FL -- Key Largo, 17 January - 3 February 2016

Two and a half weeks in Key Largo, Florida…

Why we came…

To explore the Upper Keys!

The campground…

Point of View RV Resort was excellent…likely one of the top three RV resorts in the Keys.  The large gravel sites were mostly level and landscaped with privacy hedges.  Everything was well maintained and kept clean.  The clubhouse, pool, and workout room were also very nice.  The snow-bird returnees were quite social and kept busy with all kinds of activities.  Arleen enjoyed the daily water aerobics.  There was also a boat ramp, a few boat slips, and a fishing pier.  The laundry was contracted to another local business.  There were plenty of washers and dryers and they were usually in good shape.  Like laundry at Jolly Roger near Marathon, it was very expensive.  And speaking of expensive, Point of View RV Resort was WAY over our budget.  We splurged on what is likely our first and last trip to the Keys and got a prime spot on the water with a fantastic view. 

Other than high cost, the main drawback were the nearby wedding parties.  On either side of the resort, there were wedding venue businesses.  The VERY loud festivities occurred once or twice a week.  Thankfully, things usually quieted after 10:30, an hour and a half past our bedtime.  One pleasant evening, we clearly heard, “Ladies and gentlemen, introducing for the first time, Mr. and Mrs…!”, and we clapped while seated comfortably in our little home.  In spite of the noise, we felt we were a very small part of something special!

We would gladly return to Point of View RV Park.  The longer you stay, the cheaper it gets.  If you commit to stay three months, the price actually gets somewhat reasonable (for the Keys).  Unfortunately, the property was sold for a huge amount of money to create a whole new resort, NOT an RV resort!  Too bad for us and the others that enjoyed staying there.

A fantastic Florida Keys sunset (our home is in the middle of the picture)

Basked in a warm sunset glow

Kayaking from the campground… we got the sweet spot!

Very nice RV resort

Key Largo (another link), population 10,433 and elevation 7 feet, was also nice.  It didn’t seem as busy and congested as Marathon and Key Largo.  There were two decent grocery stores, a big K-Mart, and a good selection of restaurants.  Homestead, just 30 miles north, had even more conveniences. 

Adventures…

On 21 January we kayaked near the campground…

We had been in Key Largo four days but we had not been out to explore the area in our kayaks due to the weather and doctor appointments. So even though it was supposed to get windy that afternoon, we took a chance. We launched right from our campground into Sunset Cove and headed toward the Swash Keys.

About halfway there we crossed the Intracoastal Waterway and entered Everglades National Park. The water also got choppier as a result of days of ceaseless winds. We were glad to tuck behind one of the mangrove Swash Keys and cast our lines. Just a week prior, there would have been snappers or at least barracuda holed up there. Today, there were no signs of fish.

We did see some neat Sea Anemone. “Anemones are stinging polyps that spend most of their time attached to rocks on the sea bottom or on coral reefs waiting for fish to pass close enough to get ensnared in their venom-filled tentacles.” Remember, an anemone is where Nemo, the clownfish lived. It is one of my favorite sea creatures and I had not seen any since we had been on the northwest coast five years ago.

We could hear the wind building so we left the cover of the Swash Keys and headed home. Now it was really rough. We bucked waves and got sprayed all the way across the Cove and felt the rocking in our heads till late that night.

   

Kayak route to the Swash Keys  /  Looking at anemones

Paddling near the Swash Keys in Everglades National Park

On 25 January we explored historic Indian Key…

The winds had finally calmed down. It was a great day to visit Indian Key Historic State Park (another good link): “In 1836, Indian Key became the first county seat for Dade County. At that time, this tiny island was the site of a lucrative business-salvaging cargo from shipwrecks in the Florida Keys.”

We parked at an undeveloped launch spot on Indian Key Bridge and pushed into the “No Combustible Motor Zone” towards the historic Key. We crossed an extensive area of shallow sea grass and made a few casts. Nothing had any interest in our offer but we spotted a brilliant red starfish, the only one we had seen in the Keys.

Indian Key, only about 10 acres, has a boat dock and a kayak/canoe sand beach on the west side. You can only get there by boat. We were pleased to see that we had the island all to ourselves! We walked the well maintained crisscrossing paths three times, reading the interpretive signs and trying to visualize ourselves living there in the 1830s during the time of Jacob Houseman and Dr. Henry Perrine.

Houseman was a shipwreck salvager and Dr. Perrine was cultivating useful tropical plants (his agave plants continue to flourish on the island).  There are remains of some foundations, cisterns, and a two story observation tower, but that is about all.

We then climbed back in the kayaks and looped around the Key. We fished and caught a couple of small jacks. We kayaked back discussing the fascinating history of such a tiny, yet vital Key.

   

Kayak and walking route to Indian Key  /  Water cisterns and non-native agave

Our kayak landing on Indian Key

Rounding the eastern tip of Indian Key

If the birds are wading, it’s getting too shallow for us!

On 29 January we had a fun adventure near Tavernier…

We happened to meet a local paddle shop owner in Tavernier. Like the majority of locals, Kevin was very friendly and open. He discussed several places to kayak on windier days, but when he mentioned a place that potentially harbored tarpon, Shawn was hooked!

