The Turtle Hospital

We woke up at 7:45 after a good night's sleep.  Bill picked up two "grab and go" breakfasts from the office...oatmeal, muffin, yogurt, juice and an orange.  We ate some of it while getting ready.  I called The Turtle Hospital and made reservations for a tour at 11:00.  We left at 9:40 (57*), went to McDonalds for breakfast, then rode around until 10:45, when we pulled into the hospital parking lot.   The 90 minute, $30 tour was very interesting and informative!  Once again, we took too many pictures.

This is a green turtle with fibropappilloma tumors on it's face.  They are caused by a herpes-like virus.  Luckily, they are treatable; however, the turtle will stay at the hospital for several months to ensure that the tumors don't grow on it's internal organs once it's cleared up on the outside. 

The hospital was once a roadside hotel, offering a salt water swimming pool, which was open to the seawater and the contents rose and fell with the current.  

The pool still does that and is now a recuperation area for several turtles.  Several of these suffer from "Bubble Butt Syndrome".  This condition is caused when the turtle receives a boat strike to it's shell, causing air pockets beneath the shell, which prevent it from being able to dive, therefore it can only float.

One of these turtles arrived at The Turtle Hospital in March, 1989 and is appropriately named "Bubble Butt".  There is no cure but recently they have discovered that they can secure weights to the turtle's shell, so it can dive.  However, a turtle sheds it's shell (scutes) a few times a year and it would shed the weights, too, so even though it can dive, it can't be released.

This is my best picture (it might actually be Bill's).  This turtle has "butterfly bandaids" on it's shell, holding it together until it heals.  

A lovely view from the back of The Turtle Hospital, which I'm sure is enjoyed by the staff that live on the premises, in the former motel rooms.

Because it's cool, here's some turtle bones ;o)

I don't generally make purchases at places we stop and tour but I did like this magnet, so I gave it a home.

It's 1:00 and time for lunch!  We got burgers at Wendy's and found a spot at the end of a residential road, parked and ate in the truck.  63* and windy from the north, not really nice enough to eat outside.

The View at Lunch

While "The View at Lunch" looks lovely, it's quite deceiving...  This is the view when I turn to the left.

Pretty depressing ;o(

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;o)

Tiny Little Key Deer

Big Pine Key is not only the home of Bahia Honda State Park but also The National Key Deer Refuge.  On our way to see these tiny little deer, we stumbled upon the Blue Hole.   

Photo by Marc Averette - (commons.wikimedia.org)

This was originally excavated as a limestone quarry and many of the original roads were built using crushed limestone from this quarry.  It is literally a big hole, filled with freshwater, which floats on top of the underlying saltwater.  

We walked the 225 ft to the observation platform, which offered a nice view of the Hole, however I didn't think to take any photos, which is why I used the one I found online by Mr. Averette.  We didn't see ANY wildlife...no alligators, no fish, no birds...no nothing.  We did, however, come across this nice bench, dedicated to Ranger Bell.  What a thoughtful "thank you" for a job well done. ;o)

We were back to the truck around 3:00 and although we drove around for awhile, looking for deer, we were a bit too early.  They generally come out of the bruch closer to sunset, so we went back to Bahia Honda and walked along the beach for awhile.

After killing an hour or so at the beach, we drove to a local grocery store to pick up something for dinner.  A weird thing about the Keys is that chickens are allowed to run wild and they are protected.  These were in the parking lot of the grocery store.

The only information I can find is that they are called Gypsy Chickens and are descendants of jungle fowl that originated in Cuba and the Caribbean islands.  While they were originally used for food, many of them escaped and others were turned loose when cock fighting became illegal.  

We took our sandwishes, drove down the main road into the refuge and parked, anxiously waiting for the deer to magically appear.  They didn't come out in large groups, but we spotted a couple walking along the side of the road, munching away on the grass, pretty much oblivious to us.  

They really aren't much larger than a big dog.  This one came walking toward us, crossed in front of the truck and continued on it's way down the road.  It was so cool to see them.  We stayed awhile, then headed back, taking a detour through a neighborhood area.  This one came out of the woods, stood right next to the truck and just stared at us.  I actually thought I could have gotten out and petted it but that is highly frowned upon.

Key Deer are the smallest species of white-tailed deer, which are found throughout much of North America.  They are unique to the Lower Florida Keys and are found no where else in the world.  They were hunted to near extinction before the National Key Deer Refuge was founded in 1957.  Their current population is estimated between 700-800 and they continue to be listed as a federally endangered species.

We drove around the corner and a group of five or six came out of the woods and passed in front of us.  I would not want to be trying to grow anything around here.

It was a beautiful sunset across the scrub and wetland.

Florida is so flat, with great wide open skies!  It's definitely one of the many things I love about the state.

We called it a day and drove back over the 7 mile bridge to our motel on Marathon Key.  Tomorrow...Key West!

