Key Largo, John Pennekamp State Beach
This is another one of those premiere state parks that get sold out immediately. This year we made reservations as Florida residents which allowed us to make reservations 11 months before out of staters. I got lucky and will have 2 weeks here in January 2025, but most days I still get nothing, even though I have done the 8am thing over 20 times. This is Day 5 at John Pennekamp, and the winds have canceled all the boat trips to the reefs; looks like it’s not gonna happen this time. BTW the snorkel reservations online sell out, but you can go in the on-site store and they hold some FF, the only problem is they keep getting canceled.
Paddling through a maze of tunnels that are formed from Mangrove trees was super cool.
We were pleasantly surprised by absolutely no bugs as we glided through the clear waters, seeing fish, crabs and even a stingray, and not a single alligator.
I’m glad because the passages are narrow, 6- 8 ft and that won’t be fun bumping into a gator. It would be difficult to turn a round and retreat. It was a bit windy crossing the wider motorboat passage to get to various mangrove trails as they started out wider and then little passage to narrow trails would appear. Some just ended, others went through to other larger water paths. The peacefulness of being deep in a mangrove forest was calming, and of course John always has to NUTSUP (Nap Upon The StandUp Paddle) and it was so nice to do this in the shade canopy.
Mangrove trees have special adaptations that allow them to thrive in salt water. The banks are tangles of mangrove roots so thick, especially in the narrow paths that there would be no place for a gator to go up and sun himself, that’s after all what they like to do. Well the John Pennencamp has big business renting kayaks and SUP so I think the threat is minimal. No worries here!
We learned in Hawaii that the chance of getting bitten by a shark is much less than getting hit by a falling coconut, and there was a grand coconut tree full of fruit right near our campsite.
I wonder if the same goes for alligator attacks. We have learned that they can be territorial, but generally are quite shy. We have become relaxed SUP enthusiasts
Key Largo area bike riding to various establishments has been easy since both sides of the A1A have 8 foot sidewalks, excellent ramps into the streets, and most of it has a 12 foot grassy bumper median between the wide bike path and the A1A where the 4 lanes of cars whiz by at 50+mph. Although there are few lights to aid in crossing, there is a large grassy median between the two directions so you can patiently look and cross one way at a time. One of the requirements for a great van life camping experience is to be able to bike to libation/eatery stations and other places such as bike shops for flat tires, or grocery stores. John Pennekamp sites are a bit close (a bit negative), but they have full hookups and Vinny’s AC has been getting quite the workout. The SUP launch area is about 200 yards from the campsites making it an easy transport for Paddle Boy. If the wind would stop blowing, the snorkel boats would also leave directly from the park, so that makes us carless van lifers happy too.
We biked south and found the Bayside Grill & Sunset Bar complete making for beautiful sunsets at this low key, mix of tourist/local suspects who were sitting at the bar. We enjoyed the vibe and the evening music, and met a nice couple from Wisconsin who rented at the Bayside Cove Beach Resort which we rode through to get to this Bar/Grill. It seemed like a very quaint place to rent little single unit cottages so close to the sunset. Next store was Snooks Bayside Grill and Grand Tiki Bar which seemed a step up from its neighbor Bayside establishment. There are just too many restaurants in this town ! Yesterday we finally decided to have a sit down dinner at Hobo’s Cafe where we experienced the first fresh Florida Grouper encrusted in Bacon no less, how could you go wrong with that. I had their Key Lime Mahi Mahi which was also excellent.
One day we headed north to find Dagny Johnson Key Largo Botanical State Park which is a self serve bike/hike park only. Luckily we had the $5 to cover the fee from this entrance but they say there is another entrance 5 miles up the Key. There were very few other people as we rode through the tall tree lined paved paths that eventually turned to gravel or leaf litter coral rock dirt substrate, but were fine for our road bikes. We did not see any signs pointing out natural fowl or fauna, but we did see some narrow dirt trails going deeper into the woods. Although the path started out nicely paved it got rougher as we continued but just in a more remote sense; it was quite lovely. All paths were passable except when we got to a place with lots of pink ribbons tied to the bushes because the path was under water that looked to be more than a foot deep.
