring the death bell for this old fashioned hardware store. They wouldn't stand a chance against the kind of business quality and service they can deliver.
Christmas buccaneers anyone? Pirates of the Caribbean for sure, matie!
Santa gets around by boat down here...or golf cart. Here he is at the Theater of the Sea, where you can swim with dolphins, sting rays, sea lions, or just hang out with a hundred or so cats.
Charter anyone?
OK, so those of us on the road may not have a house to tack lights all over any more but that doesn't mean that decorations are a thing of the past. Dashboards, it turns out, make great display shelves.

At the KOA in Sugarloaf Key at mile marker 20, this work camper gets the chalk drawing activities ready to begin. She was one happy camper, as most all campers are it seems.
No doubt you've seen the Southernmost marker on Key West. But have you ever seen it with a Christmas tree set up there as well. Uh, huh, the southernmost Christmas tree.

No sleighs here. Santa comes and goes on a golf cart in this campground parade.


It's a good thing much of this stuff deflates, otherwise RV'ers would never fit it in.
On Big Pine Key, you can find Rudolph the Red-nosed Key Deer. Talk about an endangered species!
Tropical, underwater Christmas tour. That's the way, uh huh uh huh, I like it!

The Keys are blessed with natural beauty all their own. Some of it is small and some of it is grandiose. This tiny sand crab is, in actuality, less than 1/2 inch across the carapace (shell).
The beaches have a rough look on close examination. They can be tough to walk on. Bring the reef runners- shoes that can get wet, be worn in or out of the water and protect the feet the entire time. Like elsewhere in Florida, once you are in the water, keep the feet up off the bottom or shuffle them along the bottom to avoid stepping on things that are better NOT stepped on, like sting rays. I have, for all my life, found the composite make up of a shell and coral laden beach, to be one of the most splendid of God's creations. They put me at peace when nothing else can do so. You can spend an hour or more just studying a single square foot of this sea bordering terra firma, and see something different in every moment you spend looking. C'mon. Blow it up. Give it a try. I'm giving you this square foot of beach as this year's Christmas present. I hope you can love it even a fraction of what I have come to love it. You,ve nothing to lose and I guarantee you won't ever have to exchange it for another size or color....
Many of the Keys have side by side bridges. The new ones carry the vehicles of today. The old ones carried, for the most part, the trains that ran for only a short time after the railway they said couldn't be built was in fact built by a guy named Flagler. The history of the railway in the Keys is fascinating and a subject all its own. The bridge on the right runs to the old Pigeon Key. A small train more on the order of a string of golf carts made to look like a train still takes you out to this private key to this day.
Locals call them 'bugs" but you know them as spiny or warm-water lobsters. Whatever you call them, they are both delicious and expensive. Grilled or broiled brings out the flavor the best.
Ever go diving with a hammerhead? No! Me neither.
The grounds at Islamorada Fish Company are beautiful. It's a great lunch venue with seating outside under one of the largest tikis in the Keys. They have a retail fish market and the restaurant; both are worth a visit.
We met this charming young lady and her four-legged pal at the tiki hut having some lunch. At most outdoor restaurants in the Keys, pets are allowed, so dogs wearing Santa hats are fairly common, although martini sipping felines are less common and and pretty much limited to Key West and parrots that talk trash while you eat conch fritters are seen now and again.
There's an outfitter next to the Fish Company and inside they have a rebuilt boat that belonged to Hemingway himself. In fact, Hemingway had two boats- the other has fallen into severe disrepair in his beloved Cuba. Because I have always appreciated his writings and his extreme ability as a fisherman, I was a bit taken by awe to set foot on board. I touched his actual typewriter. Goose bumps!
There's no shortage of things to do in the Keys. And fortunately if there isn't a hurricane a blowing you can do just about any of those things whenever you have a mind to.... We did what we could fit in that we hadn't done before, and then revisited some activities and places we love the best. Not much left of this old sign post. Warm water takes a heavy toll on most materials that don't actually belong in the sea.
Lazy man kayaking. It never fails. Despite swearing that I will never get away with it again, I always manage to catch Marilyn off guard long enough to hitch a ride by hanging onto her safety line trailing behind the kayak. The secret is to sneak up quietly and to pick up the line while you are traveling at the same speed as the lead boat. SMOOTH hook up is the key! Never even knew I was there. You see so much and get so close to such marvelous wildlife while kayaking that you just never think that someone would be playing a dirty trick on you. But what can I say: I ride til I can't keep from laughing out loud, which is a dead giveaway.
Our favorite passages are through the mangrove channels. It's quiet, cool and magnificent in there. Because you are approaching in a manner unexpected, you can get exceptionally close to critters, fish, and birds. You can get up close and personal and never even disturb them at all.

