We left MacDill AFB and the Tampa area around a week and a half ago and headed south, about as far south as you can go in an RV in the United States. We ended up in Key West - staying at the Sigsbee Naval Campground about four miles from “Mile 0” at the end of Hwy 1.
We drove across Florida along Highway 41. While we had heard that the alligators are plentiful along this route, even more so than along I-75 (known as Alligator Alley), we certainly didn't expect them to be present in the hundreds, but that's what we saw.
On the way east we stopped a couple of times. The first time was at the Big Cypress National Preserve Visitors Center. While at Big Cypress we were wowed by the alligators and bird life in the canal directly in front of the visitor center. There were big and little 'gators and lots of cormorants and some anhingas hanging around, with the alligators lazing in the sun and the birds doing lots of fishing in the canal. They’re all below you; humans are up on an elevated walkway with a railing. But that was just a warm-up to Sharks Valley.
Oops, maybe this was a bigger fish than I thought! (He got it down)
Basking in the sun.
After Big Cypress, we drove on to the Shark Valley Visitors Center (part of the Everglades National Park). If you want to get up close and personal with an alligator - this is the place! While walking from the parking area to the Visitor Center buildings we encountered our first alligator of the visit, just a few feet away from the road…and us, with NO railing separating the two!
Just a few feet between him and us!
At Sharks Valley there is a 15-mile paved trail that you can walk, bicycle, or take a guided tram tour through the area. We opted for the tram tour as a way to get a good orientation to the Everglades and due to the fact that it looked as though rain clouds were gathering on the horizon. While waiting for the tram ride to start we had a few minutes to kill, so we spent it walking around the area and checking out a few of the local inhabitants. It was quite obvious that the locals were used to tourists as they posed prettily for pictures and otherwise went on about their business.
Hey, where did that railing go??
Ok, ok, just one more picture, then I'm back to my nap!
Fishing for dinner.
The tram tour was great and we learned tons about the Everglades, the ecosystem, and the local residents. The Everglades National Park is currently 1.5 million acres. The Everglades itself is much larger, originally around 8 million acres, but now less than ½ that. Florida began draining the Everglades for farmland in 1882 and only stopped in 1992. In addition, pollutants from surrounding agriculture and encroaching city growth are chipping away at the area.
I always thought that the Everglades was just a really, really big swamp, but it’s not. The Everglades is actually an 8-mile wide river that flows very slowly over a hundred miles from northern Florida to the Gulf and Atlantic. There are higher flows in the summer; therefore it becomes wetter/swampier. The park itself is best visited December to April (the dry season), due to the number of mosquitoes and other bugs during the wet season. Apparently one mosquito can lay up to 10,000 eggs per square foot of water! While they’re hell on the humans, the mosquitoes are a vital food source to the fish, which are in turn a vital food source for the birds and alligators.
Sawgrass is the primary plant in the Everglades, with hammocks of bay trees, willow, and various hardwoods scattered throughout. It has become known as the “sawgrass prairie” or the “river of grass”. The park is home to 67 threatened or endangered species; has 350+ species of birds that either make it home year-round or travel through annually, and is the only place that alligators and crocodiles can be found in the wild at the same time.
Sawgrass prairie with Florida cypress in the foreground and hardwood hammocks in the distance.
Our guide filled us in on lots of fun-facts about alligators as well. Did you know that an alligator lives for up to 50 years in the wild? Or that a mother alligator stays with her young for up to 3 years - so will have babies of all sizes with her at any given time? How about that an alligator only eats every 2-3 weeks? And did you know that alligators have been clocked at over 25 mph over a 40-yard dash? They were almost hunted out of existence until 1962, when they were declared an endangered species – they are now making a comeback.
Mama and her babies.
We stayed at the Miccosuke Indian Casino (11 miles east of Miami) for two nights of dry-camping in their parking lot. The casino is on the western edge of the Everglades National Park and they don't mind RV'ers using the back end of the lot as a campground.
The day after we arrived, we drove down to the southern entrance of the national park outside of Homestead, FL. We spent quite a day wandering around, hiking the various short hikes available and becoming a part of the food chain (mosquitoes!). Hey, did you know that only the female mosquito feeds on blood? The males eat fruit!
While at the Flamingo Visitor Center we got to see American Crocodiles. Larger than alligators, crocodiles hang out at this end of the park because they prefer the brackish water rather than the freshwater further north.