Good time to turn around. It was a warm day, and we decided to go to do a beer at the Shipwreck which we had seen a sign for on the road. This was a rough marina eatery located dockside to many houses with slips across the canal. Here we met Mary (retired law office manager) and Bill (on-call boat captain) and Brandy (Bill’s somewhat dachshund girl) . We connected over music and just having a couple beers together. They were headed to the historic Caribbean Club where Warner Brothers used this location as inspiration when writing the Bogart/Bacall film Key Largo. This club was originally built by Carl Fischer in 1938 as a poor man’s fishing retreat that upon his death turned to gambling, had several fires of suspicious origin, and finally was purchased by the Lefty and Ruth Whitehurst in 1963 where it is run by the family. The Caribbean Club is a cash only libation station, ripe for beautiful sunsets and on the Wednesday night when we arrived there is Karaoke. John connected with a young couple Amanda and Nick. John’s thing is to find young in-love looking couples and tout the virtues of a good marriage, I guess it’s all those years of being married to me hah,hah. He really borders on being pushy and I have had to curb the conversation on more than one occasion, but I was talking to Mary that night, and then next thing I know is he is dedicating his karaoke song to them and we are invited to their unplanned wedding. Bill, as a preacher for 20 plus years, just observed and kept saying John is changing their lives. Well, we had a really nice evening with Mary, Bill and Brandy and we exchanged phone numbers which usually we don’t do with many of the very authentic people we meet at bar stools. Imagine we haven’t been to a single brewery yet. But on the way to Key Largo we overnighted in the ChainBridge Distillery, between Pompano and Fort Lauderdale Beaches, where we were good Harvest Host members and picked up several bottles of their spirits including a really interesting ginger vodka and a white whiskey.
We took off from John Pennekamp rather early for us because John was in need of an Urgent Care as his lingering cough became full-on coughing fits. So while he was getting his drugs, I did a shopping run and we were all stocked up. Several days later he is feeling pretty good and has stopped with the coughing outbursts that we experienced for several days.
Bahia Honda State Park
There is only a very small sandy beach area at John Pennekamp, but Bahia Honda is a different story and I discovered this on a bike ride on our first night.
No snorkeling for paddle boy, as he decided to rest and recup for Key West. Luckily the snorkel trips were not getting canceled and I did two of them while he rested. Looe Key Reef is supposed to be some of the best snorkeling in Florida, but so far this is the only place I have seen.
Both days were pretty rough, but the current didn’t really push very hard. One just did quite a bit of bobbing in the waves. I actually started to feel queasy in the water after about an hour, and once I got up I went to my corner of the boat and did a quick barf over the side and then felt better; I didn’t really even have time to think. The first mate in her morning instruction said it is best just to do this if you need to, but make sure you lean out and there are no people because the fish will come up and clean up the mess. Which they did in a furious frenzy. I saw lots of these little yellow-striped white fish around the boat during both trips and can’t help thinking that this in general is a good place to hang out because they might get treats.
Under the falling down Flagler railroad bridge we go. They have put warning signs of falling metal debris under it but have cleared sections for pass through
Luckily I was fine on the way back, and I had already signed up for the morning trip the next day. As I waited, I met Richard and Sylvia from Germany.
They were traveling for about 7 months through the US and they had shipped their really cool combi to Baltimore (luckily before the Francis Scott Key Bridge Crash). Really nice to meet up with them and told us about the Shark Valley Tram Trail which is a fabulous bike ride. They were also headed to Big Bend in Texas so look forward to hearing about all these places. Sylvia also felt seasick on the way back and had gotten out early. Like me she also doesn’t usually get sick. I just had a peanut butter sandwich and banana and not a chef salad (albeit 3 hours prior) like I had the day before and had no problem on this second trip. John and I had seen this German License plated RV in the campground as we took an evening walk. We stopped by on our way out to say good-bye and got the tour. Very cool.
