February 29, 2024 - John Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, Florida Keys to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Miami, FL

 Thursday

We left early and went back under the 14' bridge.  We are heading to No Name Harbor, which is 7 miles south of Miami, Florida.  

                             We even remembered to lower the antenna so it wouldn't hit this time!

                                                    The clouds looked like cotton candy.

                        We arrived at No Name Harbor, found an open spot, and dropped anchor.

This spot is known to be a great spot to watch for dolphins and sharks.  We were not disappointed - we saw a lot of dolphins.  My dad and Ashley called us on Facetime, and we showed them all of the dolphins feeding.  It was really something to see.

We took the dingy to shore and walked around.  There are lots of trails, a restaurant, a lighthouse, and a beach.

The purple flag was out (watch for stinging creatures) and we saw several man 'o wars on the sand by the water.

By the time we got back to the boat, we were dripping wet.  We sat on the back deck and read / relaxed.  I decided to put my feet in the water to cool off.  

We straightened the boat up and are ready to relax and have dinner.  

28, 2024 - John Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, Florida Keys

 Wednesday

After breakfast we decided to "divide and conquer" - Kip will walk to the Publix grocery store (about 1.5 miles away) and I would go to the campground to do the laundry.  I was able to nab one washer and dryer and did three loads.  Kip came back and walked to the campground to help me haul everything back to the boat.  A huge lizard stopped by and allowed a number of people to take its picture.

After we sat for a while, we rental a double kayak.  The Park has waterways through the mangroves and have often seen baby crocodiles and sharks there.  We followed their map of the waterways but took a side trip through an intermediate route through a skinny waterway.  We were laughing because we kept catching our paddles and bumping into the mangroves.  

After kayaking we stopped at the gift shop and got ice cream then sat on a picnic table by the beach.  Then we stopped by the aquarium to look at the displays and the fish in the tanks.  My favorite fish was the Selane vomer (part of the Jack family).  It is so darn funny looking!   It is super thin, like a pancake.

We got back to the boat and, while reading on the dock, Kip fell asleep.  So, I decided to go into the boat and take a nap as well.  I barely got a chance to relax, but never slept because people kept stopping by to talk to Kip on the dock.  

We had dinner and then walked back up to the aquarium for a presentation about dolphins.  We got back to the boat around 9 p.m. and tucked in (Kip watches movies and I play games on my iPad).

February 27, 2024 - John Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, Florida Keys

 Tuesday

Kip was up early and caught a sunrise shot.

Once we both were awake, we had coffee and breakfast.  Then we sat on the dock and read for a while.  About 11:00 a.m. a couple from Wisconson in a sailboat came over and started talking to us.  We had a really nice chat with them, but it was 11:30 a.m., and we had to be at the snorkeling boat by 11:45 a.m.  We politely excused ourselves, packed up our snorkeling stuff, changed, and hurried to the boat.

We listened to the snorkel boat captain's safety talk, etc., and he told us we were going to be snorkeling in 2–3-foot waves.  There are 37 people on the boat.  The ride to the coral reef was "sporty" (as Kip would say).  

The water on the way to the coral reef was several beautiful shades of aqua blue depending on the water depth.  Once there, everyone put on their wet suits and gear and got into the water.  Kip and I tried to stay together.  We were only in the water a few minutes and below us swam a shark (the captain said it was approximately 4-6 feet).  Kip and I immediately went vertical and said, "holy crap".  We also saw beautiful fish in all sizes (blue, green, yellow, silver), huge purple plants moving in the waves, a school of barracudas (there were more than 5 of them), jelly fish, coral, and more.  It was very scary but exciting.

                                                    People from the boat snorkeling.

After about 40 minutes of going up, down, up, down, I began to feel sick from the movement of the waves.  I went back to the boat and told the staff I felt sick.  They said stay in the water if you have to throw up...  So, I stayed in the water for about 5 minutes until I felt a bit better then climbed into the boat.  Kip was right behind me.  There was about 20 minutes left, and I suggested Kip to go back out and continue, which he did.

On the trip back the boat captain stopped a couple of times to show us Osprey nests.  They are very pretty birds and are supposedly better hunters than eagles.

After we got changed, we went up to the food trailer and had supper.  We walked around by the beach, etc., and then sat outside for a few minutes on the dock.  It is really windy on the dock, so we moved indoors.

I have to say...  Mike Bednarek taught me how to play 2-person Spades.  I taught Kip how to play and would continually beat him.  NOW, not so much.  He won the last couple of times we played.  Maybe I taught him too much!

February 26, 2024 - Bohia Honda Park, Florida Keys to John Pennekamp State Park, Key Largo, Florida Keys

 Monday

We loaded the dinghy and bikes yesterday so we could get up early and take off without having much to do.  It was decided that I will be staying here, not going home, since things seem to be going ok with my dad.  So, today we are heading to Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo, which is about 70 miles north of where we are. 

We started out on the Atlantic side, but shifted over to the inner channel because the waves were bouncing us around too much.  It is a never-ending battle to keep salt off of the boat!  Kip rinses the boat with clean water, squdgiest the windows, and wipes it down and does it again after we move to a new spot.

Going through a channel.  The water outside of the channel was very shallow.  You could actually see the sand.

We arrived at Pennekamp 75 miles (9.5 hours) of travel.  The marina is very pretty EXCEPT they have the tie up poles!  They are a major pain.  We got settled, went for a walk, and had dinner.  We hope to go snorkeling tomorrow.