He told of us a launch spot in a little park near Tavernier Creek Marina on Plantation Key. The spot was not mentioned in Shawn’s Paddling Atlas.

We pushed into a canal that was bordered with homes on both side. Some of the homes were small disheveled trailers and others were two story well maintained mansions. But they all had one thing in common; they had boats and hoist systems.

We wound our way through three canals and entered Tavernier Creek. Once there, we did have to keep a wary eye out for speeding boats. They all seemed to be in a hurry and we had to be careful of getting swamped in their big wakes.

We paddled north for about a mile and made a right turn into the sanctuary of a mangrove tunnel. The water was very clear and it was easy to see many small snappers scattering as we neared.

The tunnel quickly narrowed. We had to break down our paddles and used the smaller half to maneuver better. At times, we put the half paddle in our laps and grabbed the mangroves to pull ourselves through. We leaned far back and sometimes forward in our kayaks to squeeze under the low canopy.

It finally opened up into a one acre, shallow, and nameless lagoon. We crept slowly along in stealth mode hoping not to spook any fish. It didn’t work too well…Mullet and other bait fish scattered in the clear shallow water. We told ourselves that “where there is baitfish, bigger predators might be around”.

Then Shawn spotted a couple of nice sized (over 2 feet long) redfish tucked against the mangroves in a far corner. They were leery of his presence, but two of them gave his floating lure half-hearted hits. Even though he failed to hook them, it was exciting!

We retraced our steps back to the launch spot. The potential was there! We knew those shallow, difficult to access waters, would warm up faster than the deeper surrounding waters. This would certainly lure more bigguns. Shawn had visions of big redfish, snook, and tarpon swimming unharassed in his own private lagoon. We contemplated returning one day soon.

   

Kayak route near Tavernier  /  The creek is getting narrow

We had to use just half of our paddle and did lots of ducking!

On 30 January we paddled around Rattlesnake Key…

Shawn had read about a sunken barge in his Florida Keys Paddling Atlas. “A partially submerged concrete barge, 1.7 miles east of the Garden Cove put-in, attracts large, colorful fish.”

We planned a triangle route to see the barge and then fish around Rattlesnake Key. It was a Friday, but the small parking area near the public launch site on Atlantic Blvd was crowded.

As soon as we launched, we paddled hard to get out of the narrow boat channel used by numerous dive operation boats as they ferried scuba divers and snorkelers out to the barge. We then punched into a head wind and choppy waters.

We proceeded at a tiring crawl as waves broke over the nose of the kayaks and sprayed our faces. About half way there, Shawn decided it would be too rough, if we ever got there, for us to enjoy the experience. Then we headed to shore to rest and regroup.

After a snack, we headed over to Rattlesnake Key. It had several channels running through it, all of them closed to motor boats. They offered all kinds of fishing potential as the tide ebbed and flowed. Plus, we spoke to others that reported seeing big fish, sharks, and manatees.

The gusty winds were mercifully blocked at the mouth of one of the channels so we decided to fish. All of the sudden I heard Shawn exclaim, “Oh my God!”. I hurried over to see what he was so excited about. He had a huge smile plastered on his face and he was pointing to an area where he had spotted roughly 20 tarpon, our main target fish.

He had startled them so we backed off the area hoping they would return and give us a shot. We circled a portion of the mangrove island, following one of the pretty canals, and looked for manatees that often feed in such areas.

Along the way Shawn caught one of our largest barracuda to date. He sought out the tarpon again to no avail. As we paddled back he vowed to come back in a few days.

Next to the launch site was a very large multi-story home. We noted there was some sort of function going on and the local Sherriff’s department was patrolling the area. We suspected it was some sort of celebrity or dignitary function. Life in the Keys…

Then on the way home we were delayed a good half hour in traffic for the 6rd Annual Key Largo Stone Crab & Seafood Festival. It would be fun to go and sample different sorts of sea food if we both were not so averse to crowds.

   

Kayak route to Rattlesnake Key  /  About 20 tarpon swam within 15 feet of Shawn’s kayak!

   

Fighting a good fish  /  The biggest barracuda that we’ve caught

On 31 January we went back to Rattlesnake Key…

It was a perfect day to return to Garden Cove, Rattlesnake Key, and the elusive tarpon. This time we paddled straight to Rattlesnake and cruised to the northeast point where the water was rough, but very pretty. Then we spent a few hours wandering around in the numerous channels.

Shawn spotted tarpon again and lost his mind! Unfortunately, he was nearly on top of them and they scattered before he could cast. After four hours of fishing and exploring, we gave up and paddled back. We felt nostalgic because we knew it was our last day to paddle in the pretty aqua colored waters of the Keys. And Shawn had to leave his wish-list tarpon behind.

Kayak route around Rattlesnake Key

This blog should have been much longer.  We did just five adventures in two and a half weeks.  Unfortunately, stormy weather and multiple doctor appointments in Miami limited our play time.  We wanted to do so much more.

Next…

We are in Chokoloskee, Florida, in the northwest corner of Everglades National Park and close to Big Cyprus National Preserve.  The RV park is very nice and there is plenty for us to do.  Then we will make a brief stop at Crystal River and after that we will spend some time in Pensacola.  Our migration back to the Colorado Rockies has just begun!

Parting shots…

   

There are many iguanas living freely in the Keys

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