John Pennekamp State Park & Key Largo (MM 1130)...

February 22, 2023



 Railroad mile marker from Eastern railway.                                      Caribbean Club drinks

When we arrived in Key Largo, we got our bikes down and planned to go site seeing.  Danny's first goal was to go to Jimmy Johnson's outdoor eatery, The Big Chill.  In the course of going there, I saw a place called the Caribbean Club.  It is considered one of the top 10 dive bars in Florida, so we went there first.  What a great place!  We sat out on the back porch with everyone else.  No food, just drinks.  You walk up and order what you want and pay and then go out and sit on the docks, picnic tables, or chairs and look out at the water.  You see Danny with his beer and I had a Cat 5 hurricane which was very good.  Danny also enjoyed my drink as well.  Jimmy Johnson's place wasn't great and we didn't stay long. on our way back to the park, we ended at Sundowner's to eat dinner and watch the sunset!

This park is just a wonderful place.  I have a taken a nature trail hike with a naturalist. We listened to a lecture on lion fish, went fishing with a private charter, and went snorkeling.  We also have had excellent meals with stone crab claws and yellowtail snapper at several places.  Danny and I also returned to the Caribbean Club on more than one occasion to enjoy that Cat 5 drink.  Let say we went there 4 out of the 5 days there. The last time we got to hear great music!

Not far from our boat in the marina was a well marked off area with orange gates and yellow ribbon of many very worn boats.  One, I could see up close had a sticker from the State of Florida marked 1/23/2023.  These were illegal immigrants from either Cuba or Haiti.  While at the Caribbean Club, one of the people we met at the Marina working was there and told us there are about 60 boats throughout the Keys.  Some company has been hired to remove these boats but we have seen no activity.  Another interesting comment this person made was that the engines are old Russian engines and the pieces on the engines are not made anymore and very difficult to find making them worth a great deal of money.  Pretty amazing...



The hike through the forest started with the guide telling us we were standing on a coral reef.  The trees didn't grow like we would normally think because the roots would have to grow laterally not down very far due to the reef.  She pointed out many of the same trees we saw in Marathon.  The tree Lignum vitae we were told was the strongest tree in the world in Marathon, she said it was the strongest tree in North America. It has been written that the Holy Grail was built with this wood.  She showed us the red and black mangrove
plants and asked me to take a black mangrove leave and lick it.  The way this plant gets rid of the salt water is to extrude the salt on the back of its leaves and YES! it is very salty!  The Poisonwood tree was mentioned again.  This tree can cause skin irritation and has a more noticeable bark with shades of brown and black spots.  It is unique and beautiful.  What was new information to me is that the berries that grow off the tree are one of very few that high a high fat concentration for the birds.  The berries do not cause irritation to the birds.


 The most interesting item the naturalist spoke about related to figs.  Flowers grow inside the figs so wasps have to penetrate the fig to fertilize the flowers and they lay eggs.  She said every time you eat a fig, you are eating a wasp.  Certainly doesn't sound appealing to me.  Also all the trees on the farm were not indigenous to the area. So the mango, orange, and key lime trees we saw were all brought to Florida from somewhere else. While I knew most of that, I did think Key Lime was from the Keys. 

The story of the founding of the park was back in the late 1950's when John Pennekamp, the editor of the Miami Herald became concerned with the growing number of people purchasing and building properties in Key Largo.  He spoke to the Scott family who owned this property and had a grove of trees with various fruits.  In 1960, they agreed to sell their property to the State of Florida for $8,000.  The park is named after him.  The following day Danny and I went to a lecture on the Lionfish which has decimated much of the underwater life in Florida. From the lecture, it appeared the cause of the Lionfish invasion has been blamed on 8 Lionfish having been released in southwest Florida waters sometime before 1991. It is assumed they were probably pets and discarded. Similar story to what had happened to the Everglades with the python snakes. When you see the map of the massive infiltration over years, I just don’t see how you can get a handle on it to rid the Everglades. The spines in a Lionfish have neurotoxins that to humans can feel like an intense bee sting. Some restaurants serve the Lionfish filets which is said to be very good. The reproduction of the fish is every 2-4 days year round laying 300,000 eggs. Studies show only 1% hatch but even with that, you can see what the marine life is up against in Florida. Lionfish don’t discriminate against what they eat, they eat it all. The stomach can swell to 30 times its normal size. 