They were shipping it back to the Munich area from Halifax in September. Thankfully John was on the mend and we headed to meet up with our long-time camper friends, Debby and Denny for an entire week. We had planned this last year and have been looking forward to seeing them again.
Marathon
We should have brought our boat because the Grassy Key RV Resort has boat docks and a Kayak/SUP low launch dock, not to mention a nice gazebo seating area that overlooks the water and Cornhole too.
Many snowbirds left on April Fools Day when we arrived, so we had no one to either side of us and we get to enjoy the lounging in the MLE (Mobile Linck Estate)
which is a nice change from 160 square feet Vinny, but I don’t want to make him jealous, so I’ll stop at that. Many amazing sunsets here at the Grassy Key.
Marathon Turtle Hospital
This was an incredible experience as we learned about the seven species of turtles and the ailments they have. We learned how to spot a turtle in distress. For example, bubble butt is when they have eaten something that did not settle well and butt sticks up and they are unable to dive away like a healthy turtle should be able to do.
This is when you call the Florida Turtle rescue hot-line and they tell you what to do depending upon the immediate resources. If the turtle is rescued, you get to name it and they attach a tiny marker so that they can always be identified if found again.
Don’t try to rescue a loggerhead turtle because their powerful jaws can snap off your fingers as they usually eat conchs.
Lisa, brought in on my birthday this year, has a case of the tumor growth on her neck which is an auto-immune type disease that they treat here, sometimes with surgery.
The other big problem that turtles have is being struck by fast boats or tangled in fishing line/nets (lots of both here in Florida Keys). They are brought here and released if they are ready.They have several permanent resident turtles who will never be released, and the green turtle is the most dominant patient in the hospital. Interesting story of how the owner who retired here to fish, bought the motel property and evidently did a u-turn on his passion and started saving Turtles. Highly recommend the tour!
Marathon “Happy Jack” Bus Tour
Happy Jack was such a hoot and provided us with a whole bunch of info about the history of Marathon including the building of the 7 Mile Bridge which is really quite extraordinary for the time. Henry Flagler is everywhere in Florida from colleges in St Augustine all the way through the Keys.
We stopped at what she calls the most underutilized park, Marathon Community Park, where we also saw a manatee and her baby feeding in a small green inlet area. Here there is pickle ball and donation yoga most days.
So many good places to eat we would need to be here for a month. But chose to go to the Dockside Grill because they always have local music. We heard local musician John Bartus who got A+ in looper handling and had some really good original music like “Sports Bar Musician” Had a beautiful evening with the Lincks and watched two little girls dance and do cartwheels on the dance floor. It was nostalgic and so enjoyable, as two boats pulled right up to the dock where we were seated.
Crane Point Hammock Museum, Marathon
How about a Fish Pedicure? This was certainly the most unique experience on what started out to be a rainy day. A lovely walk through the gardens, mangroves, and even a spider from above,
We even saw a prickly pear cactus and the unique shaving brush bloom on a dormant looking tree.
Snorkeling Coffin Patch, Marathon
Evidently this is a place where a load of empty coffins got spilled into the ocean during a storm when they ran into the reef. A large iron peg was erected to warn other ships, but legend has it was also run over/fell over in a storm and there it lays on the reef today.
The reef was about 10 or 12 ft deep in most places making it more difficult to see the sea life unless you do a bit of diving. So I made 2 minute video of the snorkeling highlights that was really only 90 minute of clips,but had to slow down my brain can’t absorb a pretty fish that fast
The second stop was to a place called the Donut and I think it was much more geared to the half dozen scuba divers that were aboard because the water was really deep and we didn’t see much. We did not go to Sombrero Reef which could have been one of the stops. So in general the snorkeling wasn’t great, at least in comparison to Hawaii. John of course entertained the boat on the trip back with Tom Jones singing and dancing. It’s Not Unusual.
