The second day was another dive day. This time, Russ and Chris dived on the Benwood, which sunk in 1942 after a night collision with another ship while both were traveling blacked out because of the threat of German U-boats in the area. They also dived on Molasses Reef. All the dives were in shallow water, between 20 and 40 feet.
The guys were going to dive a third day, but Russ had some sort of reaction to one of his medications while diving and he decided to stop until he has a chance to talk to his doctor. There was plenty to do above water in Key Largo. We visited the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first undersea park in the U.S. The visitor center was small but interesting and the trails around the park led to some beautiful mangrove areas and beaches.
We took one day to drive all the way down the Keys to Key West. It is only 100 miles, but because the speed limits rarely get above 45 mph, it took about 2.5 hours to get down there. We had a picnic at a little park at the foot of the Seven Mile bridge and walked out onto the old part of the bridge for a bit. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the waters were beautiful shades of turquoise.
We tried to visit the Crocodile Lake Wildlife Refuge, which is a refuge for the American crocodile, but after driving around in circles, we found the refuge is actually closed to the public. So we drove into Miami and visited South Beach.
Our time with Chris was busy and wonderful. Now he gets to fly home to shovel out after Chicago’s fifth worst snowstorm and 19 inches of snow. We continue to Key West for several more days of the Keys. Hoping the warm weather continues.
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| A lovely sunset at our campground. The park has a private beach and dock. |
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| Temps got cooler after sunset. I find myself wearing my jacket a lot on this trip. |
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| Chris going in. This is his first open dive off a boat in the ocean. He got his scuba qualification diving in Midwest lakes. |
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| Russ with all his paraphernalia. |
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| The City of Washington wreck. |
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| This barracuda looks like he means business. |
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| So this is where Dora spends her winters. |
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| Russ and Chris really enjoyed their dives. |
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| Lots of fishes to watch. |
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| So excited to go diving again! |
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| Be careful where you step, there is a manta ray under the sand. |
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| Look! Glow in the dark fishies! |
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| A large brain coral. The Keys is actually an ancient reef and the rock that remains is fossilized coral. We have seen lots of large rock with embedded brain coral. |
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| A nice little beach in the John Pennecamp State Park. |
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| Another trail took us to an example of a mangrove swamp. |
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| One of the smaller inhabitants of the park. |
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| The old highway was replaced in the 1970s. Some segments have been converted to fishing bridges and some communities have installed fishing balconies. Lots of locals were out fishing. |
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| I couldn't get over the beautiful color of the water. This happens to be the Gulf side, but the Atlantic side was just as colorful. |
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| The original bridges were built to support train service down the Keys to Key West. The train bridges were done in 1912. Then in the 30's, a terrible hurricane hit the Keys and destroyed over 40 miles of track. The system was converted to an auto highway and was in use until the 70s when the current set of bridges were completed. Some of the old road was left as is and you can see it deteriorating into the sea. We don't know why the bridge design changed here. Perhaps the right side was the replacement after the hurricane of the 30s. |
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| We took a walk out onto the old bridge. |
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| The weather was much warmer the day we took Chris to tour South Beach. There were lots of people on the beach. |
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