Our fishing trip while not great in our catch was fun and got to see an area Danny and I agreed to come back to when we left Key Largo. We caught 5 barracudas, 1 yellowjack from the amberjack family, and 1 yellowtail snapper. So the 2 fish we could eat were VERY expensive.  I caught the first fish and Danny caught the biggest. We each caught an edible one. 




The charter captain took us out to an area called Careysfort which has a cool lighthouse and beautiful reefs scattered around it. He said it had a lot of turtles and the snorkel boats don’t come out to this reef because it is further out. 



On our way in, we got pulled by FWC for an inspection and the charter captain got a warning for having filleted the fish before he got back to the land. I know he was trying to get finished sooner but lucky he didn’t get a ticket. He did get a ticket for not having a 2nd fire extinguisher on board…


The last day in Key Largo we were busy. Bike ride to Publix, secure the bicycles on the boat, snorkeling at Key Largo Dry Rocks, dinner at The Fish House, and drinks and music at the Caribbean Club. The snorkeling trip was great and most of the reef looked good. There was some bleaching but better than I was expecting. This location has a statue of Christ with outstretched hands. The story behind this is was a 9 foot bronze statue sunk in 1965 on this reef. This is the 3rd statue made from the original mold. The two other places it is found is in Italy and Grenada.


We really enjoyed our stay here at the State Park and definitely would come back to visit Key Largo. The food was excellent at The Fish House, Snook’s Bayside, and Sundowners. 


Early morning departure for Careysfort visit and Boca Chita Key overnight anchorage


TOTAL MILES TRAVELLED   1394.5 miles
TOTAL DAYS  103



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
                  The Mighty Mississippi...  October 11 - 18, 2023                       Danny on the banks of the Mississippi River from both the north and south. The Mississippi River runs 2340 miles from Minneapolis, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.  The river starts in Lake Ithaca, Minnesota where you can walk across stones.  The Ojibway people named the river meaning big river.  From a navigation standpoint, it is broke up into the upper Mississippi (Minnesota to Cairo, Illinois) and lower (Cairo, Illinois to New Orleans, Louisiana ).  We will travel the Mississippi until we get to Cairo and turn on to the Ohio River.  While the Mississippi River has flooded before, the worst being 1993, the river is exceptionally low this year.  Last year was low and this year is worse.  According to the data accumulated and released October 16th, the river is...
Read more
Image
The Ohio River to the Cumberland River to  Cross the Finishing Line at Grand Rivers! October 18 - 19,  2023 Our traveling down the last 7.7 miles of the Mississippi River were uneventful.  Clear skies remained with us throughout the day.  At Cairo, Illinois (pronounced Karo, like the syrup), we turned onto the Ohio River.  At this point seen in the picture, it is considered the lowest point in Illinois.  At one time, Fort Defiance stood here in the Civil War.  There was a great deal of activity on the water comparable almost to St Louis.  Barges coming, going, and loading.  Not that Danny isn't but, definitely had to be vigilant in what was going on in front and on the sides of your boat.  Above we are turning off the Mississippi on to the Ohio River. Saw another casino no longer operating just pushed up into the shore.   We made it to the Olmstead lock and dam and they lifted The Other Woman and Beach House up 30 feet.  Beach ...
Read more
Image
Clearwater and St Petersburg, Florida... January 9, 2023 We talked with our fellow loopers before we left to pick up words of wisdom before we were off to St Petersburg.  I would have liked to go on "the inside" or intercoastal waterway but we went on "the outside" or the Gulf of Mexico.  There were a few shallow areas that concerned Danny on the intercostal.  I'm sure I would have seen more birds and wildlife on the inside but we did see this couple checking their stone crab pots in the Gulf.       This beautiful pink structure is the Don Cesar Resort where I had gone to a conference years ago. Just prior to turning into Tampa Bay, we came across a HUGE cargo ship,  we stayed back until it passed.  I got pictures as it came between our boat and Egmont Key.  I will talk about this Key later.  Our view from our slip at the St Petersburg Municipal Marina.  On our arrival into our slip, we met 2 young guys to the left of us.  When...
Read more