More from Marathon in the Keys

The Turtle Hospital

The Turtle Hospital Ambulance

The Turtle Hospital Education Bldg.

2 turtles who are recovering

Recovering turtle with a gorgous shell

Charlie 2 just admitted

Dolphin Show

Parrot Show

Sea Lion Show

Sea Turtle on the marine walk

Sunset from Lazy Days restaurant

Sandspur Beach at Bahia Honda State Park

Sandspur Beach at Bahia Honda State Park

Mike and Dave snorkling

Judy & Mike on the snorkle cruise

Judy & Mike in front of Disney Cruise Ship in Key West

Judy & Mike on ferry to Pigeon Key

Mike on Pigeon Key dock

Leaving Pigeon Key on the ferry

It has been sunny and in the high 70's , low 80's every day. The weekend of Feb. 12th it was cloudy and very cold, in the 60's. Usually Mike and I ride our bikes up on the old 7 mile bridge every morning, total of 5 miles plus. We get together with my cousin Libby once or twice a week. So far, every Tues we have been going over to her Condo and I do our laundry and we lay around her pool. We did the Turtle Hospital tour together. Very interesting. They have 28 turtles at the hospital right now. Some have to have a flipper amputated because they got caught in fishing nets or lines. Some have blocked intestines from eating a lot of human trash that is floating in the ocean. They usually try to have the turtles get rid of all the trash themselves by giving them veg. oil, Metamucil and Bean-O. Sometimes they have to do surgery. Feb. 14 we drove up to Islamorada Key and went to the Theater of the Sea. We saw a parrot show, dolphin show, sea lion show and went on a guided nature walk and marine life walk. It was a lot of fun and very informative. We ended our Valentine's Day with dinner at Lazy Days. We had a table right on the water and watched pelicans flying and landing and boats coming into the marina. We also saw a beautiful sunset. On Wed. nights here at the RV Park they play Bingo. We have gone every Wed. and I have won every week. One Wed. I won 2 games. We have gone to Sombrero Beach 4 or 5 times and we went to Bahia Honda State Park Beach. That beach was very, very long but half of the beach was covered with dried seaweed, so it wasn't as nice. Water was great though and I even went in and got totally wet; first time since we arrived here. We had a surprise phone call from Debbie Galloway on 2/18. She and her husband Dave and the Shannons were driving down to Key West and wanted to stop and see us. Around noon on Sat. 2/19 they arrived. We went out to lunch and showed them Sombrero Beach then they headed for Key West. They invited us to go snorkeling with them the next day in Key West. We met them and had a beautiful catamaran ride out to a reef. I chickened out going snorkeling because the water was 67 degrees. Jim&Debbie, Dave&Mike went. They saw pretty fish and some lobsters. The boat ride was fantastic. We went with them back to their motel and swam in their pool then went out to dinner. Great Day! Today (2/25) we took the ferry over to Pigeon Key and heard all about the history of the island and about Henry Flagler and his railroad, very interesting. Pigeon Key is where we ride our bikes to the end of Old 7 Mile Bridge. We only have a week left here at Knights Key. We then head north March 3rd and go up the west side of Florida. We already have reserved 6 weeks here at Knights Key for next winter.

a week plus here in Marathon, Florida Keys

Ibises right behind our RV

Ibises right behind our RV


Harbor at Knight Key (our campground)



Harbor at Knights Key



Judy & Mike with New 7 Mile Bridge in background



Judy & Mike on the Old 7 Mile Bridge

The Old 7 Mile Bridge (used for walking & biking)

Pelicans on new bridge supports

one end of Sombrero Beach

Other end of Sombrero Beach

Sunset off of RV Resort's beach

Sunset off of RV Resort's beach

We have been here for 10 days now and we are still loving it. Today is our first cloudy day, but the temp. is still nice, 75. Our day usually starts by getting up around 8:00 and then taking a walk. On Monday 2/7 we went into town and purchased 2 fold up bikes. So now when we get up, we don't take a walk but we bike out of the campground and cross route 1 to a bike path up to the Old 7 Mile bridge which is 2.2 miles long. We have made it to the end once so from now on, we will be doing almost 5.5 miles a day. There is a turtle hospital here and we went to it to hear a talk on iguanas. It was very interesting. We also plan on going to take the tour of the turtle hospital. We have gone to the beach, Sombrero Beach, 3 times. Mike has gone in the water but I only go in up to my knees. We have found a restaurant called "The Stuffed Pig" that serves a great breakfast and lunch. We had a seafood melt sandwich the other day that was so good, I want to go back soon. We don't get any TV with our antenna and they don't have any cable service, so we have been watching our TV programs on the computer at Hulu.com. So far it has been working well. My cousin and her husband came to dinner last night. We ate outside then walked over to the beach and watched the sun set, very pretty again.

A Day in Key West

Sunset at Key West

Butterfly at the Key West Conservatory

Mike standing near the most southernmost point in US

a resort in Key West

a beach in Key West

We spent the day in Key West. The weather was blue sky and sunny and 79 degrees. We stopped at a visitor center and got a good map and signed up for a tour of Old Key West. After we had lunch, we got on the tour and saw Margaritaville, Ernest Hemingway's house, the southernmost point in the US, just to mention a few. It was a good tour because now when we come back we can go see what we want. We did get off the tour to see the Butterfly Conservatory. The butterflies were beautiful. When we were done with the tour, we went and checked out some of the stores. For dinner we wanted to eat where we could see the sunset. Our waiter at lunch told us to go to The Sunset Pier. It took us awhile, but we found it and it was a perfect place to eat dinner and watch the sun go down. The sunsets have been gorgous since we got down here.

A Month in the Keys at Marathon

Pelicans waiting for a handout from fisherman cleaning fish

Iguana outside our RV door

Pelicans

Heron here at RV Park

Campsite CC

We arrived here at Knights Key RV Resort and Marina in Marathon on Feb. 1st and will be here for 4 weeks. Our site is great. We can sit out by the front of the RV and see the Atlantic Ocean. It is very calm and we found out it stays calm because there is a coral reef 5 miles out which makes the waters along the Keys very calm compared to the east coast of Florida where the waves crash on the beach. It has been sunny with lots of blue sky and in the 80's. Our RV Resort is right at the beginning of the 7 mile bridge. There is an old 7 mile bridge which people walk or ride their bikes on. We do this every morning. It is so beautiful being out on the bridge and watching the water. People have told us they have seen sea turtles and sting-rays and fish in the water, but we have not seen any yet. There are lots of sea birds here; pelicans, herons, ibises. We had 10 ibises in the water right behind our RV. Each night we walk to the resort's beach and watch a beautiful sunset. My cousin Libby and her husband John live here in a condo. Saturday Libby, Mike and I went to a Flea Market. They are real big here in Florida. So much stuff. On Sunday we went to my cousin's condo for Superbowl Sunday and watched the game. We are true senior citizens now because we have been attending bingo at the campground every Wed. night. We even won a couple times.