There’s a storm forecast this morning, so no sailing today. Even in Florida, you can’t control the weather. But we had a dive scheduled for noon, and hoped it would clear up enough to go out then. Not that it mattered much. There is lots to do during the days and very little locked in on the calendar. We’re living at keys’ speed.
We went down to the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada. It’s impressive how much is packed in there, and even if you’re not a diver, there was a lot to see and learn there.
My son headed out to go diving, but the dive boat turned back after only half an hour due to rough sea conditions. Turns out the storm was much larger than forecast. In case you’re not up to speed on interpreting storm maps, here’s a primer for the screenshot below:
Green = makes things grow. Dark Green = Makes things swim. Yellow – Bad. Red = time for plan B.
Plan B.
We went over to Robbie’s Marina, a mix of restaurants, gift shops, charters, and other activities.
Pulling in to Robbie’s, we saw this tragic sailboat in the parking lot. It was a good reminder as to why the Chapman’s manual advises not keeping old coconuts in the hold.
But here we found the greatest food in all the Keys. Probably all of Florida. Chocolate-covered Key Lime Pie wedges. I’m not a big fan of sweets generally, but this was amazing. We decided right then that the sun should not set on a day without having found one of these desserts at some point.
Later we walked over to the water and watched people feeding the tarpon on the far dock. Although it was raining, it still looked really fun. And after reading the signage below we found that it wasn’t against any of the posted rules.
So we shelled out the $2.50 for entrance onto the tarpon dock, and $4 for a bucket of fish to try our hands at tarpon fishing. You take one of the little bait fish (5” long) out of the bucket and lean over as far as you dare, swinging the little fish over the frenzy of tarpon just a few feet below. Your adrenaline is up so high now, you no longer notice the rain. You are 100% focused on the fear welling inside your heart, fighting off the images of having your entire arm bitten off by one of these monsters.
It’s way more fun than it even looks. Also terrifying. Because those tarpon are aggressive. And full grown can be 4-8 FEET long, and weigh up to 380 pounds. They’re grabbing the little fish just to be nice. If they broke with tradition, they could doubtless pull you in by the arm. Or leg. It’s hard to imagine that a fish can get it’s 8 feet of body out of the water, 2 feet into the air, and swallow that entire fish faster than you as a human can even simply let go of it.
The big surprise was that the pelicans are turned out to be more aggressive than the fish. The only scrapes and cuts we ended up with after the feeding frenzy were from the pelicans who are not as careful about human fingers as the tarpon are!
Later we headed back into Key Largo and tried Mrs Mac’s for dinner since it was right next to the Key Lime Sailing Club. The server was very friendly, but when we decided to request the ‘Alligator Bites’ appetizer she apologized, ‘I’m all outta gator tonight”. Such a culinary disappointment. I’m sure the gators didn’t mind. But since the menu wasn’t exactly clear about who was biting whom, maybe it was ok. Besides I’m not sure i could tell the difference between crocodile and alligator anyway, being new to the meat.
Mrs Mac’s is tastefully decorated with license plates everywhere, clearing asserting it’s status as a national favorite. There were license plates dating clear back into the nineteen hundreds.
Also this happened. On the way back we passed a ‘Free Stuff’ sign on the side of the road. Seems pretty common along the Overseas highway in the Keys, and a good way to recycle. Then we looked closer. That is a bucket full of pirate swords. Fashioned from golf clubs. Must be a Florida thing. We checked though, and Delta did not specifically list golf club pirate swords from it’s list of prohibited items on board. They’ll make nice gifts for the family back home.
On to day 3 of the adventure…