September 17, 2014 (7th Day) Key Largo, FL - Bahia Honda Key, FL

The morning was not as lousy as we thought it would be.  We stopped at concession store within the state park to get information on boat/snorkeling tours.  We wanted to see if the price was reasonable for us to go on a glass bottom or snorkeling tour, but it was not within our budget.  

Filling up the water tanks

Pelican flying by!

We continued driving south, passing Tavernier. The last time we visited the Keys was 10 years ago. Now there are more hotels and fast food joints. Local owned stores are sparse. 

The next town we stopped at was Islamorada.  Erwin wanted to check out Off the Chain Woodcarving while Edith was checking out oddities nearby.

Chainsaw carvings

We pulled over to Channel #2 parking lot, took a walk to the bridge, climbed down to the base.

Bush growing on concrete bridge.

It was at 1 pm when we checked into Bahia Honda State Park Campground (advance reservation).  The normal check-in time is 3 pm and we were early.  The ranger mentioned that the campers had not checked out of the site yet, told us to come back in an hour or so.  To kill time we explored inside the park, checking out some beaches and marina.   We went back to the ranger station, picked up tag for site #8 (while checking out campground we saw one ocean view site that we would like to occupy).  We asked if we could switch site #8 to site #18 (facing the ocean), but all were booked.  The guy in front of us got the last oceanview site. Oh well... 

After getting all the paper work we needed for 2 nights' stay at the campground done, we went to Winn Dixie to pick up more fruits and milk.

The view from campsite #8 was not too bad. We could see the bridge, the water.  After settling down we got our fishing gear and walked to the bridge underpass, not far from the campground.  Edith got her first fish, yellowtail snapper, but it was not a keeper. Erwin then hooked two small fishes (we did not know what they were). Even though we tried to stay under the shade most of the time it was still hot.  Lots of bait fishes nibbling on shrimp and Fish Bites. We fished for about an hour and half.  We packed up our fishing gear, walked back to the campsite.  We then got our bicycles and biked to a different campground (tent only) to see if there were any good fishing spots near the jetty.

Biggest catch of the day!

While fishing, we saw several huge sting rays swimming in the shallow water nearby.

From there we biked past the campground to Bahia Honda Old Bridge access.  We walked on the part of the old bridge that was replaced by a new bridge and reached the end.  The other part of the old bridge is in a rotten shape, lots of litter on the road.  While enjoying the view of the bridge, the sky and the water Erwin saw something moving in the water, asked Edith to use zoom lens to zoom in to see what it was.  Oh, sea turtle nibbling on algae by the seawall.  Edith did not see it, but Erwin saw a small shark swimming by the bridge pilings and a jumping tarpon.  Walking back to our parked bikes there were two ibises on a tree branch.  A Hermit crab was crawling across the step to the garden .

Ibis 

Hermit Crab

Sea grapes

If you look closely you will see that this turtle is missing one of it's rear flipper!

Erwin fixed pancakes for supper while Edith went to one empty campsite to take pictures of the sunset, but it did not happen the way Edith was hoping for.  There was a heron on the rock.

Isolated showers!

Miles Driven: 80