Miami Beach arrival and early return home

I apologize for not posting since Friday, but unfortunately I didn't have Internet access on Saturday, Sunday or Monday.

We left Islamorada on Saturday, Dec. 27th for Miami Beach. We checked into our hotel, Eden Roc, in the afternoon. The newly renovated hotel boasted an expansive lobby complete with a bar and seating for plenty. It featured one indoor and one outdoor restaurant, two pools, and a boardwalk that paralleled the beach. The rooms were nice, but we were surprised that there was no free wi-fi. We decided it was ridiculous to pay the $15 a day the hotel asked just so I could check my e-mail, update the blog, check Facebook, and surf the web. For Blake and I, the remainder of Saturday was spent taking advantage of the free HBO. After dinner I went for a jog on the boardwalk and went to the hotel's fitness center to lift.

Sunday, Dec. 28th, was spent doing pretty much nothing. Dad and Blake took the car and drove north to Dania Beach to the International Game Fish Association's Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum. I slept late, went to lunch with my mom, and watched more television.

Also, the decision was made on Sunday to fly home on Monday instead of Tuesday because my father's cold that he picked up in the last couple of days in Islamorada wasn't getting better and the mom felt we were getting frustrated with the living situation in the hotel (the four of us were sharing one room.) So we checked out of the hotel the next day and left for the airport. We caught a 4:30 p.m. flight out of Miami to Charlotte, where we then got a connecting flight to Hartford. We left Charlotte at 7:40 p.m. and arrived in Hartford at 9:30 p.m. We were home a little after 11:00 p.m. and that concluded our vacation; our Christmas in the Keys.

Theater of the Sea

While my father and brother fished on a chartered boat, my mom and I went to Theater of the Sea, a popular marine animal park. Its main attraction is dolphins and sea lions, but that's not all. Stingrays, native fish and birds, and parrots and sea turtles also call the park home. We first went to the parrot show. 

 

The handler, Albert, introduced us to the variety of parrots. He demonstrated some of their abilities, like being able to put shaped blocks into corresponding holes.  

We then went to the dolphin show, where two males performed an amusing and acrobatic routine.

 

Next we went to the sea lion show where we met a female Californian sea lion named Mimi.  

She also put on a fun performance and later posed for pictures with volunteers from the crowd. Foregoing the following bottomless boat ride and nature tour, my mom and I walked through the park's tropical garden to see the other marine life, like the tropical fish and sea turtles.  

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Blake and I went snorkeling today at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, America's first undersea park. It cost $30 for a ride on the Encounter, the park's snorkeling vessel, which took us five miles offshore to a living coral reef that's part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

We were given an hour to explore the reef. A relatively harmless species of jellyfish, known as moon jellyfish, were abundant as they floated with the current. Conchs were also plentiful. We were told they were being introduced to the protected reef in order to boost their population after years of overfishing.  We saw a school of barracuda as well as a number of other fish species.

Long Key State Park

This afternoon we went to Long Key State Park in Islamorada. Located on Long Key, much of the park runs alongside the ocean. We started by walking down the boardwalk to a small beach.

The beach was a great spot to take pictures.

We then retraced our steps back to the boardwalk and started down the Golden Orb Trail, named after the Golden Orb Weave Spider that's often seen in the area. We didn't see any spiders, but we did see a lot of crabs. 

Key West

Yesterday we drove down to Key West. The trip was disappointing for me because we hardly got to see the things I thought were most interesting. There's a lot of attractions in Key West, but we didn't plan ahead at all. Instead, we walked around with no sense of where we were going or a set destination. Nevertheless, we managed to walk past one landmark I was interested in: the Harry S. Truman Little White House.  

Built in 1890 by the U.S. Navy, the house served as a command center for the island's naval station. Before it's use as a retreat for President Truman between 1946 and 1952, it was used by Thomas Edison during World War I while he made weapons for the Navy. President John F. Kennedy was here in 1961 for a summit with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. In 2001, former Secretary of State Colin Powell was at the Little White House for peace talks between the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan. And while vacationing in Key West in 2005, the Clintons stayed here for a weekend.  

After leaving Key West, we stopped for lunch at Sparky's Landing on Key Colony Beach in Marathon. The food was great and so was the service. Our waiter wrote nothing down, but remembered everything.  I highly recommend it.

Florida Keys Wild Bird Center

Today we traveled north to Tavernier to the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center, which rescues and rehabilitates injured birds.  In their possession are a variety of birds, including hawks, owls and falcons. Many local birds, like egrets and pelicans, congregate here as well, but are kept from mingling with the injured. Many have come to the rehabilitation facility because of a damaged wing or a missing foot. Some have been shot or have flown into power lines. Below is a picture of an Eastern Screech Owl and one of two Kestrels the facility hopes to one day return to the wild.  

As a non-profit organization, the sanctuary runs solely on donations. It requests a minimum donation of $ 5.00 for each adult. Wooden signs with donors' names engraved adorn the facility's railings and fences.

Here is a link to the organization's blog:  www.keyswildbirds.blogspot.com

Exploring Islamorada

One place we stopped today was Hurricane Monument. On Labor Day, September 2, 1935, a powerful hurricane struck Islamorada, killing nearly 450 people. Hundreds of World War I veterans, who were working for the Works Progress Administration building U.S. Highway One, were among the casualties. The monument was dedicated two years later on November 14, 1937. On that day, the remains of 300 of the victims were placed in a tiled crypt at the foot of the monument. What occurred here on that day more than 70 years ago is very interesting, and my guess is that many of the people who visit here don't know this small piece of local history. If so, I think it's a shame.

Following our stop at the monument, we ate lunch at Wahoo's Bar & Grill in Whale Harbor Marina. Perched above the water, the restaurant offered good food and quick service. The setting couldn't have been better.

Below is a picture of my father, mother and brother.