Keys are actually further from our home than I had realized. I guess that I had always thought Miami was on the southern tip of the Florida Peninsula, but the keys are actually quite a distance south of Miami. It took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to the first key--Key Largo. If we had wanted to continue on to Key West, that would have been another 90 minute drive!Anyway, we had a blast down there with Raymond, Kendall, John and Carolyn. It was windier than normal, but that didn't stop us from renting jet skis and going out on the choppy water. We also stopped along the seashore and waded around a bit to see what we could find. We caught some crabs and teased the ones that we didn't dare pick up.
Raymond and Kendall left on Wednesday of that week, but we returned to Key Largo on Saturday with John and Carolyn and visited John Pennecamp State Park. The park contains a large coral reef as well as lots of shoreline to swim and explore. Unfortunately, it was windy and poured buckets of rain while we were there, but that didn't deter us from signing up for a boat ride out to another coral reef to see the famous Christ of the Deep statue. It's a large statue of Christ under water in the middle of the coral reef that has been there for years. The boat ride out to the statue was miserable to say the least. As we traveled in the boat we were pummeled with wind, rain, and crashing waves. Everything got soaked and I was afraid to get out my camera and take pictures. Miraculously, once we got to our destination offshore the wind and the rain was reduced to a sprinkle and then eventually stopped altogether.
We were able to snorkel around there for about an hour and see the statue. If you were really good at holding your br
eath you could dive down and touch the statue's hands. You can't touch anywhere else on the statue because there is fire coral growing on it and it's sharp, and it's a protected reef so you're not allowed to touch anything anyway--not even the sand on the bottom of the ocean. After snorkeling and before we headed back to shore, Emilee and I got seasick and were the only ones on the boat to lose our lunch over the side. We were surprised to see scores of fish come up to the surface and help themselves to our second hand peanut butter sandwiches. The captain of the boat joked, "Don't worry, it's the only hot meal those fish ever get."I have to mention that on our way back we stopped at one of those road-side tourist shops that sells local crafts. We went inside and bought a frozen chocolate covered key-lime pie on a stick. That could possible be the most delicious thing that I've ever tasted. (Mom, I thought you would like to try one of those!). Emilee had actually been there before because she had done some work in the area and recommended that we stop there. We were glad we did!
Anyway, we had a lot of fun and definitely want to go back. Here are a few pictures that we took:
1 comment:
Tease the crabs; that sounds like you, Steve. Now let's go home and tease the kitties! Oh, and YOU were afraid to get out YOUR camera, were you? I believe I was the one sheltering it behind my back during that whole wet boat trip, thank you very much!
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