Friday, June 12th – Today started with another hotel breakfast and a morning swim in the pool. A quick check revealed that we would not be boarding any boats headed for any reefs off shore. The wind was blowing steady at 10-15 knots with wave heights as high as four feet. So we opted to move Saturday up and go visit Bahia Honda State Park.
The park wasn’t too crowded and after some brief driving we found an area suitable to our liking. It didn’t take long to get our chairs set up and get into the water. It was my first time using a snorkel so it seemed very unnatural to me to be able to breath under water but the boys do it like they were born to do it.
They spent the next four hours face down coming every glass flat for a mile looking for everything possible. Devon got some neat up close underwater video of a Baracuda they were following and we ended up coming home with a cool ‘Sea Biscuit’ (shell). With all the continuous applications of sun screen, we all still burned in spots; all of which look pretty goofy.
The sun is definitely more intense in the lower latitudes. After we were done with the swimming and snorkeling we took a short hike to the top of the hill to get a look at the old train tressel. It’s amazing how even though it is failing it still looks strong as ever. With pictures taken it was time to get back to the hotel to wash away the salt and sand.
For our afternoon meaner decided to try the Tarpon Creek Bar & Grill (on the hotel property) for some Calamari and a fire grilled Shrimp Bacon Ranch pizza.
Both were amazing and gone in less than sixty seconds. It’s a good thing Amy eats light or she’d end up starving most of the time. I added a Key West Sunset Ale to the meal which was very smooth. All in all another great experience.
Dylan decided to wet some line in the canal only to be chased away after awhile by the mosquitoes. He also went across the street to see if any wildlife had returned to the submerged rock ledges only to be told that we were technically trespassing and being out in the water on the rocks was a liability for the restaurant. They did say, though, that if they can’t see us they wouldn’t say anything.
For late night dessert we went down US 1 to Sweet Savannah’s for some delicious ice cream and sherbet. A couple Key West Southernmost Wheat’s and a dip in the pool finished off another great day.
