Animal friends and the Atocha Discovery

Many animal visitors this morning. A deer stopped by outside Gordon's latte stop. The kitty and game cock visited downtown after breakfast at Camilles. All the animals here are just like a personal pet. Amazingly unafraid, totally friendly and completely approachable. Pretty cool.

Strolled down to Mel Fisher's Museum to take the tour after a long walk. Our Cigar shop owner gave us some free passes. Essential to have some free passes here as everything no matter how small has an extravagant entrance fee.

Mel Fisher found after 16 years of searching the Nuestra Senora de Atocha and the Santa Margarita, the Spanish galleons that sank during a hurricane on September 6, 1622, near Key West, Florida. These vessels contained treasure valued at well over 800 million dollars. Fisher didn't get to celebrate his find for long however as the State of Florida immediately claimed ownership of the find.

Fisher fought for eight years to reverse this claim and ultimately a US Supreme court decision restored his claim to the whole treasure. Bet the lawyers got a huge share!

Excellent examples of the treasure items recovered are exhibited in Fisher's Key West museum.

Fisher continues his search today for more treasure from the fleet that sailed with the Atocha.

Dry Tortugas

Up at 5:30am for the run to Key West to catch our boat/ship to the Dry Tortugas.

The Dry Tortugas are 70 miles WSW of Key West. A two and a half hour ride each way at 30 knots. Pretty speedy. The key we visited in the Tortuga group was Garden Key home of Fort Jefferson.

Fort Jefferson construction by the US Army was begun in 1846 with an eye toward controlling navigation in the Gulf of Mexico. Construction continued for thirty years but by 1880 the Army had abandoned the fort before construction was finished. By 1908 the area had become a wildlife refuge. In 1992 the area was designated Dry Tortugas National Park (http://www.nps.gov/drto/index.htm)

An interesting day trip (4 hours on the Key - 5 hours on the boat) and camping is possible but the Key has no water hence DRY Tortugas.  The water color surrounding the Key is to die for.

Gordon inside the dungon

Cruisers sail over from Key West

Fort surrounded by a mote (sp)?

Frigate birds populate an adjacent area of the Key.

Gordon inside the munitions storage area reminisces about the four years he spent as a munitions specialist in military service.

Below:  Our vessel behind a seaplane that also shuttled tourists to the Key.

Butterfly Madness

Visited Key West's Butterfly Conservatory this morning. A large aviary for butterflies and a few birds. Exceptionally lovely. Dozens of magnificent butterflies many of which were challenging to impossible to photograph. To much rapid movement but we did our best.

Spent an hour and a half just observing . Very nice and very relaxing....... until the crowds thickened. Then we were gone!

Back at the house for the afternoon just enjoying ourselves and our last week in this great setting.

Off to the Dry Tortugas early tomorrow. Should be fun.

Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park

After one more stop at our fav sporting goods store on Islamorada Key where all was resisted except some spicy beef jerky we stopped by Sombrero Beach for a walk before stumbling onto Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park.

The park is focused around the historical harvesting of the Key's bedrock (i.e. limestone) for various construction projects over the last few centuries. It was harvested much like marble and granite are today. Huge slabs are sawed or chiseled from the limestone substrate and further sized as needed for building blocks and other purposes. Kind of a miniature quarry operation.

The cut surfaces are unique as they reveal various fossilized corals and other undersea material. We are told to remember that the Keys were underwater for much of their history hence the formation of these limestone deposits.

After the park we returned to one of our fav restaurants for lunch before returning home.

Camille's & Eco-Discovery Wednesday 3/27

Camille's for buckwheat pancakes crisp bacon and real maple syurp. Really good!
Except ....Gordon dropped a syrup saturated piece of pancake down his shirt and turned his chest into the floor of a glue factory!

After cleaning up...we visited the Key West Eco-Discovery Center. All kinds of information about the local land and salt water environments mangroves etc. Excellent 3D Television format movie of local undersea life.

Grabbed a cigar and people watched for a hour before heading back to Big Pine Key to make some chicken soup. Left over bird should make some excellent stock to start the process.

Only one more week til we head to New Orleans via the Florida gulf coast. Our friend Larry is meeting us there to show us the "good" spots. His son lives nearby so Larry has learned his way about.

Small harbor near our rental

First Hooded Warbler seen ever.