Inquiring Minds Want To Know

March 25 – April 4, 2014

SIT continued to enjoy the various Florida Keys for another couple of weeks. We were able to check out Islamorada Florida as well as Key West.

On our way back from Islamorada we stopped at a small marina to get some lunch. We wandered around the marina first and got a great show of some guys riding the waves with a kite and board. The wind was pretty strong that day and a couple of them looked like they were probably in the air at least 20 feet.

 

Cruising on the Water

 

The artwork at the different Keys is pretty amazing too and this small marina had this great sculpture and one very large anchor.

Must Have Been a Big Ship

This Would Look Good in the Yard

 

The next stop was the restaurant which was above the marina so you could have a view of the water and the boats that were tied to the dock.  We spent our time trying to figure out what a group of pelicans were doing. There were about 8 or so and they flew in while we were there and claimed both posts to settle on as well as parts of a couple of the boats.

Can he sleep with one eye open?

Hi There

Such Balance

This is MY Boat

 

Being the inquisitive type of people that we are we had a few questions about the species. Since they weren’t too interested in being interrogated, I decided I would have to check up on them through Wikipedia. Before I tell you what I found, which is quite a lot but won’t put it all in here, we wondered how they scratch their head and neck since all we have seen them do is use their bills to clean and bite at spots.

They must have been reading our thoughts as the one on the post took his foot and scratched his head and neck just like Izzy does. Of course we haven’t told Izzy about this as we don’t want her to think she can fly like a bird. She already thinks she’s a fish.

Back to Wikipedia and Pelican factoids, the Brown Pelican which is what we are seeing on the Keys plunge dives for their food and is only one of two of the eight pelican species that do this. Once they have fish in their mouths they tip their head and drain the water out and swallow the fish. Pretty slick trick if you ask me. They have fully webbed feet which appear to help them balance on boat rails.

The main thing we wanted to learn was the difference between the brown neck pelicans and the white neck pelicans. The only thing I read that told me the difference is that the juveniles are brown and when they mature they have a white neck.  We were thinking it was the difference between the males and the females.

Now for your last piece of inquiring minds need to know segment concerning Pelicans is the males have larger and longer bills. Yap, that’s the only way to tell them a-part.  Not that we are going to go around with a tape measure. So now you have it.

Our trip to Key West didn’t necessarily fill us with Pelican factoids but provided us with a nice bike ride around the city and a walk along Mallory Square. We rode to the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center and enjoyed the center and displays. Across from the center you had a pretty good view of several cruise ships.

The last time we were in Key West was in 2005 and we didn’t remember seeing the sculptures that were around Mallory Square. This particular sculpture was capturing a lot of people’s attention, not to mention this artist painting it. Oh yeah, he’s a sculpture too.

In The Jaws

The Gang

The Artist

 

As you walk along the street you run into this nice lady who asked for help with her groceries. Steve of course is always hungry so he was trying to steal her bread. I on the other hand was going to carry her bag for her, but then she turned out to be a sculpture as well!

Stealing, Shame on You

Here Let Me Help You

We had a fun day in Key West and even found this old Ford truck that had become a bar on wheels. Pretty cool and I am sure he gets a lot of business. When we got back to the truck we found this guy hanging around. I am just glad he didn’t want to hitch a ride.

 

The Mobile Bar

No You Can't Come Live With Us

We managed to get out on the golf course one more time before pulling up stakes and heading down the road. This time around this guy kept an eye on us and these birds seemed to know when my golf ball was around.

Hey What's Your Name?

I'm Sure They Hid My Golf Ball

 

We were sad to leave the Keys but have more places to see and we know we can always find the keys!