Our Last Full Day at Curry Hammock

We woke up this morning thinking it wouldn't be as windy as the last few days, but we were wrong! Many of the "regular campers" here we've talked to that come year after year say this time of the year is typically very windy.

We decided to go for a bike ride to explore some different beaches around Marathon knowing that we would have a tail wind on the way out, but would be riding into a head wind on the way back.

One of the fun things I've been doing is recording our bike rides and walks using the GPS on my phone and the website MapMyFitness.com. We've logged about 70 miles since March 1 - so I'm definitely getting more activity than my normal lifestyle. Love it!

One of the beaches we saw was the Coco Plum Beach. You can see how great our bike trailer is, too, for hauling beach supplies as well as groceries!

Here is Greg at the entrance to Coco Plum Beach - you can see how beautiful it is!

You can imagine that we were a little surprised to see a totally empty beach!

But once we stepped onto the beach, we knew why! It was so windy!!

(As a matter of fact, after we biked back to the campground in the head wind, we stopped at the ranger station to confirm what we already thought -  The winds today were 30 miles per hour with gusts between 35-40!)

With all that biking in the wind, we decided to stop at Leigh Ann's Coffee House and get some coffee. It was a very fun place - it looks like they also do wine tastings as well as serve coffee, sandwiches and salads.

Here we are resting up and enjoying our coffees before the final bike ride back to Curry Hammock!

We're having some guests for dinner tonight, and then tomorrow, we'll be leaving for John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

Some Excitement at the End of the Day

When we got back to the campsite at about 4:30 p.m., Greg was anxious to go out to windsurf again. He left and I made an appetizer to take down to the late afternoon music concert on the beach.

Visiting musical campers take turns doing concerts on the beach and campers bring appetizers to share.

When I arrived, several people mentioned that they had seen Greg way out in the ocean, but were having difficulty seeing him now.

Eventually, we spotted him in the water on the board with not sail, so we speculated that the mast had broken. He appeared to be a least a mile out in the ocean and it looked like he was trying to swim the sailboard back.

After I located him on the horizon, I kept my eyes fixed on him. After about 45 minutes of watching him, the campground hosts decided it was time to call the ranger and to get a boat to take out to him.

We were very lucky - about an hour and a half after the group first spotted him in distress, the ranger reached him and was able to pick up Greg and tow the sailboard into safety.

I am very grateful for the wonderful group of concerned campers, campground hosts and the ranger - and Greg is thankfully safe and sound!

A Visit to Crane Point

After a front moved through yesterday that resulted in some rain and a big temperature drop, we woke up today to another beautiful day, albeit, cooler.

After each doing some things in the morning, we decided to ride our bikes to Crane Point that we had read about.

In 1978, a group of concerned citizens formed the Florida Keys Land & Sea Trust to save the hardwood hammocks of the Keys. In 1989, the Trust purchased Crane Point, saving this 63-acre ecological treasure from being developed into private homes and shopping malls.







Here is the entrance into Crane Point.

Here is what is right across the street  - shopping malls, gas stations, etc. - all built on land where the hardwood hammocks were bulldozed down.

The tropical hardwood hammock is an ecosystem consisting of broad-leafed trees, shrubs, and vines, nearly all of which are native to the West Indies. Hardwood hammocks form a dense canopy with a tangle of shrubs and vines at the ground level and its outer edges.

Crane Point was a step back in time to when all of the Keys was undeveloped. We saw all kinds of folliage and trees and had the chance to walk on paths through the canopy of shrubs.

  Finally, we reached the point that provided a beautiful view of the ocean.

 

 After an afternoon at Crane Point, we rode back to the campground in a 20 mile per hour headwind!

Another Day in Paradise

We woke up to another beautiful day weather-wise. So we decided to hang out at the park and base ourselves at the campground today.

We started by doing a little laundry - you can see the conditions are perfect for drying on the line - hot sun and a steady breeze dries the laundry in no time!

I took another long walk and worked on my Spanish.

 Greg had fun windsurfing with his buddy Jay. Greg is the orange sail and Jay is the clear sail. At 82, Jay has been windsurfing for more than 30 years. He has been teaching Greg how to do a "beach start."

While Greg was windsurfing, I spent time on the beach starting my second book of the trip and talking to Jay's wife, Jackie.

Everyone seems very friendly and interested in talking and sharing information about things to do and places to go.

At about 4:30, we decided to ride our bikes into Marathon to eat dinner. We got a restaurant recommendation from our campground hosts, Rick and Paula (who are from Minnesota by the way).

Sparky's was just as good as they promised - we split fish tacos and a "Frueben" which is the catch of the day prepared like a Reuben (per Rick and Paula's recommendation).

Even though I'm a "chocolate gal," we had to try a piece of their special home-made Key Lime Pie. It was delicious!

Good thing we were riding back to the campsite to work off some of the calories. :-)

As planned, we got back to the campsite just in time to see another beautiful sunset . . . . and get into the motor home before the no see ums emerge at dusk!

The strategy is working and I don't have anywhere the number of bites I did last year - Thank goodness!!

A Trip to a New Beach

This morning after breakfast, we decided to pack up the trusty bike trailer and bike to Sombrero Beach that was about 9 miles away from our campsite. Once again, we were able to bike the entire distance on the bike trail.

Sombrero Beach turned out to be a beautiful public beach with a nice picnic area, playground, etc. The sand and water was beautiful!

We sat on the beach for awhile and then ate the lunch we brought. In the early afternoon, we started biking back stopping along the way at the grocery store to pick up some more groceries.

Greg wanted to get back to the campsite to do some more windsurfing with his buddy, Jay. Jay and Greg met last year - they share a passion for windsurfing. Jay is 82 years old . . . . so Greg is very excited about all the windsurfing years he has ahead!

At the end of the afternoon, we went down to the beach to hear some music. Tonight's performance was given by two retired teachers from Michigan - it was fun. A lot of the songs were about camping in the Keys.

A Fun Day For Us Both!

The day started with a cup of coffee and some writing in my journal - it's wonderful to slow down enough to think and focus on all that I am thankful for in my life.

After cleaning up, Greg went for a long bike ride and I went for an hour walk. I'm working on my Spanish for the Mexico trip to the Casa Hogar orphanage, so I got an hour in with "Coffee Break Spanish." My goal this year is to be able to carry on some simple conversations! :-)

 We decided to go kayaking in the afternoon after lunch - we rented a double kayak at the ranger station. One of the features of Curry Hammock State Park is the large mangrove lagoon - there is a kayak trail that takes you through some really narrow passageways through the mangroves.

We had fun winding through the passageways as well as kayaking on the open body of water.

While Greg went windsurfing, I did one of my other favorite things - read a book! What a luxury to read a good book.

The end of the afternoon, we did some puttering - things like doing a little laundry, cleaning up, showering, etc.



We saw another wonderful sunset - Another great day in paradise!

Someone is One Happy Guy :-)

A perfect day . . . . first a long bike ride on a great trail!

Next a couple of hours kayaking in a beautiful mangrove area.
Mix in beautiful sunny skies, 82 degrees and just the right amount of humidity.

Finally, top it off with some late afternoon windsurfing.

I can see why Greg loves Florida so much! :-)