The Keys: Winter Star Party, Key West, Bahia Honda Beach

Winter Star Party
We are spending a week in the Keys at the Southern Cross Astronomical Society's Winter Star Party. We did not bring our telescope, but others have been very willing to share their viewings with us. There are amateur astronomers and also photo-astronomers, so a lot of technology and red lights at night, people staring at eye pieces, red tinted computer screens, whirring and whizzing noises as computers turn telescopes to find star clusters, galaxies, nebula off in distant space. The photos can really enhance what is seen in the eye piece, so sometimes the "smudge" you see in the eye piece looks much more exciting in the photo.

This one was the winner!

One of the astrophotography contest winners.

When the clouds roll in and it starts to rain. . .

The telescopes put on their rain jackets and patiently wait for clear skies. . .

to see this:

Key West

We went on a hop on/hop off trolley tour in Key West which gave us the historical background of the island and highlighted the architecture and points of interest.

The end or beginning of US Route 1. We can only head north from here!

The beach is gorgeous, the water refreshing and we are going back today!

The beach at Bahia Honda State Park

Fiddler Crab

Fig-like fruit

Flamingo, Everglades Nat'l Park III

We're in the everglades again, this time deep in the park at Flamingo - the end of the road. It is notorious for its numerous and vicious mosquitoes: The rating of hysterical does not mean "funny". 

But don't worry, Diane is always well prepared. I had been looking for a net jacket for protection against bugs and found it at the Flamingo marina store. It was only $17...I would have paid a lot more! And "A plus" is how stylish I look...

Our boat tour along the mangrove channels lead to some large inland brackish water lakes. We saw a few animals, the most exciting being the manatee mother and baby. The water was clear enough, so we had a good view. The mother manatee had the propeller scars on her back from a motor boat that you hear so much about. People, more adventurous than we are, can make a canoe or kayak trip of over 90 miles from chickee hut to chickee hut. The huts are two raised platforms over the water where you can set up your tent and there is a porta potty to share between two platforms. I will see if I can find a photo online, so you can consider making the trip...

Our captain and our naturalist.

Red mangroves and their "walking" roots

A baby manatee - mama was nearby.

 

Short tailed hawk perched on the edge of the canal

The pink and aqua mid-century modern Flamingo Visitor Center

Converting our Weber gas grill into a baking oven for blueberry muffins.




 Leaving the everglades early in the morning fog. On our way to the Keys and the Southern Cross Winter Star Party!

Jonathan Dickerson State Park

Jonathan Dickerson State Park
Here is a photo of the "soil" at our campsite. It looks like a limestone conglomerate with lots of tiny and not so tiny shells. I like to call them "fossils" which doesn't seem to be scientifically correct.

Limestone conglomerate that makes up our campsite.

On our way to the Hobe national wildlife refuge ocean beach, we passed through a majestic tunnel of banyan trees.

Banyan trees lining the road to Hobe Beach

Kayak trip up the Loxahatchee River

From Jonathan Dickerson State Park you can travel up and down the river by kayak, canoe or small motor boat. Our kayak trip was wind against us on the way up river and at our backs as we returned. We saw a few birds, turtles and fish. There was something that "moved" under our boat that scared me...that I will call a monster fish....The beauty of the trip was being surrounded by the mangroves, which doesn't show up too well in these photos, so use your imaginations. The photo of the pine tree on the right is showing how the roots are exposed when the bank is eroded away.

A story but no photos

One early evening while biking we saw a bobcat who was also using the bike path (without a bike, Tristan!) and the following night we went out again and found deer, but no bobcat. We also walked up Hobe Mountain, all  86 feet of it. It is the tallest point south of Lake Okeechobee. It had a tower on top not counted in the 86 feet which offered a nice view of the area-Atlantic Ocean, intercoastal waterway and the surrounding landscape of sand, palms and pines.

We have now moved on back to the Everglades, Flamingo...where the mosquitos are....

I have to sneak these photos onto the blog before George gets back....I sent him to find quarters for the laundry.....

 Sunday, February 12, 2017

George "going in" at Carlin Beach-Jupiter, Florida!

The water was warm!

I don't think George will mind....I got his good side! 😊

The Everglades - part II

We shared our campsite with this catbird. He was always around, from his mewing call just at dawn, flitting around the underbrush, or checking for some morsel we might have dropped.

The Anhinga Trail certainly did have a lot of anhingas, which are known for their beautiful feathers and holding out their wings to dry after being in the water. In the photo below you see four good sized "chicks" looking at their mother's back...and I can just imagine what she is thinking...something like, Just leave the nest already...

Anhinga "chicks" in nest with mother.

What's the everglades without alligators? Lots of gators, and they really are just that lazy. I don't think one of them moved the whole time we were observing them. There was a certain smell about the area though.

Mahogany Hammock
George & I visited this hammock about 43 years ago, and a ranger pointed out where the owls were living up in a tree. Well I had my binoculars out and checked every possible owl spot, but couldn't find any. 

In this hammock, an "island" surrounded by a sea of grass, the trees and vegetation give you, "I'm in the jungle" feel, and that has remained the same. 

The boardwalk over the sawgrass to the hammock.

The view from the hammock to the river of grass.

An old growth mahogany tree.

The distinctive bark of a gumbo limbo tree.

Diane in a rare sunny spot in the otherwise deep shade of the hammock.

 

A dwarf cypress and an egret amidst the sawgrass river.

Resurrection ferns - they'll spring to life with the first rain.

With a gain in elevation of just 1 foot above the surrounding sawgrass, cypress trees grow considerably more robust and taller forming cypress domes.

A Julia heliconian feeding on nectar and a woodstork soaring above, both at Paurotis Pond.

The Everglades

We arrived at Everglades NP on Monday from the West Palm Beach area. We are camping at Long Pine Key, a peninsular of higher ground (about 2 feet) than the surrounding saw grass wetlands. As such it's dryer here and very pleasant -an open woodlands dominated by tall slash pines, no mosquitoes, but getting hot. 

 

Diane relaxing in the shade.

Fluffy cumulus clouds with tall pines in foreground.

 

Early morning fog. It will soon burn off.

Cypress dome swamp slog- (by Diane)
This was actually more enjoyable than it may look! We didn't see any alligators and the "snake" someone was trying to point out, I did not see at all, so no real dangers. We were given walking sticks to check for underwater hazards...to me that meant quicksand! The water was never more than knee deep and it kept you cool. The ranger asked us how we could make a living if we lived in the cedar swamp (nobody would want to live there), but I said I could sell air plants to the tourists passing by on the road (and then would get the heck out of there, which I did not say.)

 

Bromeliads growing on cypress trees.

Crocodile flag

One strange orchid.

Diane on the lookout for crocodiles!

Pineland Bike Tour (by Diane)
The Bike Hike took us through different habitats, from pine forest to grasslands. Again there supposedly was a snake that I also did not see. We biked on cart paths some of which can be underwater by about a foot in the wet season. The park provided the ranger, bikes & helmets and it was free! 

 

Spider web in the morning dew.

                                    Tree snails

Sweet acacia