American crocodile, lighter in color than an alligator and prefers the salty water.
We took a boat ride out into the Florida Bay to see the manatees and dolphins. Yes, we were iced…not a single manatee or dolphin. I was on board, what did you expect?! But we did get to see osprey and anhingas nesting and fishing.
The Everglades were a fantastic place to visit and learn, and learn, and learn. Everyone we met emphasized that saving the Everglades is vital to the environment of the coast.
“The Everglades is a test. If we pass, we get to keep the planet.”
Majory Douglas
Founder Florida Environmental Movement
Next stop was Key West. Most of the snowbirds were already gone by the time we got to the RV park at Sigsbee Naval Air Station. We still had to dry-camp - but what a view we had! This particular RV park is known for never turning anyone away and the camp host proudly talked about the year that they had over 500 RVs scattered about the various Navy and Coast Guard bases - this at a camp that only has 65 full hook-up sites.
I don’t know, do the bushes block too much of the view?
We kept a rather laid-back pace at Key West, sleeping in every morning, leisurely sight-seeing during the day, enjoying the sunsets, evening margaritas, and relatively early to bed. How much that had to do with the fact that we were dry-camping and too lazy to fire up the generator for the TV - who knows.
While there, we took a trolley tour (we’re firm believers in tours to get the lay of the land and decide what’s worth checking out in more detail). As usual, we learned quite a bit about the place from our guide, some fun facts, and some local legends.
We had already noticed that there are chickens running loose all over the town and couldn’t quite figure out why. According to our guide, they are the descendants of the chickens left behind by the original Spanish settlers in the 1600’s. At one time they were considered a good food source by the locals and were allowed to continue to run free. Since the eggs and chickens were being eaten the population stayed under control. Then in the 1930’s a federal law was passed making all wild birds on the islands protected species, which inadvertently protected the chickens – their population then began to get out of control. It is now estimated that there are 30,000+ wild chickens on Key West alone. A few years ago a federal judge declared them to be a “domesticated species” and not a wild bird and exempted them from protected status. Now Key West residents are arguing whether they are a quaint vestige of history or a pest. In the meantime, they are all over the island with the roosters crowing all day long.
Among the diners on the restaurant patio, crumbs anyone?
There are two primary ways the locals get around the island, bicycle and moped. Since the base was only about 4 miles from the center of town, we joined in and tooled around mostly on our bicycles.
We only took in two major tourist attractions: the Truman Little White House and the Hemingway House. The Little White House was originally built in 1890 to house the Navy base commander and paymaster and by 1946 was no long being used for that purpose. When Truman was ordered to take a vacation by his physician towards the end of his first year of his presidency, the head of the Navy suggested using the Key West house as it was on the base and easily protected. Truman took him up on his offer and liked it so much he returned for a total of 175 days over 5 years. The house has also been used as a retreat by five other presidents
The Hemingway House is where Ernest Hemingway lived during his time in Key West, before moving to Cuba. The house is a two- story tropical style house with an outbuilding that housed his studio. It was a nice house, but nothing out of the ordinary and was a bit of a letdown for Heinz and me. Since neither one of us is a major cat fan the 44 cats, each with six toes (descendants of Hemingway’s original cats) didn’t do much for us either.
Outside Hemingway's house
Another great story about Key West told by our guide was the one about Sloppy Joe’s bar on Duval Street. Opened legally the day Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Sloppy Joe’s is one of the longest operating bars in town – during Prohibition it was a speakeasy. Joe Russell, one of Hemingway’s best friends, was the owner. He rented his bar space for $3.00 per month. In 1937 his landlord wanted to raise the rent to $4.00 and Joe didn’t want to pay. A few hundred yards down the street (at the current location) was an old restaurant that was for sale. Joe Russell bought the building and in true Key West fashion, never closed shop to move locations. One night, the customers simply picked up their drinks, tables, chairs, etc. and walked them down the street and set up in the new location. They say that the customers never missed a round.
The day after our official tour, we went down and just roamed around the old town, snapping photos. All of the roofs in the old part of town are made of tin. The city burned twice in the 1800’s and after that the city passed a law that roofs had to be tin to avoid fires moving from roof to roof. Since then the district has been declared a preservation area and the roofs must be tin to maintain the Key West charm. In addition, many of the houses have never been painted. Seems that back in the late1800’s there was a law on the books that you did not have to pay property taxes until your house was “finished”. So, some frugal owners never painted the outside of their houses, keeping their houses in a permanent “unfinished” state, thereby avoiding property taxes.