Key West Day Trip
Out the door by 8am as we heard the parking is horrendous in Key West and today was a Saturday. Denny got us to the parking lot for the extra big, $40 for the day space right across the street from the Hemingway Distillery. We had been headed for the Mallory parking lot where he had been recommended, but found this instead on quite empty st 10am on a Saturday. This may have been the parking lot that our Summer Crush neighbors had said they paid $40 to overnight in. He had spots coned off for big wide bottom girls like Denny’s truck for a double wide fee rather than the $20 per day.
Walked the town for a bit and ended up at Sarabeth’s where two Cardinals Fans sandwiched a Cubs fan in this three table wide dining room for a delightful breakfast.
Hemingway House
Learned about the eccentric, depressed, drunkard writer and his wives who is so famous and tragically ended his life.
The cats of the home are allowed on the furniture, no cash paying visitors though. The 60 cats, many with the 6 toes, were all around on beds in chairs and outside in cat condos.
Captain Tony’s
A former Key West mayor, among many other less desirable occupations is quite a legend in Key West where he escaped from the New Jersey/York mafia. The colorful character Captain Tony’s Saloon has its own grunge character as bills and bras cover the ceiling and walls portraying the special ambience of this establishment at 11am
Sat on the Bob Dylan Stool in honor of my friend Kate who is a diehard fan. Interesting guy, this Captain Tony who died in 2008, after lots of famous people sat upon his barstools.
I guess it’s a thing to hang up dollar bills in bars – don’t see any undergarments in this one as we walked by.
Harpoon Harry’s
Serving breakfast all day long is perfect for John and he hoped to return for breakfast at 2pm one day while visiting. According to our very friendly waiter/son. The proprietor(mom) picked the name because she had some old harpoons for namesake, but Harpoon Ron didn’t sound good (that was our waiter’s, her son’s name). Cool lunch counter vibe with drinks (it is Key West) and lots of 50’s memorabilia and entertaining placards around the cheerful small place.
Hemingway’s Rum Distillery
Evidently he was quite the town drunkard when he wasn’t writing famous books. It was afternoon and Key West is basically a place to eat, drink, buy T-shirts and enjoy little town architecture and ambience between the scooters, bikes and walkers that are everywhere.
We wandered into the distillery where it was delightfully cool and rather void of people. A bit of tasting was in order and we enjoyed talking to the blue eyed south African barista.
Hogsbreath Saloon
Denny is with us and we are in Key West, so we must go to at least one biker bar. Listened to a band from Michigan that was all tambourine and just sat in the back and enjoyed a reprieve from the hot sun. We didn’t see any hogs but there were chickens running around.
Sigsbee Campground a Navy Base
Four Key West nights at the quiet Sigsbee Campground looked perfect as it was a 4 mile bike ride into the night life, but isolated from the hubbub. Well, we never made it onto the campground as the Background Check System was not working and we had to leave after the really nice camp host waited with us for over an hour for security to come and do the check from the curb. He came back another 30 minutes later saying the system was still down. Decided to stay at Boyd’s Campground which was really quite nice for a closely packed RV park. Luckily the season was not high and we landed an electric/water site for $112 per night. Too pooped to go out that night and thought we’d save it for the next 3 days. Wrong! System was still down the next morning and with 25 mph winds expected in the next few days, we decided to return north and I found a spot near Islamorada Elks Club for 2 nights. Sigsbee will have to wait for next year
Fort Zachary Taylor, southernmost US point
Waiting for the Background Check System made for the perfect time to take in the beach area of this Fort. From my hammock, I rocked in the breeze as I watched boats rocking back and forth in the swell.
The beach area was thick and sandy and the water so luscious, not to mention an excellent bath house. I could imagine this place would be mobbed on a weekend.
We did a bike ride around the park and did not dare ride into Key West which was just outside the park because doing so would be a $250 fine as we were warned when we passed through the kiosk to pay our daily fee.
