Honey Did You Find The Keys?

March 10-24, 2014

Now where did we put those keys? It’s a good thing I am talking about the Florida Keys and not the keys to the truck. That would be a bummer to SIT’s adventure if we lost those!

We arrived in Marathon Florida on the 10^th and quickly set up our little house. The RV park is about 10 miles from the main part of town and only a couple of miles from some good fishing bridges.

The nice thing about this spot is it has a dock, a place to swim in the Gulf, and a dog park just for Izzy. Well not just for her as she met plenty of friends there.

Our two weeks here were spent enjoying the view, exploring the area, golfing, fishing, fishing, and fishing.  I am guessing by now you get the idea about what we have done the most so far. Since we are going to be here for almost another two weeks we will be doing more of the same, as well as some scuba diving.

A Unique Plant

 

Me Me Me

I'm So Pretty

Not Too Afraid

Tap, Tap, Tap

 

The sunsets here are quite spectacular most nights and the first few nights didn’t disappoint us. We hung out on the seawall just a small distance from our front door and waited for the beauty in the sky. While we waited we noticed at least two-dozen lobsters hanging close to the wall just waiting for dark. This area is a lobster sanctuary otherwise I think Steve would have jumped in and started trying to catch his dinner!

Wow Look At all Those Lobsters

Safe from Steve

Ahhhh

Ooooo

 

We also spotted this creature which is considered a sea snail. It was pretty fast for being a short squatty thing.

Spanish Dancer Snail anyone

The golf course is a challenging Par 3 Executive course. We took advantage of it a few times which was nice. It certainly makes you work on your short game which being a short person you would think I would have an advantage – Not! Steve beat the shorts off of me!

An Inviting Hole on the Course

 

While we were heading to the 7^th hole this guy was making sure we didn’t head toward his bush. I am glad I didn’t hit the ball in there.



Stay Away From My Home

Enjoying the Shade

 

The advantage of being in the Florida Keys is the opportunity to fish without traveling very far. We fished off of the bridge one day and caught a few small fish but you don’t have any shade. So the next time we went fishing we headed to a spot under the bridge on Duck Key. Izzy could come with us too since there was plenty of shade and of course a swimming spot.

We had success here but again small fish but it was a fun afternoon and Izzy had fun trying to get the fish after we put them back in the water. She also got plenty of exercise running between Steve and me as we would cast.

Nice Cast Dad

No you can't have the fish Izzy

Hurry Up So I can Get it

 

My Biggest Fish Here - A Grouper

 

 

A Manatee decided to come hang out with us for a while and every time he came up for air Izzy would get in the water and want to go find it. I am glad she didn’t have any success.

We had Company

Now Where Did It Go?

 

They have a dog friendly beach here so we headed there one day with Izzy and her floppy. She had a blast and when she wasn’t swimming out to get her floppy she was wading with Steve. 

 

 

 

Wading Buddies

I took advantage of their bike path and went for a ride one day and ended up at a small park. There is a nice fishing pier and quite a few birds hanging out.

Hanging Out In The Park

Pier Pleasure

 

On one of our outings we stopped at the US Fish and Wildlife National Key Deer Refuge. Key deer inhabit 20-25 islands in the lower Florida Keys. This endangered species is found no-where else in the worked and is the smallest sub-species of the white-tailed deer in North America. This refuge was established in 1957 and the small lake that can be found here was made due to an abandoned rock quarry. There was an alligator hanging out but it decided to be shy and didn’t show itself but plenty of turtles and even a couple of deer.

Key Deer

Now back to guess what. Yap fishing. We did a night fishing trip, well late afternoon into the evening trip. There were only five of us on the boat along with the Captain so it made for a great non-crowded time. We had fun catching a lot of small fish ranging from grunts, snapper, yellowtails, and porgies. We kept the larger ones so we could have a few fish dinners and let the rest go so they could grow up.

The Dock Master



Guarding the Fish Cleaning Station

Steve caught a nice sized grouper but he was pretty bummed when he had to let it go back into the water. Grouper season isn’t open yet. Oh well he did get the biggest fish but I had the honors of catching the most fish!!

Happy and Sad

The Catch

 

 

When we got back to the dock another boat from the charter company that had gone out came back with a bull shark. The gentleman that caught it also caught a saw fish which is very rare. The saw fish was released but they wanted to have some shark steaks so they brought this big gal back to the dock. I am thinking he will have to get a bigger freezer.

We will continue to enjoy the Keys until April 3^rd so I am sure I will have more fishing stories to tell you about. Maybe even some diving ones too!