The last sunset in 2014

Happy new year everyone!

Big Green and little Blue

What is big and green and scares little Blue? This 6 foot long green lizard has Blue very worried! The second picture is of a much smaller green lizard that sits next to our window and gives Blue a show. Not worried about him at all.

Curry Hammock, at last!

First line of business after setting up the rig, take a walk out the back of our site to the beach. The best campground in the keys, according to this blogger. And even better, we're here for 14 days, the other 3 state park campgrounds are all nice but this is the best. After 2 walks through the site (the second order of business) it has the Blue cat stamp of approval as well.

Christmas in the Keys

Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa on his bright red???? Fire truck? Yup, that's how they do it in the Keys.

We'll have a Blue Christmas

Feliz Navidad from Blue and friends, Chewbacca, Gary and Delys. That's Blues "I have had enough of your silly camera and toy game" look, he smacked Chewy on the floor and took a swing at me after I shot this. Well guess who is naughty this Christmas Eve!

Just another tequila sunset

I know, it's suppose to be sunrise but it's not morning, that was 10 hours ago! The song is still in my head from this morning even though we haven't had a drop of tequila all day, some bourbon, but no tequila.

Any way, the beautiful plant in the front of this photo is one of my favorites, the sea grape. Coccoloba uvifera is most often used in landscaping in the southern US and Caribbean islands. It is a popular ornamental plant in south Florida yards as well as a dune stabilizer and coastal windbreak. Tall sea grape plants are used to make a light barrier between coastlines to protect sea turtles. The leaves are large and when ready to fall, turn from the lime green color to a maroon. Once on the ground, they are a noisy leaf letting you know when the smallest creatures are nearby. I'm sure they are a little work to clean up after but I just love the noise of the wind in the leaves and Blue gets excited when he hears the crab walking around in the border between our site and the next.

The days are getting longer, starting tomorrow!

Winter solstice, first day of winter, December 21, 2014

On this shortest day of the year, I decided to enjoy it from sun up to sun down. Hard to believe but this is the first sunrise this trip, I guess we have been sleeping in this last month. As I was taking these photos this morning, I remembered a quote a great photographer I had the pleasure of hearing at a conference "after you take your photo turn around and look behind you, that is often the better shot".

After playing photo journalist, we were sitting outside, enjoying the morning with a cappuccino, when we finally looked up to see these strange cloud formations. Not sure what was going on but it had this "Close Encounters" feeling about it. Very cool!

Sunset cruise

With the warmer weather the fishing has slowed down for now. On our evening kayak we watched a few mackerel chase our lines back, but no bites. But the evening was rewarded as a pod of dolphin, including young, swam past us spouting and surfacing just off our port side. What a sight! Not to be topped by a huge loggerhead turtle catching a breath just a few feet away. One of the best things about a kayak is the ability to go undetected by the local creatures.

Moon Jellyfish

One visitor we have seen as we kayak the waters around Long Key is the Moon Jellyfish. They have a centralized censoring system in their body that allows them to find prey. They don’t have a brain and only about 5% of their body is made up of anything solid. Not as toxic as the Man-o-wars that we've seen at times down here but still not not a good swimming buddy.

Ready for Christmas in The Keys

The Christmas decorations are up and we are ready! Well I only brought one very small string of lights so we won't be upsetting the evening star gazing too much. A week from today we will have the turkey breast out to thaw and bada-bing bada-boom, into the crock pot and we'll be good. Bring on Christmas, we're ready!

The small catch

While the fishing has been good, we are into the small fish, generally that says we are in the shallows. So far, Lanes Snapper, Red Grouper, Mackerel and something else we are not sure about yet.

An evening on the water

With calm seas, we have a wonderful time kayaking at sunset. And it has been very calm all week with no change anytime soon. Yeah!

Morning at Long Key

Morning coffee, we are on island time now!

Sugar cane harvest

As we drove through south central Florida we crossed an area know for its sugar cane (a tropical grass originally from Asia). At this time of year, it is harvest time.

The Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of South Florida is comprised of 45 small to medium-sized member farms that grow sugarcane on what is among the most fertile farmland in America, located in the Everglades. The Cooperative produces more than 350,000 tons of raw sugar annually, which once refined, is enough to serve the average annual demand of more than 9 million people.

Commercial sugarcane is planted from stalk cuttings and placed in furrows about five feet apart. After approximately 12 months, the sugarcane is ready for harvest. Growers average four harvests each season from a single planting. Harvesting season lasts from late October through mid-March. The first step in the harvesting process is the highly controlled pre-harvest burning of the cane fields. Burning causes excessive leaves to be removed, preparing the way for the mechanical harvesters and then the processing of the cane. An added benefit to this practice is that it reduces the need for applications of pesticides.

Meteor shower over Long Key

On the nights of December 13/14, Geminid meteors will appear as soon as it becomes dark. Activity will be up to 40 per hour, the meteors you see will be long and long-lasting. They will shoot from the northeastern horizon in all directions.

We spotted two meteors just after dinner, one was very faint but the other crossed most of the sky. So that lovely picture is not mine, it would take a much better camera, with a time exposure, needless to say, I do not have these capabilities on my little Kodak camera.

We have now entered the Keys in one of the 3 wonderful state parks, Long key. The park is shrinking unfortunately, when I first booked the site there were over 25 sites large enough for us, now, according to the state park system, there are only 10. This is an example of erosion and the unbelievable power of water.

Just a few more fish

Well if you haven't seen enough pictures of fish, here are a few more! Well we are having fun and the fish breakfast tomorrow with the fresh Tilapia is fine with me.

Misty morning

With the cool air this morning a mist formed over the canal near the river. A stroll through the campground gave me the opportunity to capture some nice shots. As I was returning over the canal bridge I noticed a crunching noise. A short walk up the canal and I discovered the origin of the sound, one of the otters was enjoying a crunchy breakfast do snails along the bank. Walking up to our site two of the otter family ran through the campground. That explains why Blue has such a strong interest in the next site over, it is the path these critters take often.

Best day of fishing so far

We lost track but I think Gary had 6 and I had 4 and we lost several. My first snook was 30"!

Fresh fish for dinner

December 9, 2014 This is the first time we spent the money to get a FL fishing license and I am glad we did. This is the first time I have had fresh Tilapia and I can say that it was wonderful! Nothing like the store filets I have had in the past and never liked. This fish is a buttery fish, not mushy or fishy tasting. No need to get fancy with the cooking, just clean and dry the filets, dip in egg whites and then into a panko mix with Parma, lemon pepper grinder and into hot coconut oil. I made a tarter sauce with fresh lemon, mayo and chopped pickles and served a bit of tarragon potatoes salad. Eat it up while it is hot and enjoy. Blue stood by throughout the meal waiting for a taste.

Fish on!

Gary finally caught his Snook, in fact he caught 6! He practiced catch and release but before he placed the fish back, I took a few shot to document his first Snook catch. One of the local kids helped land the one that measured 23 inches (not the largest but the one caught while I was there). Lots of fun on the River today!

Sunsets

They just never get old.

Fun times with family, tis the season!

We always enjoy the chance to spend time with family around the US when we travel. This week we enjoyed dinner at Nervous Nellies with Sharon, Judy and Glen. Soooo much fun!