Fort Zachary Taylor may not be used as a Key West Parking area!
Islamorada Brewery, A+ in our book.
The Dolphin Experience will have to wait because somehow we blew by it on our way north to Islamorada, maybe it was because they had two different porters listed on the website. #56 COMMODORE PORTER, Porter brewed with dark chocolate and serrano, red chili, and scotch bonnet peppers made it into John’s top darks of all times.
I had a seasonal thing with blueberries and coconut that I really liked. Bud N Mary’s was a different blueberry brew that I had to get a 6 pack for my best friend Mary. There was a delightful outdoor area where John beat me at cornhole as we conversed with a live upon a boat couple.
Seems like Distilleries are popping up all over (Wine and Beer is not enough) and we split a Chocolate Creamey shot with Chocolate Jimmies that was yummy.
Tavernier Elks Club
This was our first Elk’s Club camping experience and we were wedged in a side yard under a nice big tree because our neighbor Van was out for a root canal and wanted to leave him room to get by us when he returned. We had electricity and shade and AC running as it was becoming humid. The club had a location right on the bayside complete with dock and shade Tiki area and kayaks you could take out.
It was quite the prime spot for a BPOE club. Inside was basic and a poker tournament was going on around tables in the back. We had a nice conversation with a pilot/songwriter and his wife/artist, but then vaccines were brought up, and of course we put in our two cents. The next thing,he brought up border control. We should have stopped it right there because politics and religion are taboo at Elks clubs. We will keep this in mind in the future as the mission of BPOE is one of philanthropy and fellowship. We hope this is truly the case.
The wind was still blowing strong on the water so we had a lazy morning, but I made a major lunch. We were happy to have AC and be tucked away in some shade. I zoned in on getting the Harvest Hosts as we traveled north along our routes as John double checked the beer selection at my proposals. We dId a bike ride into town and found Dillion’s Irish Pub. No dark beers but all Florida establishments always seem to have a Yuengling for John. I always like a Guiness that was properly poured no less, but that’s just not John’s kind of dark beer. Stopped at the Dockside Raw Bar and Grill where the music was blaring from the street, but it was classic rock style, so we moved outside on the dock as far away as possible to enjoy the evening with this what seemed to be old friend jamming together with a really talented keyboard player. What do you want for a Wednesday Night in Tavernier?
Flagler Beach Gamble Rogers State Beach
Well I scored a beach front night at Gamble State Beach which we had discovered earlier this year.
Our 5 hour ride from Islamorada was uneventful except for the downpour around Dayton that provided Vinny with quite a wash down. Unfortunately we had to traverse some big muddy puddles to get to our campsite and there was even a section of A1A that they had to close to do some mud abatement. As luck would have it, we can scored another cancellation moving one spot down allowing for those big mud puddles to dry up yet one more day. And we will head back to Cajun Beach Boil and Grill to talk Hockey with the Minnesota Bartender. We tasted the Alligator bites which were just like chicken and quite good. Then we had to stop at Oceanside Beach Bar and Grill because the wait staff is so friendly there from our prior experience. Here John and a guy had extensive hip replacement engagement.
Flagler Beach is just down the steps from our campsite is a beautiful walking beach but has sharp shells for swimming. On our walk back, we stopped at the High Tides at Snack Jack where the waitress had an Eagle cap on, so John’s enthusiastic Philly sports chat ensued, spilling over into hockey and baseball.
After a typical late-afternoon nap, off to find the evening in Flagler. Although Finns was supposed to have music it was an afternoon show, So we continued on to The Golden Lion Cafe which did have a Cyndi Lauper style singer with a rhythm guitarist and an electronic bass drum. Somehow they could fill the space and this woman probably did Cyndi Lauper better than Cyndi. Not only that, but the stage was on a sandy dance floor and several adorable children were dancing, and it was spread out and not so loud, and the reason I decided to get closer to the stage was because I wanted to hear better. When I get back to the bar, John is already in deep conversation with a couple. He has determined that the man attended Brandywine High School, my rival High School in Wilmington, Delaware. This couple had recommended Uncork’d so we decided to head there in our establishment exploration. There was a talented guitarist playing songs from James Taylor and Don McLean was perfect for the intimate setting.
