Traveling the Everglades and Gulf to Bahia Honda...
February 13, 2023
The Beautiful Manatee
Marco Police had come up to us wanting to know if we had set off the alarm. Given we didn't have an Apple watch, it wasn't us. Apparently some guy had accidentally activated his watch which called 911. Nice to know that it worked.
Our trip down from Everglade City was almost uneventful other than the millions of crab pots. I was on lookout assignment. We had a special sighting of a Loggerhead turtle who popped its head up long enough for us to see it, stare at us and go back down. So sad I could not get a picture but something I won't forget. As I went down into the cabin to get Danny a drink, I could hear Danny screaming. He had hit a crab pot. Danny stopped the boat hoping the float would pop back up but no luck. We waited and waited. He decided to go forward and I stood downstairs in the back of the boat. You could see the pot come up to the top as he accelerated. We stopped and he did it again and all of a sudden the pot dropped away from us! Danny told me the boat had line cutters attached to the prop shafts to keep the rope from wrapping around the prop which would make us stop dead in the water with one or both engines. I kept watching- no pot or rope seen and the engine was working fine. Danny said once we tied up, he would go under the boat to see if there was any rope left...
So there you have it!
Bahia Honda State Park is a beautiful location just south of Marathon. Bahia Honda is Spanish for deep harbor. Many explorers would use this channel due to its depth. It has a beach on the Atlantic and the Gulf side which is unusual for the Keys, walking trail below and on top of the bridge. Henry Flagler, known for bringing the railroad to the east coast of Florida, wanted to provide a railroad from Key West to the mainland. The 126 mile trail was built using islands to connect the railway. Bahia Honda had the deepest channel at 30 feet which made it the most difficult to build. Work began in 1908 and was completed in 1912. Men working on the bridge could have varied schedules with some being as short as 45 minutes due to the tides, current, and wind. As cars became more common the decision was made to take the train route and build a bridge on top of it to allow for 2 lanes of traffic. This occurred in 1938 and was used until 1972. In 1984, it was listed in the National Historic Registry so it could not be demolished. You can walk up the first quarter mile with great views. In 1984, 2 spans were taken out so tall boats and sailboats could pass from the Atlantic to the Gulf or vice versa.
Unfortunately their nature center was closed due to Hurricane Irma in 2017. The park rangers did have programs on the beach for people who wanted to see items they carried in their golf carts. There were posts throughout the park showing rare plants likely starting from seed carried by birds from the Caribbean and Cuba. Also rare butterflies seen here. We saw butterflies but not the rare ones posted. One night they did a demonstration of using shells for creating sounds like the Indians. Danny was willing to give it a try!
We also saw numerous bushes on the key. The Sea grape tree with large circular leaves were noted for the Indians and settlers using these leaves for plates for dining.
Now the manatee story. The former owners of the boat told Danny they had seen a number of manatees while at this marina. We had seen none but that's nature. As I was getting the lines ready to leave, Danny who was upstairs at the helm said "Jenny look at the front of the boat". The manatee was there and gradually floated away from the front of the boat to the side of the boat. Needless to say, we were not going anywhere. We were blocked by this gorgeous large manatee for 45 minutes. So we got an upclose and personal experience. I was concerned because it was floating for such a long time and not going down to feed that perhaps it was sick but when it cleared our boat and we untied to leave, it did a deep dive down. It was a great experience before we left. We went back to our routine of watching crab pots again!
TOTAL MILES TRAVELLED 1310.20 miles
TOTAL DAYS 94
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