ATLANTIC COAST OF FLORIDA Nov 21- Dec 12, 2008
The prime destination of the trip, Florida, was to find warmth. Not sure why the cold seems to bother me so much now, as it is always possible to deal with it easily by simply putting on more clothes, but it does. Possibly it is because I haven’t experienced it in a meaningful way for the last three winters and I’m now spoiled. Certainly the dream of travel has always been there and travel my way is a lot easier when it is warm. I feel like I am now truly having a holiday – reading, listening to the radio, and some days not even driving anywhere. Some of the best books I have read include The Book Thief, Into the Wild by Jon Krakaur, A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon, Gai-Jin by James Clavell, God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens and The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson (a hilarious read particularly appealing to any baby boomer). Sirius satellite radio is my main entertainment and I often lay in the dark listening. CBC has so many wonderful personalities and great shows – the Current, Vinyl Café, Vinyl Tap, As It Happens, Ideas, Tapestry, Writers and Company, Sunday Edition, Wiretap and many others. Some shows irritate me incredibly – Q (mostly about Gian what’s his name), Go, and Cross Country Checkup (Rex Murphy’s endless paraphrasing) – and immediately prompt a quick change of channel to NPR or BBC.
I drove by Amelia Island and Jacksonville (at 840 square miles, the largest city by area in the continental US) and headed for St Augustine. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the US. Ponce de Leon discovered the fountain of youth here in 1513 and it was the focus of frequent battles between the Spanish, French, English and Americans for the next 260 years. The Castillo de San Marcos fort was finished in 1695 and still looks very much as it did then. Built of coquina (rock made of fossilized seashells), its walls were soft and able to absorb cannon balls, and may be why it was never beaten in any battle. It traded hands multiple times as a result of paper treaties. Part of the National Park Service, the tour and firing of the cannon were very well done. Home to the oldest school-house and oldest house etc, the historic district with it cobblestone streets now has all the usual tourist traps. The Hotel Ponce de Leon has a wonderful old lobby and dining room with Tiffany windows. The second night I was there was their annual lights festival with a very good big band playing Christmas carols (which if you have to hear them, is the nicest way) in the main square. There were lots of tourists with the usual trolleys, horse-drawn carriages and many very high end art galleries.
It was now time to make a decision – to visit Orlando with its Disney and Universal Studios theme parks, and Kennedy Space Centre on the coast or to go natural and avoid all that and their very high prices. I bought a year’s pass to the 160 Florida’s state parks ($40) and to try to see all the natural wonders of the state. Florida is amazingly flat with the only elevation changes occurring on bridges over the many waterways.
Three highways run down the coast. I-95 is the big interstate that goes from Maine to the end of Florida and is several miles inland. US 1 remains on the mainland running a block or so inland from the water that separates it from the barrier islands that are on the outside of most of the state. A1A moves down the barrier islands with the open Atlantic, surf and sandy beaches beside it. That is the one that I tried to travel on. I finally found a parking spot that Terry might have approved of. The sound of crashing surf on great beaches on the other side of the sand dunes was welcome background noise. I mostly succeeded only in getting kicked out of all of these parking lots as overnight camping is not allowed.
Tomaka State Park, just north of Daytona Beach, has a large eastern hardwoods forest and good kayaking. I took my boat out for a several hours paddle and good bird watching. Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is just north of Kennedy Space Centre and Cape Canaveral. With beach, trails and great bird watching, I spent 2 days schmoozing around. I saw a pileated woodpecker, red-bellied woodpeckers and an armadillo, plus all sorts of herons, egrets and ibises. The mosquitoes and noseeums were bothersome, apparently much worse in the summer, and all houses have large screened in areas often covering swimming pools. I don’t think I have ever seen no-see-ums before – these can’t be seen flying and are almost impossible to see on your skin but still have a nasty bite. The lights of big launch platforms flashed during the night.
There is always interesting Americana. In spite of the economic downturn, some stores are doing well – Wal-Mart and Dollar Stores have seen an increase in profits. On black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year following American Thanksgiving, when there are some great deals to be had, an employee was trampled at a Wal-Mart in Long Island during the rush to get into the store. Two people were shot in a PetsRUs in California. Many Americans were caught in Thailand when political dissent closed down Bangkok’s international airport. Some great quotes were “I’m American and I have to get home today. Don’t they know that it’s Thanksgiving?” and “These people and their meaningless demonstration is getting in the way of our traveling home for our most important holiday of the year”. One woman found the layaway plans offered by many stores to maintain sales a great method to continue consuming. She purchased some very nice sandals with stiletto heels and rhinestone straps for $400 and ipods for all her brothers. They all believe our medical system is poor and everybody comes down to the states for “good” medical care despite how uncommon this must be. I believe that they are deluded that their profit driven medical system has great quality. They all think Canada is full of terrorists. Americans are considering prosecuting in adult court an eight year old who killed his father and sibling.