In the foreground of the picture below, you can make out the skeletonized remains of a sea turtle's lower shell. It was still a little too ripe to become part of the "collection," so look for it on the beach off Curry State Park near Marathon Key.
Seven mile bridge is perhaps the neatest part of the drive to the lower Keys. The colors of the water are simply amazing and change rapid fire with the angle of the sun, the passing clouds, and the depth and movement of the water and wind. If I were ever sentenced to a commute to work again in my life, I hope this will be the route of passage. My heart soars whenever I am on this piece of road. Sharing the drive with Marilyn and Abby (who strangely seems to love it as well as we do) is surely a blessing I will take whenever I can.

Check out the old railway bridge, both ahead of us as we travel and in the rear view mirror. Many of the old rail bridges have been converted to fishing piers. Nothing goes to waste here. Even if it is only "scenery."
You know by now I love my signs:
We visited the Butterfly Conservatory in Key West. It ranks at the top of Marilyn's list for fun things to see in the Keys, and in fact it is the number one tourist attraction- believe it or not.




The Southernmost mansion in Key West. Just up the beach from the Southernmost marker.
You can see Key West very nicely from a scooter. It makes finding a place to park a whole lot easier. This one is not only vintage- but Key West Classic as well.


Above and below, part of Flagler's rail line. The old trestles are beautiful even in their extreme state of disrepair.
Which came first? The chicken or the Key West. Free range chickens are everywhere in the Keys. I think they were most probably brought in to help get those who had a little bit too much to drink the night before crawl out of bed on time the next morning.
I like to call this photo, "Twin Engines." Think about it!
At our favorite watersports center, Key West Water Tours and Sunset Watersports both at the Hurricane Hole Marina, on the ocean side right before you cross into Key West proper, things are pretty low key, laid back- literally!
Tried a jet ski once when we were in St Lucia. For years we have wanted to take a waverunner tour around the keys and so that is exactly what we did this year.
Who says you can't take your own picture while driving a jet ski? Looks like our series of shots from the 4-D movie theaters, only slightly less goofy.
Guide for the day was Keith, shown here. It was a lucky day for us. We were the only ones signed up for the tour at that hour (it's two hour tour, Gilligan). The weather and water conditions were perfect, which is not always the case this time of year. Keith is a great guy with a wonderful control of making a tour what you want it to be. He threw in a bunch of stops he seldom ever does because we were by ourselves and had demonstrated control over the "vehicle" even at speeds up to 53 mph. He also turned out to be an excellent photographer and used our water camera to get a few shots of us for the old blog that made us really happy! Keith said if he made the blog, his mama would be proud of him. Mama, you should be, the boy done good!
It was the first time we ever visited the Southernmost marker by water. Nice photo, Keith.

Behind us in the background is the 109 foot long sailing vessel "Legacy" which has been aground on the reef some five miles out of the harbor ever since Hurricane Wilma danced all over the waters around Key West. Keith took us out there to get a good look at it- not a stop on the regular tour at all. It pushed the envelope a tad on the offshore limitations for operating a jet ski, but oh, boy, what a nice addition to the trip. Nice photo Keith.
Below is the small houseboat community set up for the express purpose of housing the crew of Legacy, who are still in the process of getting the ship off the reef. This is set up in proximity to the vessel so the work can be on-going. I wouldn't mind living there myself- at least not when the weather was really good like it was on this day. Nice photo, Greg.
Coming back into the water sports basin, we passed "Mount Trashmore." This sanitary landfill was set up to accept the garbage from Key West. Its lifespan was cut way short by how fast it filled up as the lower keys developed faster than anyone thought they would. These days everything has to be carried back up to Miami. Don't ask me where it goes from there. I'm afraid to know....
Next day after the wave runner tour we took mini speedboats out for a loop around the Key as well. Again a guided tour but every one drives their own boat.
First stop was at the submarine pens, carved into the deep coral to hide as many as half a dozen subs in the normally very shallow waters around the Key. The government never did use them, but they sure make a neat stop on the tour, and at a depth of 80 feet or so, they are cool to swim and dive in, or to swing over with a rope and just "drop in."
Go Greg go. Tarzan yell and all!
Then we went out into the Atlantic a couple miles and had ourselves a snorkel around a nice cluster of coral heads. Plenty of fish, especially the hogfish which looked like dinner to me, sea fans, brain corals, the usual for a shallow water reef. Considering the pressure on a reef this close to shore it really was not in such bad shape as I had imagined it would be. A few nice big jelly fish in the area made the venture a bit more of a challenge, but nothing we are not used to dealing with from all our time diving in Honduras and elsewhere. You can get some sense of the distance off shore for the dive by looking at the Key West shoreline in the upper right of the photo.
Never did find the time or the nerve to go para sailing...but there's always the next time...and some new adventure to look forward to....
Merry Christmas, everybody!

