Jane arrived at the Marriott Courtyard in Key Largo a few hours after I did last Tuesday and we had a woinderful time in the Keys and on the water. We went out for our first dives on Tuesday but neither of us remeembered to take our Gravol; that was an error. The seas were quite choppy with 3 to 4 foot swells by the time we arrived at the Speigel Grove (a large decommissioned navy vessel that was sunk to form an artificial reef and that sits in over 100 feet of water). Since we were not diving with all our own gear (and because Jane lost a pouch with 4 lbs of weight in it at some point during the dive), we were both seriously underweighted for the dive. That, combined with a strong current and poor visibility, made it an interesting and challenging dive. Once on surface and back in the rocking boat Jane decided to join me and not do a second dive that morning. We were fortunate to find a new weight pouch for Jane, and a bunch of other neat stuff, at the huge Divers Direct outlet in Key Largo. Non divers will have trouble understanding this but it's like Canadian Tire; something you want in every isle.
Thursday we dove the Speigel Grove again and the experience was totallydifferent; the seas were calm, the visibility was great and there was zero current, something that thee crew of our boat said was very unusual.. The sunken ship, when you can actually see it, is an impressive sight underwater and is a pleasure to dive on, and through in some parts. The second dive was at another wreck, in much shallower water - 30-40 feet, with abundant sea life on and around it.
Friday we took a day off diving and drove to Key West. Because the speed limits are low, 40-45-50 mph, it takes over two hours to get from Key Largo to Key West; but some of the vistas are amazing. No sooner had we arrived at our destination, parked the car, and made it to the world famous Hog's Breath Saloon ( Motto: It's better to have a hog's breath than no breath at all) for a less than fantastic lunch, the heaven's opened up and it poured, and I do mean poured. Many streets were flooded and we had to shell out $5 each to buy 99 cent rain ponchos so that we could make it back to the car. We drove to the southernmost point of the US marker, took a few pictures and headed back to Key Largo promising ourselvess that we would try to return to actually visit what, at first glance, seems to be a very interesting little city steeped in history.
On Saturday we did two other shallow dives in the marine park that runs along the Atlantic, or ocean as they say here, side of the Key Largo, and on Sunday we rented kayaks and for two hours navigated various bits of waterways in the mangroves of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. It was a lot of fun, even if we did get lost at one point.
Dear reader, you will ahve noted that there has not, to this point in this entry, been any mention of food. Well, the truth is that there have not been many gastronomic home runs; a few triples, like the two sushi dinners we had at Sushi Nami, the fine dining experience at Pierre's (pronounced Peer's) on Islamorala, and the Sunday lunch at Hobo's and same day dinner at Sundowner on Key Largo. The rest is not worth mentionning and has already been largely forgotten.
Which brings me to today. I mounted my bike at 9:20 and made off for Cocoa Beach, a small place along the space coast I had had the pleasure to come to three times in the past to attend launches as either a guest of, or the head of the CSA. Except for the deluge that I got caught in for about ten miles north of Palm Beach on Highway 1, the rest of the ride was uneventful. When I get back I'll tell those who want to hear it about the encounter with the guy with two bicycles in the parking lot of a McDonald's.
The number of properties for sale along this part of the coast is alarming. There are stetches of A1A, the road that goes along the shore in Brevard County, where I would say nearly every fourth property has a for sale or for rent sign, some with words like: Huge Price Reductions. And while there are some people on the beaches of Cocoa Beach, there seem to be much fewer than when I was here before. I think many people are hurting as a result of the economic situation.
Tomorrow I will continue to ride north along the coast and I'll let you know what I see.
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