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

The 7 Mile Bridge

After lunch we headed over the 7 mile bridge, which is "located at the very west end of the City of Marathon...  It is a famous bridge in the Florida Keys and connects the Middle Keys to the Lower Keys and is among the longest bridges in existence when it was built."  

"The Old Seven was originally constructed in early 1900 as part of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway's Key West Extension, also known as the Overseas Railroad."    It was also called "Flagler's Folly" because everyone thought he was crazy!

It's a beautiful ride, with the Atlantic on one side and the Gulf on the other.  

The old, original bridge is still there, running alongside the new bridge.  

The missing section was a 253' swinging span that would swing open to allow boats to pass through.  You can read a good history of the bridge here and it's very interesting.

Different sections of the bridge were made differently, depending on the depth of the water.

There's a tree growing in the bridge

Part of the bridge was made with an element from Germany that actually compacts and grows stronger as it ages, which is why the bridge is still standing.  Unfortunately, the entire amount of this element was used and it no longer exists, which is why newer bridges just don't last as long.  Concrete deteriorates as it ages...

You can see that it was built to carry trains.  It was later transformed into a highway for cars.

It's the longest bridge connecting the Keys to one another and it's DARK at night!!!

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

 

Bahia Honda State Park

Since we only have two full day in the Keys, we are filling each one up as best we can.  After visiting The Turtle Hospital and driving over the 7 Mile Bridge, we stopped at Bahia Honda State Park.

Wow!  This place is spectacular!  The sand is pearly white, the water is shallow and the color is absolutely amazing.

Loggerhead Beach on the Atlantic 

This is one of those places that pictures cannot due justice.

One of the signs in the park indicated that several of the plants that grow here are native to islands off the coast and seeds were brought here, either by birds or by the wind.  One of those plants is the Sea Lavender, which grows along the shore and is considered endangered.  

We took a walk up to the Old Bahia Honda Bridge, which gave us great views of both sides of the park.

The Gulf waters

The Atlantic Ocean

It's easier if you read about the bridge, rather than me trying to tell you about it ;o)

This is the section we walked up from the beach.

The view is really breathtaking!

From here we drove to see the Key Deer.  I'll write about that next time.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Heading Further South

My bucket list for "things to do in FL without a dog" ;o( included Disney World and The Keys.  After researching how much three days in Disney would cost...nearly $1600!!! coupled with the fact that neither of us enjoys being around a bunch of kids, fighting our way through large crowds or waiting in long lines, we chose The Keys.  

It was damn cold this morning...30*. WTH?!  I set an alarm but we didn't get up till nearly 8:00.  We ate breakfast at home and were on the road to Marathon Key by 10:30.  It had warmed up to 48*.  We stopped at McDonalds for coffees (Mercer's is closed on Sunday) and decided the cinnamon rolls looked good, so we each got one.  

They were warm and gooey but kind of dry.  We drove the short distance to Bayshore Park and ate them in the truck, along the harbor.  

Back on the road at 11:00.

We stopped at 12:35 to use the bathroom at a gas station located at the intersection of Rt 41 and Rt 29; not a cloud in the sky, 57*.  At 1:02 we stopped at the Oasis Visitor's Center in Everglades National Park to see the alligators.  We took waaaay too many pictures of alligators, so I won't bore you with all of them.

Literally "just hanging out"

There's a nice boardwalk overlooking the end of a canal, filled with all kinds of fish, big and small.  There's plenty for these guys to eat.  We stayed for about 30 minutes, then continued south.

We were back on the road at 1:37 (a whole 59*).  Traveling rhrough the outskirts of Miami was interesting, with an abundance of farms and nurseries.  

We stopped in a McDonalds inTavernier at 3:36 to get iced coffees, a snack and use the bathroom, which only took us 20 minutes.  

Our destination was the Coconut Cay Resort & Marina on Marathon Key, where we arrived at 4:49, room #41.  It was surprisingly larger than we expected! 

Although our room was located in the front, facing the Overseas Highway, it was quiet.  We brought in our things and headed back out at 5:15 in search of Sunset Park, which was only 10 minutes away.  We had no trouble finding parking and got a front row seat to watch the sunset. 

As you can see for yourself...there weren't any clouds, which means there was no "after show".  We were back in the truck by 6:11 and both a bit chilly.  The temp was only 57* and it was breezy.  Delightful never-the-less.

We drove up and down the main drag looking for a place to have dinner, finally deciding on Triton Seafood.  Not because we wanted seafood but because it was the only place we found that was open.  It was quite pricey but we ordered pizza, which was reasonable, and we had leftovers.  

We got back to our motel at 7:50 and spent the rest of the evening watching football.

Day one of our Keys visit was in the books.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Another New Punta Gorda Mural

We walked from Fisherman's Village to Laishley Park today and came across this new mural, painted by Keith Goodson, 2022.

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)