Global "Melting"

Certainly reasonable people can agree to disagree on whether or not there is a true "Global Warming," complete with all the natural, historical, political and geographical implications. So whether or not you wish to subscribe to the current and common opinions concerning the matter, perhaps you would be willing to agree that there is some serious melting going on around much of the world where we would probably all rather the melting would stop. Not that any of us thinks the world should stand still or cease and desist on its march toward exciting change heading into the future. But, hey, save the Polar Bears, the Penguins, and maintain ocean levels that don't necessarily re-submerge Florida back into another era all together- you get the idea.

So what's really to blame for all the recognized melting that is, undeniably, taking place? It turns out that, once again, Florida is in the hot seat. We were shocked and horrified to find out that apparently, grocery stores in Florida, particularly those in the Keys, are importing gigantic chunks of glacial material from Alaska so that they can be melted in attractive machines designed to sell the pure water that results to unsuspecting patrons in the beverage isle. Such a machine was discovered in the Publix store in Key Largo on December 15, 2007. At the current rate of the increasing popularity of these machines, the world's ice caps will be gone within.....well, .....sometime sooner rather than later.

Old Fossils

You can catch a glimpse of Old Florida when you stay along the Peace River in Wauchula Thousand Trails. Cattle, Oranges and big Live Oak trees just full of hanging Spanish moss, often enshrouded in the early morning fog and mist along the river abound in the area. It's a sleepy little place really. But perfect for one of our favorite activities - playing in the water. No, not kite boarding, surfing, jet skiing- not that kind of sport. Instead, we hooked up with Jane, seen below, queen of the river fossil hunters at the campground. A very knowledgeable and friendly young woman, Jane takes groups three times a week to sift through the river gravel in the hopes of finding fossilized remains of some pretty amazing animals that once inhabited the area, long before there was the land mass of Florida as we know it today. Sounds tricky huh? Not really. It would be much harder NOT to find some of these fossils than it is to find them. The trick is in knowing what you are looking for. And to take care of that mission, Jane totes a large tackle box full of specimens she has pulled from the river over the last three years. It's an amazing collection! My all time favorite- shark's teeth, are in abundance here. But there are much more exotic things to find as well- all fossilized: turtle shells, camel and three-toed horse teeth. mammoth and mastodon tusks and teeth, snake vertebrae, sting ray barbs, alligator scutes, antlers- and a whole lot more. We went on one dig with Jane and another on our own. Had plenty of fun and good success as you can see from the pictures. All of the fossils displayed we found entirely by ourselves, with one noteworthy exception. I had been trying hard to come up with a horse tooth on my own, but wasn't lucky enough to work the right hole. At the end of the day, Jane made us a gift of one of the three she found that day. Very neat!

As much fun later as they are to find....
Teeth, bones, scutes, scales, spines, barbs, shells, bones and other neat stuff from two days of digging in the river bed. Fossilized sand dollar parts upper right in photo below
Horse tooth, above lower center, and enlarged below. Click on any photo to enlarge. Back arrow to return to blog.
A handful of sting ray barbs....
a couple snake vertebrae...
Extinct species of Mako shark teeth...

