Tropical Loveliness

Lake Okeechobee

After leaving Jonathan Dickinson State Park, I drove a little out of my way to go see and drive by Lake Okeechobee.  While I was able to see the lake at a boat ramp, for the most part I drove next to a large mound of earth that separated the road from the lake.  I must say, the road was not as pretty as the map claimed it was. . .Rand McNally and I may need to have a talk about those green dots!  Then I headed south.  I very much enjoyed driving through the Florida Keys!  Who knew you could drive out into the ocean so far! I savored each glance at the new, topical land I was entering!  I ended up getting one of the last two sites at Bahia Honda State Park! 

View of the old
railroad bridge at
Bahia State Park

After quickly setting up my tent, I headed for the beach!  I thoroughly enjoyed floating in the most wonderfully warm and beautifully aqua water of Florida Bay!  After a while, I got adventurous, and checked out the beaches on the Atlantic side of the island.  Then, I strolled to the top of the old railroad bridge that Henry Flagler had built between 1905 and 1912.  It was so nice to get a bird’s eye view of the island.  It was also amazing to be able to see both the Atlantic and Florida Bay at the same time!  After a little more time at the beach (and in the most heavenly water), I headed back to the bridge at sunset, which was quite a peaceful and amazingly beautiful experience!         

Sunset at Bahia State Park

In the morning, I headed to the other end of the island to swim and soak up the sun at the beach on the Atlantic side.  After claiming a small section of the beach, I headed in the totally clear, yet aqua water.  It was so warm and clam and refreshing!  It was really like the water was an extension of the sand part of the beach.  In my experience with beaches, the sand is the calm, relaxing, warm part and the water is the much cooler, refreshing part that requires a fair amount of energy to enjoy (swimming, splashing, jumping on waves, keeping your head about water, etc.).  However, the beaches in the Keys weren’t that way at all.  The water was almost perfectly calm, the water was so warm that you could stay in it for hours, and the salt made it so easy to float, that it was almost as if I was still on my towel on the sand!  I must say, I’m quite a fan of this new type of beach I have discovered! 

Beach on the Atlantic side
of Bahia Sate Park

After a lovely morning at the beach, I drove down to Key West.  While it seemed like it would be a fun place to go when being fairly active and social was your goal, it was not the right moment for me to experience Key West.  I was ready for more calm tranquility in nature, not being in a crowed city, so after driving around a bit, I headed north with the idea of making back to the mainland.  Well, by the time I got close to leaving the Keys, I decided I needed just a little more time in this tropical paradise!

John Pennekamp State Park

I got a site at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park on Key Largo (which made me think of a favorite student. . .which made it all that much better).  I quickly took up residence at the beach and went back to my routine of soaking up even more sun and floating in more wonderfully perfect water. However, this time, I was a little less relaxed in the water because everyone else was snorkeling and they kept yelling out what kind of fish they were seeing to their friends.  This, of course, made me a little concerned, but I was able to float very near the surface and pretend not to worry about all the potentially dangerous sea creatures I was sharing the water with.  I kept hanging around the beach until after dusk.  It got more and more serene as it got less and less crowded!

View from the trail at
John Pennekamp State Park

The next morning I got up and enjoyed the mangrove trail (well at least the 80% of it that wasn’t under construction).  I also got to enjoy the (somewhat early) morning sun reflecting on the water at the beach before all the beach goers got there!  It was the perfect way to say goodbye to the Keys.  However, I feel I will need to make a return trip at some point!  I feel this tropical land warrants some more investigation!              

Sunset from the campground at Bahia State Park