Sebastian Inlet is a gap in the barrier islands with very a fast tidal current. Hundreds of people were fishing, but I didn’t see anybody catching anything. The ocean side has one of the biggest surf breaks on the coast and lots of surfers were out. It looks hard and few stayed on their boards for more than a 2 seconds with spectacular wipeouts. I continued down the coast, visited another state park, and finally, because of slow traffic, had to take to I-95 after Palm Beach. The day the space shuttle was to land was very windy with thunderstorms. One continuous city all the way to Miami, I missed Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale and finally arrived in Miami. Heading for South Miami Beach, I had a pleasant walk around the very pretty Art Deco District in the rain. Classic eyebrows, sleek rounded edges, boxy shapes, pastel colors and neon form the art deco style. The beach itself is huge – deep, graded packed sand and long – but with nobody on them today. Key Biscayne has Bill Baggs State Park at its south end and with my state park pass, I’m endeavoring to see as many of them as possible. There is virtually no surf here as the swell is greatly diminished by the Bahamas. I’m developing a great sense for the subtropical flora of the state.
The Florida Keys are a 126 mile long string of subtropical narrow islands connected by 42 bridges (one 7 miles long) extending SW from the tip of the state. With alluring jade green water, water sports galore, fishing and the best snorkeling and diving around thanks to the only living coral reef in the continental US, there were streams of tourists. The Keys are built on fossilized limestone with a very thin layer of soil and the highest elevation in the whole Keys is 16 feet. However there are few sand beaches. All water for the entire Keys and Dry Tortugas comes from Lake Okeechobee north of Miami. I went snorkeling at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and it was idyllic. I toured the nice aquarium and watched the excellent 30 minute movie in the Visitors Centre twice trying to memorize the literally hundreds of creatures from coral, fishes, to sponges and worms. It didn’t help. Once in the water, I could hardly recognize anything. After taking a big boat five miles out to the reef with 30 others, I loved being in the water despite being a poor swimmer and never really enjoying the water any other time. This is the fourth time I’ve snorkeled and am still poor at it, but by finally getting my mask sealed correctly and remembering how to slow my breathing down, I was able to explore a huge amount of the reef. Unfortunately, I am able to completely fill my sinuses with seawater and whenever I put my head down afterwards, it feels that at least a quart of sea water drips out for the next day. Downward facing dog in my yoga routine seems to be the most productive. After many previous attempts, I am determined to finally develop a yoga practice. My mat just fits on the linoleum of the camper. Hoping to improve my flexibility, strength and posture, there are some poses I find challenging. Meditation is becoming a more important part of my routine.
Water is not visible from the road in the Upper Keys but as you progress south into the Middle Keys, the land starts to open up and you actually get the feeling that one is driving from island to island. Windley Key Fossil Reef SP is the site of old quarries that produced the limestone used to build the Keys Extension to the railway at enormous expense between 1904-1912. The first land connection to Key West was, except for the bridges, totally destroyed in the Labour Day hurricane of 1935. The strongest hurricane ever recorded, it had winds of 200 mph and the lowest barometric pressure at 26.15 ever recorded in the western hemisphere. The 18 foot water surge completely destroyed part of the Keys and 700 people (including 50 of 61 members of one family) died. Many survivors were left completely naked as their clothes were destroyed. The road was completed in 1938 and used all the railroad bed and many of the bridges. Lignumvitae SP is an island that was never logged and has a mature hardwood forest. This is now my third tour and I am finally recognizing some of the trees. Apparently the mosquitoes are atrocious from April to October and the heat and humidity are oppressive. Add hurricanes to the mix and this little piece of paradise in the winter sounds like hell the rest of the year.
Key West is the ultimate tourist trap. Downtown the open air restaurants and bars are hopping with either football on TV or live bands. I walked past Ernest Hemingway’s house on my way to the southernmost point in the continental US.
I decided to go to Dry Tortugas National Park. Seventy miles due west of Key West, the fast catboat ride took 2 1/3 hours and lots of people got sick. The park consists of 7 islands totaling 67 acres. Only Garden Key is accessible, and three serve as the only nesting sites in the continental US for the sooty tern, noddie and the magnificent frigate bird. I was very tempted to bring my kayak but the only reasonable trip would be to go to the 45 acre Loggerhead Key, a treacherous 2 ½ mile crossing to get to the best snorkeling in the park. Garden Keys 17 acres are taken up by the 12 acre Fort Jefferson, a huge hexagonal fort built (but never finished) between 1845 and 1874. Containing 16 million bricks it is a three-story architectural masterpiece with 420 cannon ports (able to aim 145 canons on any one target at once but it never fired in anger) and 2000 brick arches. I went on two guided tours and as we had complete access during daylight, I spent a few hours wandering around on my own marveling at the impeccable brickwork. With a small ribbon of sand and beaches on three sides, the rest of the fort is surrounded by water. It was sublime to walk the moat sidewalk on the three sides surrounded by water especially at night with the full moon. Up to 60 magnificent frigate birds soar over the fort every day (the morals of these birds is hardly magnificent as they only poach the catch of other birds and can’t swim as their feathers do not have oil). I snorkeled every day and extended my trip a third night. I was almost unable to return on the fourth morning due to a huge storm that I spent in my tiny one man tent trying to keep from being blown away. It is a challenge to camp as you must bring all your own supplies including water and can’t bring stoves, so cook using charcoal briquets. I hung out with five great guys from Chicago who have now come for a whole week for three years in a row. They drank a prodigious amount of beer and Jim Beam whiskey and fished catching grey snapper by the dozen. I had a great time but now look forward to starting the long drive home as this is the farthest point of the trip. On my way back up the keys, I stopped at Bahia Honda SP to snorkel at the best site in Florida but was unable to because of high winds.
I wish everyone a great Christmas and hope you are enjoying winter (although I hear you are now in real cold snap while I have to endure no-see-um bites). Keep in touch.
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