After two weeks at the Peace River, time to "chill" in the Florida Keys. Fiesta Key plays host to our first stop. The coach is backed right up the water's edge- about 30 inches in from the seawall. It would not be a good place to fail to chock the wheels. Some sunning, some poking around a few shops, some kayaking, a sunset or two make this a nice place to catch your breath.
It's warm enough to run the air conditioners, but why would you want to. At night, especially, with all the windows open, the cooling breezes blow through the coach and give you a feel as close as you can get to being in the tropics without the headaches that come along with all of that. The salt in the air has a smell all its own. It's always a welcome memory. For us, the Keys are a place to recharge the batteries of the soul. We'll be down here for a month more or less before heading back to mainland Florida in January. There is always a temptation to stay here. But there is so much more to do that needs doing elsewhere.
December 10. That is very early in the tourist season for the Keys. It's nice to be here this far in advance of Christmas...we pretty much have the campground to ourselves. A few others gather at sunset for the evening ritual...and the great watch for the elusive "green flash" the second of sunset.
It's far enough south to see tropical fish in the water. At water's edge where we are we have seem Trunk fish, Parrot fish, barracudas, jacks, snappers, sergeant-majors and many more. The spiny lobster and shrimp seem to be everywhere after dark. Their friends, the jellyfish, are saving a few of them from being eaten (by me) by being present is large numbers right now. Tropical is the theme everywhere else as evidenced by the wind workers below.

Next stop: Key Largo, then Curry State Park on Marathon Key, then Sugarloaf Key, just 20 miles north of Key West. It's a TOUGH month of travel to be sure, but hey, someone's got to do it....

Hiding From Snow

With the house sold and 99% of the b/s that goes with that out of the way, we settled somewhat into the mission for the winter- hiding out from the snow. At the time of this writing, that turns out to be not such a bad idea as new England has 20 inches or so on the ground in places and the west coast where son Derek lives has been hammered by a 100 year storm complete with heavy snow, lots of rain, and major flooding with as much as 9 feet of water on top of as much as a 20 mile stretch of major highway there near Seattle. Yuk. All of which makes Florida in the high seventies and low eighties under clear skies kind of nice. Recent hurricanes are now just a memory. And since human memory has serious limitations (we're good at forgetting what we don't wish to remember), I suppose people will always seek the comfort of the Florida sun in the winter.

Much of our "hiding" time has actually been devoted to reorganization. Reorganization of the coach. Of the car. Of our lives now that the house is a goner. It's an interesting challenge. Figure out what you really need, what you really want. Then figure out where to put it, where to store it. And make it all so that changes can be accommodated as need be. Flexibility is a key aspect of life on the road, and one that requires constant attention and, well, flexibility. Just about finished now are the adjustments to bill paying, year end paperwork, changes in insurance necessities. Our more than ample (most months) supply of wireless air minutes ran short last month for the very first time; that's how much time was required to be on the phone(s) on a daily basis to get things switched from a home base to a "homeless" base.

But while there was plenty of work to get done, there is always a little time to play as well and so here is a look at some of the fun stuff we do in between work missions:

A Day At The Beach: Caspersen Beach Park, located just south of Venice Beach on the Gulf Coast

The beach and park are widely known as a great place to swim, surf and sun bathe, but it is also a fantastic place to dig, pick, rake, and sift for shark's teeth. The offshore reefs are constantly coughing up fossilized teeth as the reef erodes and the storms wash the teeth to the shore. It's been a favorite pastimes of mine since the days when my family traveled to Scientist Cliffs on the Chesapeake Bay for much the same activity. I have thousands of teeth in my collection by now. Hey, a guy can never have enough teeth! But on this trip we found a creature of a different color. This large (lobster size) critter is a hermit crab. He ditched his shell (temporary housing) of a good size conch shell and was off to find a new one. There were some divers in the area who were helping him with the process. It's rare to see hermits outside the shell- but pretty cool!

On the Chesapeake, we used to stand in the surf with our backs to the sea and let the water do all the work washing the teeth up while we just looked down and grabbed them as they passed between our feet. But down here, we rake them in a wire scoop, sift them in the salt water and then spread them out of the beach to pick and choose and separate. Below, I'm the raker...

and Marilyn is the picker.

We often stop for the day after a hundred teeth or so. The sun can get pretty hot even this time of year and sunburn is NOT your friend....There are lots of types of sharks in the sea. There are still more that are now extinct- some of whom have left a few of their teeth behind for us to collect. This collection from the day at the beach is representative of several types of sharks. The largest and long, narrow ones are from the Sand Tiger. That large one to the left is from a regular tiger shark. There are also some dusky, bull, and lemon shark teeth in the mix. You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it to take a better look if you like. Clicking your back arrow always brings you back to the blog. There's a quarter for reference.

