Keys bound for Christmas vacation

[spareparts]

got everyone out of the house today, we went by the Turtle Hospital and made reservations to come back at 3. we rode down the Islands, stopped at a park facility right at the 7 mile bridge. It had a nice ramp on one side of the highway, on the ocean side, there was a nice beach with picnic tables and clean facilities. Kendall and I went wading in the water, no one else was game. After playing there for a while, we rode further down. Bahia Honda state park must be the place, the line getting in there was so long they had a highway patrolman directing traffic. We didn't stop, it looks real nice from the highway. We rode past Randlemans hide out at the Big Pine Key fishing lodge, looks like a nice place. We made it back to the turtle hospital, Kendall loved it. She kept raising her hand to ask question to the tour guide. The had 27 turtle in pens for rehabilitation, 14 of which were permanent residents due to various issues, the rest were scheduled for release once they were given the all clear. We all had a good time there, I would have loved to drop a line in one of the big turtle holding pens, it was loaded with drum and snapper. Ended up eating at the Island Fish Co., food was decent, prices were about what we expected. Stopped at the grocery store to replenish my Beer inventory, if you think gas is high down here, wait till you price beer. BTW, diesel in the islands was cheaper than it is at home in Charleston, go figure

[reelapeelin]

That is amazing re the diesel prices down there...not so much the beer prices!...lol...Glad y'all found a park you could enjoy for a little while...what's the water temp down there?...

That turtle program sounds like a great stop...kids or not, I'd like to see that...are the snapper etc in the pens for turtle food??...I can see your dilemma!!...

[THEFERMANATOR]

Is the turtle program still down on the island south of MARATHON? If so that is where they used to film the show FLIPPER at back in the day.

[spareparts]

we went to the dolphin place today(dolphins.org), its a little north of us. Thats where they filmed flipper. The turtle place used to be a motel that had a big interactive aquarium, that's where the turtle pens are now, and why those nice fish were in there, I swear, there were the biggest mullet I've ever seen swimming in that pen. The dolphin place was ok, but it was expensive, and they were up selling your "experience" if you wanted to swim with the dolphin, it was $200 per person, the dolphin experience was like $300, and the researcher for the day was like $695. For the place to be a "not for profit" research center, they sure didn't have any issues charging you. We did the basic $20 per person deal, I was a bit disappointing considering the cost. We rode back up to Salt Water Sportsman(bass pro), ate a snack at the Zane Grey restaurant(over rated bar), I did look at some cool boats at the dock(pics for later). The wind kicked up bad today, a cold front came thru and the high was only 70, wind was blowing at least 20 knts. I tried fishing int he canal again, the cold front shut everything down, couldn't get anything to bite cut shrimp

[Destroyer]

Back in 84' my wife and i went to Sea World down near Disney World. They had a huge pool about 3' deep that you could wade in... it had several Bottlenosed Dolphin in it that you could feed and pet. Only thing it cost was the price of the fish if you wanted to feed them. Wonder if it's still there?

[phatdaddy]

come to the gulf during snapper season and you can feed all the dolphin you want to. they will follow the fish from the bottom and take it right off your line at boatside.

[spareparts]

went back to key west today, figure we missed a tourist trap or two, ate at Jimmy Buffets margaritaville (did I mention tourist trap), the freaks were out early today, tucked, taped, and flaunting their stuff. Got out of their in a hurry, rode up to Bud and Mary's Marina, that place was awesome, cool boats every where. I could walk around and look at all the old fishing pics for hours> I've seen a few V's, a couple sportsmans, but I've seen probably 90 % of teh total production of Mako 23's in existence, same goes with Dusky 23's, they are every where.

[spareparts]

I'm home and just got everything unloaded, I'm beat, had a great trip, I'll load pics later

[Destroyer]

Glad you made it back safely. Welcome back...there's no place like home...

[spareparts]

pics from Marathon


from behind the house




the turtle hospital
















this guy was just walking around, they are everywhere down there