Sunday March 17: The Survivors!

Yes - I definitely felt like I was on the survivor TV show! And I remember now why it is that nature made it so only young folks with enough energy to keep up with kids actually HAVE kids!

What an action packed week - where did the days go?

Each day was an adventure - often to places that we have never been here in Marathon.







The Dolphin research center was really enjoyable and very informational. The Toracks took part in the Dolphin Dip - lots of fun to watch everyone interact with the dolphin. He was very gentle and seemed to really like the interaction with humans.

That was Monday. Since there were only 2 days with predicted south winds (which is good for going out on the boat bayside), Tuesday was our day-trip on the boat.

Captain-in-training JP took the helm and did a great job dodging the crap trap floats! Steve tried trolling but again no luck.












We anchored off of East Bahia Honda Key for the afternoon. The explorers (Will, JP, Kaitlyn and Steve) headed off in the dinghy for the nearby shoreline to see what was to be found.

Christi and I had to stay aboard as the dinghy was full .... what a beautiful day with sun and wind (even if it was a bit more than was necessary!). Fishing here produced no results that were large enough to keep but JP almost caught quite the barracuda! He had a small fish on the line when a large barracuda swam up and chomped his fish! And then promptly cut the line and took off. WOW - what a fun thing that was!!

Half way back to Banana Bay we stopped for about an hour and the fisherpeople were quite successful pulling in small grunts, yellowtail and assorted other fish. None large enough to keep but fun was had by all.

Wednesday was an all day trip to Key West - sadly no pictures :-(  Suffice it to say there was no tourist spot left unseen!

Thursday was a trip to Crane Point. Not named for the crane birds but for the Crane people who had lived there! It again was a really nice trip with a wonderful guide. For more information, click on the link: Crane Point. Next a trip to Coco Plum Beach for some shelling.

Friday's first outing (after a great breakfast at the Conch Restaurant) was a visit to the Sea Turtle Center just down the road from us. Again a great choice!

Thursday afternoon, Terri and Scott had driven down from their home in Brandenton (on the west coast of Florida) and were able to join us the the last day and a half of Christi and Will's visit.

It was great that they were able to come down - the more family around the better it ALWAYS is!!

After the turtle museum, it was time to drive about 10 miles south to the Bahia Honda State Park. This is a beautiful area that has two really great beaches. It was a good choice by Steve as the main beach faces south so the 15 mph north winds did not bother us at all.

But before the beach, there was a trip up the old railroad bridge that is still standing. The view looking out into the Atlantic from this high point is really great. Quite shallow as you can see by the light color of the water.

Almost all of the railroad bridge is still standing - with a single span removed so boats higher than 20' are able to enter the small anchorage area that is north of the bridge.

Next up was to the beach! As you might guess it was quite hot in the sun so Terri, Scott and I sought out some shade for part of the day.

There was some beach walking and kayaking and playing in the sand.

Why is it that playing in the sand is so much fun for kids? And the young at heart :-)

Steve deflated our kayaks, tucked them in the back of Will and Christi's car, re-inflated them on the beach.

Terri, Steve, Will, Christi, JP and Kaitlyn all took turns for a kayak ride. At first, JP went with Will and Kaitlyn went with Christi but by the end of the afternoon, JP and Kaitlyn were tooling around on their own quite well! Nice job guys :-)

Seems I never left the shade :-) People watching is always great on a beach so I was quite content. It was nice to have some time to catch up with Terri and Scott - as well catching up with what Stephanie and Christopher are up to.

There was a really nice shell fossil where I was sitting. Best of the season!

Of course all good things must end. The final sunset was a very peaceful one.

What a great week of fun! We were very happy that Will and Christi chose to come to the Keys for spring break. The last time we saw them was about a year and a half ago - kids grow so fast :-)

For a complete picture view of their time here, click on this link: The Toracks in Marathon!

Whew - no wonder I was tired!!