As we got chased back home from the Dry Tortugas by a late season hurricane last time, my friend felt we hadn't gotten the full experience and wanted to try again.
Better prepared this time, and with significantly more cooperative weather, we set off.
Jonathan Dickinson park is a comfy waystation for weary travelers trying to cross the deceptively interminable length of Florida. We didn't spend much time in this park since we've explored it several times before, but there are always new things to see even in familiar settings. Like this piebald grackle.
Nearby, however, was a sea turtle rescue where hatchlings that have failed to leave their nests after 3 nights are collected and receive one more human-assisted chance to reach the sea. We watched through night vision scopes as one tiny turtle got washed away, and the other went in confused circles until the staff collected it up again. Good luck out there, Pepper.
There were protesters out, it turns out that Desantis was trying to secretly sell out this bastion of habitat for the endangered scrub jay surrounded by golf courses to be bulldozed, complete with secret meetings and only a week for the barely advertised public comment.
Thankfully, this revolting ploy was leaked by an employee and the backlash forced the project to be dropped.
The whistleblower was fired, but made a decent amount on a fundraiser to get by while he finds a new job.
South we headed, and paused at subculture coffee. It had interesting decor and advertised itself as having an industrial theme, but alas, the vibes were rancid. Tech bros everywhere, with no sign of furry or trans keychains or stickers to be found. No visible tattoos, everyone dressed like business majors, not even any interesting hair colors or bold piercings. I try not to assume the worst of strangers, but I felt like I was in imminent danger of someone offering to sell me an NFT or lecture me on the strategic genius of Elon Musk’s latest episode of public mouth diarrhea.
We moved on after admiring a street sweeper about its business, even further south to the keys.
For whatever reason, we hadn't stopped at the giant lobster last trip. This time we were in less of a hurry and made time for this glorious bug.
First thing on the agenda was to see some Key deer. It turns out this is actually an easy thing to do, and we almost immediately pulled off into an empty lot in a subdivision to see a whole herd of goat sized cervids.
We still headed to the refuge for a little light meandering.
It was very hot though, and we left pretty shortly to try and find ice cream. Unfortunately there was none to be easily found on this particular island, but we DID find a nice smoothie place with an owner who gently investigated if we might be good matches to join her crystal healing commune.
We did a bit of birding, saw some other cool reptiles, and slept rather badly in the hot and humid weather of the keys. We headed almost immediately for Key West in the morning.
There was a really great pizza place that had hot honey pizza. When the little fledgling landed on a table and got a treat for its begging, the chickens immediately assumed they should be allowed to jump up as well. The servers were kept busy gently shooing birds while every single group of customers made the issue worse by feeding the adorable little brats.
Having learned our lesson from last time, we got a hotel room in Key West rather than set up a tent in a high-traffic RV park again. We needed to reach the ferry around 6am, so there wasn't time to get a camp in a less crowded island.
Island time! We set up in the best camping spot with a pleasant sea breeze. The water was crystal clear this time with no hurricane stirring up sediment.
I managed to burn even with my sun shirt when it rode up on my back without my noticing. All my precautions, useless. My friend got a full diving suit and didn't run into this problem, so that seems like a good investment idea for next year.
Took more precautions for the next day of snorkelling, and kept out of the water to nap in the shade during the hottest part of the day. Also spent a bit more time on birding!
This night cleared up before moonrise and we got to see the milky way. It's so easy to forget what the stars are supposed to look like, just a vague sense that there ought to be more, that something is missing.
Also went snorkelling this night! Last time there was so much silt in the water I couldn't see 3 feet in front of my flashlight, but this time we followed the wall and saw all sorts of nocturnal friends~
There was another birder on the island who told us about a belted kingfisher, but the wary bird fled before we even noticed we were close to her. I tried sitting near the north beach the next morning to see if she might come out into camera range, and here she is!
Running out of time, day three was time to stop messing around and swim out to the coral heads. The tide was against us, and the trip back tiring and kinda scary, but it was worth it. Also swam out to the north coal docks, which was also terrifying! There was an abrupt drop into deeper water, and much larger fish, but we weren't lucky enough to see a shark.
I was determined to catch this adorable little buddy on camera, and sat in someone elses campsite for around 30 minutes waiting for him to make an appearance. Worth it!
A seagull flew overhead carrying a baby turtle, and its entire flock followed after greedily.
Once the sun set, we headed out into the gulf once again. This time we struck out for the coral heads again. It was an easier swim at this time of night, and the current wasn't trying to carry us off. We saw an octopus, lobsters, crabs, sleeping fish, brittle stars, urchins, and two species of eel, the spotted and green eels~ There was a particular reef squid who used the beams of our flashlight to help him hunt. Another pair hung out with us and turned different colors. It's so cute how often they use the buddy system, rather than being either alone or in larger groups.
I took my sleeping bag out into the sand and slept under the stars this last night.
Spent the last day before the ferry took us home to bird and nap, too tired and achy to swim any more. Well, if anyone had seen a shark, I probably would have found the energy for one more dip.
Woke up from my boat nap long enough to snap a picture of this self contained little squall.
The curly tailed lizards eat plant material as well as bugs and smaller vertebrates, and these cuties had learned that the food humans tossed to the birds was, in fact, food. They darted out to snatch crumbs in direct competition with the pigeons.
Key West architechure is fun. It's always so neat to see spaces that are built for people first, and cars a grudging second place.(No worries, there was another route to the bathroom that was more accessible)
We ate at that same pizza place once more before starting the jouney back north out of the keys. It was a dark and thunderous trek, lightning lighting up the streets that had no other form of illumination besides our headlights.
The night was miserably hot and close. Mercifully, the keys were the only place where the full heat of florida summer nights persisted this late into August.
We did some more birding, then headed towards the Everglades. No luck finding the elusive Key West quail dove, but you can't win them all.
Naturally, one of our best bird encounters was in the parking lot of a Walgreens rather than the beautiful parks we were visiting.
So. It turns out that if you visit the everglades in the summer, there are a lot of mosquitos. We went to Miami the next day to look at the architechure rather than donate any more blood.
Enjoyed visiting Miami, but I can't imagine living there. Awful traffic.
Saw crocodiles this time! Aren't they gorgeous? Their skull shape reminds me of phytosaurs.
We stayed in the ecotents in the everglades rather than setting up out own site, and it was very comfortable. Best sleep of the trip.
The next day was a long, long trek through the Everglades and Big Cypress.
I think I would be pretty happy living in this little place with the gators and mosquitos...
Our plan to hike in the Big Cypress was foiled by the trail we wanted being closed...
Last park on our trip, the Highlands Hammock park. This place is full of trails and very tame deer to admire. We saw a Caracara on the way here, but couldn't stop to photograph it.
Inkcaps! I didn't know these were in Florida. They slowly deliquesce into black liquid over time, and despite this alarming trait they're actually edible, BUT beware~ If you drink alcohol within a few hours/day of eating these, you'll be poisoned as chemicals within the mushroom lessen your resistence to ethanol poisoning.
This was the end of our trip, besides the long drive home. It was the biggest and most ambitious trip we'd ever taken, a full 10 nights exploring the parts of Florida outside our local neighborhoods.
It was a great time full of awesome experiences, but it was a relief to get back to where I belong, with the familiar bugs and birds and plants of central Florida.