I had a Day On The Gulf as well. Captain Larry, at the helm, and mate Jim made the trip. Bobber Boy Rick was on a business trip to Arkansas. It's a great fishing team. We actually always catch fish and we always have a good time doing it. Every day on the water is different. You never know what the Gulf will offer up on any given day. Big sharks (they KEEP their teeth), Grouper, Cobia, Red Fish, Snook, Jacks, Snapper. Those of you who followed the trip to Alaska will know that there are no Halibut in Florida- but they do have some gigantic sting rays which are similar in size and shape to some extent and we sure hooked a bunch of them on this trip. I'm guessing the smallest were in the 50 pound range and the largest more like 70. What's fun about them is that they LOOK a bit like halibut as they are coming up off the bottom to the boat. They are edible, but these guys went back about their merry business none the worse for wear.

A word about the Captain, alias "Lucky Larry". Fishing with the guy is great! But I'm suggesting that none of you play cards with him. Ever. He wins. Not just some of the time. All of the time. No, he doesn't cheat- he's just either that good OR that lucky; hence, the name. And speaking of lucky, if Larry has purchased a lottery ticket for the week already, there is absolutely no reason for you to go out and get one.....He will win that too. Marilyn and I once went to a dance with a group of our friends, but Larry and Carol were out of town so could not go along. There were ten raffle prizes to be given away for the event. I suggested as a joke that we each buy a ticket for ourself and one for Larry so we could tell him when he got back that for once he did not win. However, the joke was on us, as Larry won two of the ten prizes even though he himself never even bought a ticket and was not even there that night. Some people have all the luck!

Having Jim on board your boat adds a lot to the mix. Not only is he a million laughs a minute, he can fix anything with an engine. On more than one occasion, he made miraculous repairs to our I/O that got us back to the dock when all odds were against it. He can even get engines that won't run -running temporarily without parts. Now that's a skill you like to have on board when you're fishing up to 25 miles off shore for sure.

As for the missing Rickster, man that guy can sing dirty sailor songs!

A day of Rays:


What hiding from snow? Marilyn defrosted the freezer and made a snowball for Abby on a hot day in Punta Gorda. Given the choice between the snowball and the "antler chew", the snowball comes in first with her every time. Not what I would expect from a dog born in Honduras, but that's the way it is. I guess I really shouldn't be all that surprised. As a pup on Roatan, she used to take ice cubes out of her bowl and try to bury them for later...
In Alaska, we had tried to get the opportunity to smoke our own fish. And while we might have been able to give it a try a time or two- it just didn't work out the way we had hoped. So now back here, with a freezer full of fish and clams, we got ourselves an early (and ONLY) Christmas present- an electric smoker, just the right size to fit in to the coach "basement." On our first try, we made some hickory smoked salmon, halibut and almonds. Maybe a tad dry, but excellent flavor none-the-less and surely good enough to be really looking forward to the next batch once this one gets gobbled up.
A couple weeks at Peace River has helped us settle back into some kind of Florida routine. A river walk in the morning in the early fog is a wonderful experience. Just keep eyes open for gators and snakes per signs posted. (It really is no big deal- just a precaution on the part of the Preserve).

Peace River Still Life! A noisy squirrel in a Live Oak, a spider web (can you say "Charlotte's"), some fog and a bit of Spanish moss.
Like all places we have been, each has a beauty all of its own. Peace River Preserve is loaded with Classic Florida images.

On The Slide Show...

Boy, what a trip! We had a thrilling re-visit to Chicken Gold Camp, Chicken, Alaska, by visiting the web site for the gold camp and viewing the slide show. To see what we saw, namely the two of us prospecting for and showing off our gold, click on the link which will take you to Chicken Gold Camp Site and then click on the "slide show" on the navigation menu- it's easy to do. Great to see friends made at the camp- all of whom had more gold to show off than we did, but then they've been at it a tad longer than we have and there is a learning curve (as well as some luck) involved in the prospecting for sure.
It's warm in Florida as I write this and that feels nice. We are getting things done that need to get taken care of and that feels good. But we are only here a short time and again we are missing being on the road and for sure we are missing Alaska and all the truly great individuals we met there, regardless of where they may have headed to "hibernate" for the winter. Spring will always come again....

Mike and Lou sent some pics of what Chicken looks like NOW. Very different from what it looked like in August when we were there, although it was already getting pretty chilly at night even then. Here are a couple of them to share with you. Beautiful is beautiful- regardless of temperature.



No, it's not ice on the road. It's Chicken Creek...