Our favorite Flagler Beach places (not necessarily in this order), mostly based on the vibe as we interact with patrons and servers. John has gotten really good with chatting up with strangers and he says this is one of his favorite parts of our wandering lifestyle.
1) Oceanside Beach Bar and Grill just really appreciates the friendly service from the first time.
2) The Golden Lion Cafe – even though it was extremely busy Saturday at 6pm the bartenders were friendly and you could step away and listen to the music from the sand-dance floor and they had several small waiting spaces around the stage. We decided it was too crowded to wait for a table.
3) High Tides Snack Shack- beach walk from beach, employees seemed happy. They only have Valet Parking on weekends, because it is limited and the only restaurant that is on the beach. Most others, except the Pelican which we will need to save for later, are across the A1A.
4) Cajun Boil and Sushi has a really nice outdoor area and patrons/owner/servers.
5) Uncork’d, a wine bar(beer too) for a quaint atmosphere with music.
Yesterday we headed up to St Augustine Beach to meet up with my brother and family for a few days. We took a day off from biking since both John and I had minor incidents on our traverse home from Flagler to our campsite. John fell over into one of Saw Palmetto Palm Bushes as he was trying to get around an earlier downpour puddle at the campground on the first night. They don’t call them Saw Palmettos because they are featherlike. 
I have a bad habit of riding my bike in flip flops so I have made changes to my bike riding fashion statement to mitigate slippage, afterall my brother told me my flip flops are unacceptable and he now wears anti-slip crocs due to a similar wipeout issue. I wish Ofoos would make a non-slip! Of course this had nothing to do with the two glasses of wine at Uncork’d.
Lost Patient Podcasts
Our five hour trip went quickly as we listened to the NPR podcast called “Lost Patients” dealing with the mental health system in Seattle. It was a 4 part series taking up almost 4 hours and had interviews with mentally ill patients, family members, authorities, even a 96 year-old nurse who worked at Northern institution in Washington State in the 50’s when lobotomies and shock therapy was administered. It was fascinating, horrifying and sad. How so many mentally ill medicate with drugs/alcohol and how they are in a constant churn through the prison, crisis, mental health facilities and emergency rooms, only to be released with no support like even how to obtain medications or housing. Most large mental facilities that were closed down in the 70’s are riddled with inhumane experiments and people locking up their wives and daughters. John F Kenedy, advocated for a more community based mental health system, familiar with mental health issues as his sister, Rosemary, even had a frontal lobotomy in dealing with her mental illness. The 96 year-old nurse described one of the lobotomy procedures where doctors would enter the frontal lobes through the eye sockets and twirl around the probes. Even at the Cajun Beach Bar tonight, we got talking to a Contract Security Guard stationed in third world country and about his dealing with a extremely poor, mentally ill, substance abuser woman who had been raped repeatedly at a very early age. Like most conditions there is an element of heredity according to the reports, but there is usually some type of extreme happening which will start the spiral and many times it begins in the late teens and 20’s. The last bill John Kennedy passed before his assassination had to do with de-institutionalizing mental health treatment; unfortunately the follow-on community based treatment seems to have been neglected. This podcast was produced in conjunction with the Seattle Based NPR station and concentrated on information and interviews with people in this severely overwhelmed mental health system. I highly recommend the Lost Patient podcast series and hope it sheds some light into what appears to be strung out homeless people who are commonplace in our cities.
Key Largo, John Pennekamp State Beach
Marathon “Happy Jack” Bus Tour
Crane Point Hammock Museum, Marathon
Snorkeling Coffin Patch, Marathon
Sigsbee Campground a Navy Base
Fort Zachary Taylor, southernmost US point
Islamorada Brewery, A+ in our book.
Travels with Vinny VanGo 