J&J Visit South Florida
In January 2023 we enjoyed another episode in our history of traveling for fun and education. We flew to Miami, rented a car, and spent a week driving around the area, visiting the upper keys, and going to two of the three entrances to Everglades National Park. (By the way, you’ll have to visit our Everglades page to see what we saw on our two days there.)
We had a ball!
We spent one night in the Sheraton Miami Airport before we picked up the car for our adventure. “Adventure” is the right word, because I took a wrong turn going back to the hotel to meet Judy. After touring some of the area’s freeways and part of Florida’s Turnpike, I made it back to the hotel safely. Siri did a great job navigating. Judy and I didn’t do much that day beyond driving through Little Havana and eating at Versailles — a Cuban restaurant. After that we just drove around a little more (with pastries from Versailles bakery) and headed to Homestead, where we had reservations for the next five nights.
African Queen Day
The next morning we slept late, then drove the short distance to Biscayne National Park, passing what appeared to be endless acres of cornfields and tropical plant nurseries. We didn’t spend a lot of time there, but enjoyed our first up-close look at the area.
Our next stop was sort of unplanned. We left the park and headed south past more and more cropland and nurseries. A turn onto old US Highway 1 took us past Alabama Jack’s, a restaurant that had been recommended by one of the employees at the Park gist shop. It just happened to be lunch time, so we stopped at what Judy described as South Florida’s answer to the FloraBama. Our lunch of fried seafood was good, but the real fun was the atmosphere and signs there.
After lunch we continued on Highway 1, reaching Key Largo after a little more mangrove-lined causeway and a bridge or two. From the road it was hard to tell when we actualy got onto the Key itself. There was so much side growth through this section that we hardly knew where the solid land was. Only the signs pointing to left or right told us there was something beside us through the greenery. Eventually we et up with the “new” highway and drove on down the center of Key Largo, noticing just how much different beach towns look alike.
Finally, again thanks to our iPhones and Siri, we spied the Holiday Inn, parked, and walked down to the dock for our first view of the African Queen. The real African Queen if you will. The actual 1916 working boat used in the filming of the movie with Katharine Hepburn. You can look up the history of the craft online to learn how it got to Key Largo. Now it’s been modified a little, an outboard motor replacing the steam driven mechanism, but the appearance has been preserved. The Captain even has an empty gin bottle on hand for photographs.
The ride itself was a lot of fun. We slowly motored along the canal out into the Atlantic, finally picking up a little speed when we reached the Atlantic. What fun! The weather was great, there were only two other couples with us on the boat, and though the Captain’s movie trivia got a little annoying at time (when we couldn’t answer his questions), the whole experience was enjoyable. Judy even took a turn at the “tiller” when we headed back to shore. This is one of those mini=adventures that creates fun memories. I think we’d be happy to do it again if you want to get us there to go with you.
Kayak Day
This was one of the craziest days we’ve had in all our travels. I have to rank this even higher than walking around on Mount Etna because this time Judy was with me. And on top of the craziness, we got to spend time with Bill Neill, our weekly online bridge partner. That was a win-win.
We had started our plan for this week knowing we wanted to go to the Everglades, but things rapidly expanded. There are far too many possibilities in this area for two mid-seventies senior citizens to get to in one week. In paring the list down we decided this day had one big activity in the morning, with a plan to have lunch and some down time with Bill following that. The big activity was going to be something called Mangroves and Manatees, an eco tour offered by Paddle the Florida Keys. Part of their promo material said the kayak tour was appropriate for all ages, from 0 to 80 years old, if I recall correctly. Sounded just right, so we dutifully drove down to Tavernier, Florida, south of our visit the day before, checked in, attended the orientation and instructional session got in our two-person kayak and paddled away, following our guide Susanne into the channel between Key Largo and Plantation Key.
We had a ball! We learned about the mangrove fringe around the keys, oohed and ahed when we saw stingrays swim under the boat, and sat there open-mouthed when we saw our first manatee. We had paddled through the channel and into a creek, looking for more manatees, when Susanne spied a Mangrove Jellyfish. Fascinating little beasties, and surprisingly enough, not likely to sting when touched by humans. Susanne picked one up, put it on the end of her paddle, and extended it toward our boat so we could see it closer. Judy reached for it, I reached at the same time, and down we went. The boat rolled over, and we were suddenly swimming with the manatees! Well — with one manatee. We managed (not easily, let me say) to get back into the boat and continued the tour.
To be honest, the rest of the time didn’t really hold my interest. We went up a residential canal and saw some very nice homes, but they didn’t provide the excitement we craved after our swim. Even spying more than a few iguanas did little to grab our attention.
I would be embarrassed to end this page without saluting Bill Neill. In our ignorance of what was to happen, we had made plans to go from our kayak tour to Bill’s house, just a little farther north back into Key Largo, for lunch and some quality time together. We had a change of clothes with us, but nowhere to change! Judy called Bill and asked if we could possibly move our time together to dinner instead of lunch, giving us time to get back to Homestead, shower, change, and return. Ever the gracious host, he insisted we forgo the extra mileage and time and just take advantage of his home with its dryer. Bill is a Mensch and a southern gentleman.
Check out the photos below, and if you made it this far, you can visit our Everglades page. That’s right, we finally made it there four days after leaving home. That was a wonderful two days, but we didn’t swim. Too many alligators.
