Key West 2015 (page 4 of 7)

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Day 3 (March 17, 2015)

We were up & at ‘em early enough to make & eat breakfast before our 8:30 pick-up for the Jet Ski tour. Jim and Mike reprised their cooking roles from Aruba & made bacon & scrambled eggs. We had won our 2-for-1 through Barefoot Billy’s; it’s nothing we planned but well worth the price. We met at their marina they gave us a quick orientation. He asked who has driven jet skis before – and those of us who rose our hands were warned “stay away from the new guys”. Trina rode on the back of Jim’s jet ski & Greta rode with Mike. We also had two guys from Buffalo, NY who each rode their own ski and a younger couple who rode together as well.

We headed out and not far along the way, our guide had to go back & find the younger couple – they apparently fell off & had to be helped back on. We first stopped at a white sand shoal where we could get off our machines and look around a bit. Trina found some shells, and the guide Warren showed us a sea star (like a star fish) that was about 8-10 inches across. It doesn’t have a mouth like a star fish – it absorbs nutrients through its feet, and was very hard – it felt like a rock, but apparently it was alive & real. There was a small bonnet-head shark (about 2 feet long) that was swimming but we missed seeing it.

We then went through some mangroves – which filter water through their roots and wherever you see a yellow leaf, that’s the “sacrificial” leaf on part of the tree that absorbs all the salt & then falls off. Mangroves also form their own channels & this is what we skied through. We saw a number of fish in the water close to the roots in the sunlight.

Next it was on to the submarine pits. Back in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U S Navy poured mass areas of concrete & then dredged out 80 foot pits to store the nuclear submarines. Before the pits were finished, the Crisis ended and therefore work stopped. Now the concrete is overgrown, but you can still see each of the long “troughs” where the subs were supposed to go.

After that, we went to an open area where you could drive your jet ski around as fast or as crazy as you wanted – at least as long as you stayed in the specific area designated by Warren. After we’d done that for about 5 minutes, he came over and asked us if we wanted to see a shark. SURE! So off we went where he’s been seeing a bull shark a lot lately. Apparently the fishermen come out to this area at the end of the day & dump the guts and left-over chum from their day, and there’s one share “Bully” who hangs out there and gets his meals free & easy. Sure enough – we saw “Bully” a number of times – a 10 foot long Bull Shark – amazing!

Since we spent so much time looking for & watching Bully, we had to take the last half of the island tour fast … but we all made it back just fine. It was a very interesting tour & we really enjoyed it all.

After that, we headed back to our home base for a few minutes and then went to HogFish for lunch. It is advertised as a “locals’ favorite” and the food was great. We started out with Conch Fritters, which are supposed to be a specialty of the Keys – they were pretty good. Trina had a burger and Greta/Mike/Jim all had the HogFish sandwich blackened. We headed back to change and then on to the beach!

Zachary Taylor State Park has a nice beach (most of Key West is not a beachy-area). It was $8 for us all to get in for the day & then we rented an umbrella & four chairs. Jim rented a snorkel/mask as well. Greta & Mike brought their own as they don’t take up too much room in your bags. There were some interesting fish to see, but nothing like snorkeling right off shore in Hawaii or Aruba. But it was still fun & we were still at the beach! We took it easy and napped or read until it closed at 5:30, and then back “home” we went.

Finding a place for supper was a big challenging as we wanted to avoid Old Town at all costs, it being St. Patrick’s day. We found “Hurricane Hole” – which was just over the channel on Stock Island. This is also where HogFish and Barefoot Billy’s were located. Hurricane Hole fit the bill. It was close, we sat right on the water, and the food was good. Mike & Jim both had the Island Pig , which was a Cuban-style pork dish. Trina had Cajun Chicken Pasta and Greta had Seafood Jambalaya. We also started the night off with an order of “smoked fish dip” , which we’ve seen at nearly every restaurant in the Keys. It was good – a lot like tuna salad, but now we know what it was.

Then we headed back to rest up for the next day and our ½ day Snorkel excursion.

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