The husband and I booked this vacation last year since we usually go to Florida every year in February. This time I told him I saw an ad for Dry Tortugas National Park located 70 miles from downtown Key West and he loved the idea of a fort in the middle of the ocean. So we decided to go! We stayed at the Barbary Beach House but now known as Margaritaville Beach House. It was right across Smathers Beach where they have kayaking, SUPs, and Hobie Cats. I persuaded the husband to take advantage of the heat and go kayaking. The next day it was raining and we decided to go to the Hemingway house after breakfast. We took the tour and learned about Hemingway. He had 4 wives, survived 2 plane crashes, was in WW1, the Spanish Civil War, WW2, lived in Cuba, was treated with electroconvulsive therapy, and committed suicide. What a life! He also won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the Nobel Prize in Literature for The Old Man and the Sea, which I re-read in bed! I only can dream about a life like this. We loved all the cats that live there! Hemingway was given a 6 toe cat by a captain. The cat's name was Snow White and some of the cats living in the house are her descendants. These are polydactyl cats and apparently there are 58 of them, all named after famous people. Our tour guide knew all the names of the cats and she said they are all well taken care of. The next day we were supposed to go to Dry Tortugas, but it was very windy and the captain said there was no snorkeling allowed due to poor visibility. He also said if you were prone to motion sickness, you shouldn't go due to the 6-8 foot waves, so we didn't! I am very sensitive to motion sickness and I carry ginger and Dramamine with me. Both the husband and I were sad and upset because we based this Florida trip around this whole day excursion. Instead we went to Ft. Zachary Taylor Historic State Park (the poor man's Dry Tortugas). Luckily we were granted a full refund but couldn't reschedule due to it being sold out the next day. We walked from the Dry Tortugas Ferry down to the the State Park which was about 1.3 miles away. We saw a lot of beautiful houses down Southard Street and also went through the Truman Annex where you can rent their condos. The annex was full of lush landscaping and pastel colored houses with white picket fences. It was very picturesque. The husband and I finally made it to the beach of Ft. Zachary Taylor and there was no one around. Well it was 8 :30 am in the morning. The fort was constructed in 1845 to defend the South after the war of 1812. We didn't go on the tour, but we did read the signs and plaques along the way. Our favorite part was the cannons. The last day we went kayaking in the mangroves tunnels. I booked a 2 hour excursion with Lazy Dog Adventures and they picked us up. We saw starfish, jellyfish, iguanas, birds, nurse sharks, sea grass, sponges and the ink squirting sea hare. But no manatees! Sea hares' ink take on a purple hue, due to a result of eating red algae and seaweed. They apparently smell like flowers and are also hermaphrodites. I never heard of this mollusk, but it was fun to gawk at. The best part of the trip was going through the mangrove tunnels. It amazes me how people find these tunnels. It was creepy and magical at the same time. We went through 5 of them and at times they are very narrow. I kept on hitting my paddle on the trees and other kayaks. Sorry trees! We learned that mangrove trees have a salt filtration system and root system that cope with the sea water. Some species excrete salt through glands in their leaves. Another strategy used by some mangrove species is to concentrate salt in older leaves or bark. Also there are these little mangrove tree crabs running around the branches. I am glad our guide pointed them out. They looked like spiders. Next time we go to Key West, we will reserve a sea plane and visit Dry Tortugas. It is only 40 minutes away rather than the 2.5 hour ferry ride. The price will be worth it. Who can say they've been on a sea plane visiting a fort in the middle of the ocean? I really enjoyed our time in Key West, especially Smathers beach which also served bubble tea! Key West is easy, laid back, not too commercialized, and doesn't have a lot of people. Our favorite restaurant was this vegan place called The Cafe on Southard Street. We ate there 3 times! Until then...
0 Comments
|
My short blog topics include: photography, music, science, crafts, vacation photos, movies, events in NYC, and of course stop motion animation.
My Blog
|