The Keys

Matthew and I spent last week with my family down in the Florida Keys.  My parents and brother drove down from Michigan, picked us up, and then we drove down to a hotel on Islamorada where three aunts, three uncles, and one cousin were also staying.



The rented SUV was packed full of all our gear and food!

The first few days were cool and cloudy so we mostly relaxed at the hotel.  We did visit the History of Diving Museum on our first day and really enjoyed all of the information and artifacts that they had crammed into the museum.




















The second day we spent at Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park.  We saw the quarries where they dug out fossilized coral to build railways and bridges.  My mom and I also counted birds because it was the last day of the Great Backyard Bird Count for the Cornell lab of ornithology.

Nate and I in one of the quarries.














A gray catbird came down to check us out.














A yellow-rumped warbler also came for a visit.














The next day we drove up to the Everglades to see more wildlife.  The first trail we walked was packed with animals and they were all very used to visitors so I was able to take some great photographs.

A female double-crested cormorant.




















Matthew and I standing next to a double-crested cormorant.




















A green heron fishing.














A pied-billed grebe.  The water was so clear that we could watch this guy dive for food.














There were also many American alligators along the trail.














Their favorite hang-out was just beyond this boardwalk.














A little blue heron.














A black-crowned night heron.




















A male anhinga showing off for us.














An endangered wood stork foraging.














We drove down to a marina in the Everglades where American crocodiles often hang out.  We were lucky enough to see two crocodiles (which are also endangered) and two manatees at the marina.  Southern Florida is the only place in the world where crocodiles and alligators can be found in the same place in the wild!














Our hotel looked out on the ocean and we found this guy crawling along the sea wall.  This is a spotted sea slug that is about 8 inches long, the biggest sea slug I have ever seen!














On Wednesday we took an "eco" boat tour around the mangroves and then went snorkeling. 














There wasn't a lot of wildlife in the mangroves, but our guide showed us this crocodile that likes to haul out on someones sea wall.  He was quite impressive!














I did manage to find one bird among the trees, this is a yellow-crowned night heron.




















After the eco part of our tour, we went out about three miles offshore to a light house where a ship had wrecked many years ago.  The ship was burned but all of the ballast rocks remain and have created a nice reef full of fish.  The waves were pretty big for snorkeling (2-3 feet) but we had a great time.

Matthew diving down for a closer look.
















The reef is mostly composed of soft corals.














Despite the warmer air temps, we all rented wetsuits because the water was still chilly.
















The following day my mom, dad, and I rented kayaks and paddled out to Indian Key State Park.  The weather was sunny and calm.
















We hiked around the island and then my mom and I snorkeled around some of the "beach" (which is actually just fossilized coral).  We saw many urchins and conchs as well as a nurse shark that swam right under us!
















After visiting the park, we decided that we weren't done yet so we paddled around the mangroves.  With smaller boats we were able to explore more of the forest.
















The roots of the mangroves provide a surface for algae, sponges, and hydrozoans to attach.
















For our last day in the Keys we visited Bahia Honda State Park.  This park had a real beach and we spent some time walking along looking in the water for crabs and other critters.














Matthew and I in the clear water.














Matthew, Nate, and I took a boat out from the state park for another snorkeling trip.














We went to Looe Key, also named for the ship that wrecked there, about 12 miles from the park.  The waves were much higher this time (3-5 feet) but the visibility was still great.
















We spent about 1.5 hours in the water (well, I did, everyone else got out before me!) and saw some amazing things.  This hawksbill sea turtle went gliding by underneath us.














This reef shark appeared a couple of times.














And this huge (6+ foot wingspan) spotted eagle ray glided by so fast I could hardly catch up.














There were also lots of beautiful coral and more fish than I could count.  An hour and a half still wasn't long enough for me!

















We left the keys on Saturday and stopped in Ruskin and Ocala on the way home to visit family and friends.  We arrived back in Georgia Sunday night and my brother and parents drove straight though to Michigan on Monday.