Florida - St. Pete Beach, Everglades National Park and Key West Road Trip
When I officially retired from Crescent last March, I was given a three day stay at any of the hotels that we owned. I chose Sirata Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach because I had a bucket list trip that I also wanted to do in Florida…I wanted to take a Florida Keys road trip. So, we started with St. Pete, then drove southeast to Homestead which is the entry point for Everglades National Park. Then, we drove a little further south to Key Largo and started our journey all the way through the Keys to Key West. We were happy to leave the unusually cold Texas winter for the unusually warm Florida winter. We had beautiful weather with most days in the upper 70’s and some in the upper 80’s. It was a great trip.
St. Pete Beach
Three days of walking on the beach and exploring St. Petersburg. Our suite had the best view and we experienced some beautiful sunsets. Don and I usually take vacations and kill ourselves trying to see everything, but these three days were very restful. Good thing because the next four were not restful, at all.
Florida Botanic Gardens
We saw this adult alligator while walking through the Florida Botanic Gardens. He was as still as a very large statue. We could just barely see him slightly move.
Everglades National Park
We entered the NP near Homestead at the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center and started the 76 mile roundtrip scenic drive to the Flamingo Visitor Center at the far south end of the park. We hiked the one mile Mahogany Hammock trail (a hammock is a group of trees) and saw the country’s longest living Mahogany tree. It looked like it was on it last leg with several varieties of parasitic plants growing all over it. The Flamingo area looked like a great place to canoe through the tall grassy brackish waters as the park ends in the Gulf of Mexico. We learned that this part of the the NP does not have alligators, but rather crocodiles because of the salty water. We left the canoeing to others and finished our day with the Anhinga hike near the Royal Palm Visitor Center. We were glad that we saved the best for last. This hike is named after the Anhinga bird and brought us up close to many species of birds, fish, turtles, water lilies, and beautiful scenery. We got some great photos.
Longest Living Mahogany Tree in the States
Mainland Southern Point
This is where Florida ends and the Gulf of Mexico begins with shallow brackish water and lots of tiny islands.
These water lilies were so beautiful and the water was so clear. It was like looking in an aquarium. We could see so many fish like this one and turtles too.
The trail was named after this bird species, Anhinga. This guy was showing off for everyone by spreading his wings while sitting on the boardwalk rail.
Key West Road Trip
Feeding the Tarpons
OK, this was a very cheesy thing to do on the Keys Road Trip, but I am glad we did it. People pay five bucks to feed small fish to the incredibly evil looking and aggressive tarpons. This photo shows a few tarpons under the water while a pelican looks on. The pelicans are a nuisance and constantly try to steal the small fish. We weren’t crazy enough to actually feed the tarpons, but we watched and got a pretty good video of someone else (see below). I wanted to keep all my fingers!
Lunch at Keys Fisheries
We had a fresh fish lunch at a dive called Keys Fisheries. We shared conch fritters, a hogfish sandwich and a lobster rueben.
In Key West, we stayed at the Marriott Beachside…a really beautiful resort. However, the beaches are much better at St. Pete. The water is gorgeous in Key West, but there just aren’t many beaches. Mostly limestone, mangroves, and then lots of water.
Ernest Hemingway’s Home
Another touristy thing to do in Key West is tour Ernest Hemingway’s home. It was small, but very pretty with a lush garden and pool…the first pool built in Key West! 47 polydactyl (six-toed cats) currently live on this property and they all come from cats that belonged to Hemingway’s sons back in the the 30’s. We were glad we did this.
Cat Houses
This is not Hemingway’s house, but rather Hemingway’s Cats’ House!
Chickens Everywhere!
We saw something like this in Kaui, but did not know this was also a “thing” in Key West. Beautiful chickens just roam the Keys. We saw mostly roosters like this one lurking behind Don at a nice French restaurant. We also saw a few hens and even some new born chicks. They all seem to happily coexist with the people and traffic.
Line Up to Enter the Mangrove Tunnels
Mangrove trees grow in the shallow waters of the Keys. We had to line up single file to enter the many tunnels through the mangroves. We had a guide, but you could also explore alone…with a map. We saw a few self-touring folks along the way and several asked our guide “where are we?”.
Cassiopeia - Snowflake Jellyfish
Below the water surface, you can see little white snowflake shapes. These are non-poisonous jellyfish called Cassiopeia. They are actually upside down and what you see are their tentacles which are attracting algae. There were hundreds of these beautiful jellyfish in shallow water
SHARKS!
You may have to use your imagination, but there were lots of sharks out there. We stirred up a group of young sleeping Nurse Sharks and were able to get a few pics. Our guide told us that Nurse Sharks are nocturnal and sleep about 18 hours a day. The ones we saw were about three feet.