No paint? No taxes!
Tin roofs and tropical plants are everywhere!
One evening we went down to Mallory Square to view the sunset - a local tourist must. There are quite a few local artists and acrobats, etc. putting on a show in the square, followed by everyone turning and watching the sunset.
Sunset over the Florida Straits from Mallory Square
I think that we both agreed that the best day of the week was our trip out to the Dry Tortugas National Park. We popped up early to catch the ferry at 0730.
Key West docks at daybreak
The park covers 64, 700 acres (95% of it underwater) and is located 70 miles west of Key West. It is approachable only by boat or seaplane. We decided to take the two-hour boat ride over to the park on the Yankee Freedom II. Included in the fare is breakfast, lunch, and snorkel gear.
Approaching Fort Jefferson, Garden Key, and the Dry Tortugas by sea.
Ponce de Leon discovered the Tortugas in 1513. The name comes from the abundant sea turtles, “tortugas”, that provided meat for his men, but there was no fresh water, hence the name “Dry Tortugas” on maps of the time, to let mariners know not to expect fresh water there.
The U.S. began to build Fort Jefferson on Garden Key in 1846, but never finished it - after 30 years of work, the rifled cannon made it obsolete. During the Civil War Fort Jefferson was used as a prison for US soldiers found derelict of duty. It was also used to house Dr. Samuel Mudd after his arrest in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln. Dr. Mudd, if you recall, was the physician that set John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg.
One thing that caught our interest regarding newer history of the islands, is that Cuban refugees used to come to the island at a rate of 2,000-3,000 per year to gain asylum. Though you don’t hear about it toaday, approximately 15-20 Cubans still arrive every month. The surmise is that local conditions have improved under the rule of Raul Castro (versus Fidel Castro) and less people are wanting to leave Cuba. A “chug” is small boat built form local materials and powered by a small automobile engine - it holds up to 15 adults, usually men. The small boat has to cross 90 miles of open ocean, and the men cross at night to avoid being spotted by fishermen and the Coast Guard. If they make it to Garden Key (American soil), they wait until morning on the beach and let the park rangers know they are there when the fort opens in the morning. As long as they are on the beach and not in the water, the Cubans are considered refugees and admitted into the U.S. If they are caught still in the boat or in the water, they are automatically deported back to Cuba. This is what is called the wet feet/dry feet rule.
After a quick lunch we headed out to try snorkeling - this was a first for both us. We never would have stopped grinning if it hadn’t been that the salt water kept getting in when we did. Unfortunately we have no photos to share, as we didn’t have an underwater camera (despite the stellar advice of my sister-in-law to be sure and get one). There were some old iron pilings in the water near the beach and they were covered in incredible coral growth: sea fans, sea rods, brain coral, sea whips, sea plumes, sheet coral, and feather dusters just to name a few. Everywhere you looked there were fish hanging out in the coral: blue tangs, queen triggerfish, yellowtail damselfish, fairy basslets, harlequin bass, barracuda, and bluestriped grunts, and on and on. The water was crystal clear and everything was just inches away. It was SO incredible! After an hour or so, we walked over to the other side of the island and tried snorkeling there. Heinz found a spot with thousands of fish swimming on the bottom, blending in with the crushed coral and sandy bottom. As he rapidly moved his arms, they all swarmed and he heard a loud splashing sound. Wondering if the fish had made that sound as they all moved at once, he raised up, turned around to see where I was, and found himself nose to nose with a pelican that was busy chowing down on the fish Heinz had just stirred up. I was down the beach a bit and didn’t see what happened. So what does Heinz do? Of course, he comes and gets me, tells me to come see the fish and make some rapid movements to stir them up. Yep, you’re right, I did, and heard a huge noise and got water down my air tube. I raised up, turned to fuss at Heinz for splashing me and found myself staring down a pelican busy swallowing his snack not more than 3 feet away – the bird had dived into the water RIGHT NEXT TO ME - wow, what an experience!
We’re now back up at the Indian casino, planning to spend the next few days exploring Miami, so stay tuned.
Here’s some shots of other friends we “met” along the way.
Florida red-bellied turtle
Soft-shell turtle
Tri-colored heron
Anhinga
Osprey
American alligator
