Sigsbee Campground, Key West Take Two
This year the Navy computer system was fully functional, and the first stop at the pass and ID office ended in a year-long DBIS card to get off and on Navy facilities in Key West. Last year this didn’t happen. After two days, it was still broken, and if we would have stayed at Boyd’s Campground for other days, we would have been broke too. This year we arrived at Sigsbee Campground when the rest of the country was in a huge freezing front and it even snowed in Fernandina Beach Florida, so we are not complaining.
Cold and windy weather down here in the Keys was reality, and we were thankful for wet suits that one could rent when we went snorkeling. I actually wore a winter coat to the Sunset Grill that was on the base that was perched right on the windy waterfront.
This was a happening place where we met lots of nice snowbirding retirees, saw the Eagles clinch their spot at the Super Bowl, and we even did some 60’s Karaoke in our coats, We waited it out at the Sunset Grill happy hours for several days for the fair winds so that we could venture over the great bridge to Key West proper.
This quad workout would propel you high up on the boat passable arch; the bridge sidewalk was as narrow 3 feet wide, and we certainly wouldn’t want to blow off. We rode bikes 4 miles into Key West from the Navy Campground. The main drag into town had nice wide sidewalks where two ongoing riders could pass comfortably. (FYI: We found that taking a left on Olivia St would take you to the one-way Southard Street which had a dedicated bike lane into town. Likewise, the parallel Fleming Street would bring you back out of Key West on the dedicated one-way bike path out of town)
Celtic Conch, Key West Eagles Bar
When the wind was not whipping we enjoyed the Key West sunsets and the libation establishments, as well as took in a play called “Angel Next Store”. Irish Kevin’s and the Celtic Conch were added to our list of Key West Iconic Establishments. The Celtic Conch was a heavy-duty Philly bar with posters about drinking Wooder, and we sang the Eagles Fight song at least three times with the guitarist leading the pack in song and not John.
Of course, we felt at home there, and that was our one late night out, and we never even fell off our bikes. We me die hard Eagles Fan, Shelley, from New Jersey who welcomed us to park at her RV spot whenever we are in the area. Decided to watch the game from our local sunset bar as the Conch bartender said people would be lining up in the morning to get in for the three-thirty game.
Key West Pestaurants
We also found two more excellent restaurants to add to the Key West Collection – Two Friends and Santigo’s Bodega. The latter was a tapas restaurant that our boat captain highly recommended and we luckily got an early reservation. This fit with our early night plan as we had been on the water for 6 hours, and the sleeping beauty had to wake up under duress to make the launch time. Unusual small plates that you could keep adding to as they brought them to you whenever the deliciousness was ready. Here we had our first plate of Saganaki, brandy flambe haloumi cheese, olive oil and oregano with grilled pita bread. This was like flambeed goat cheese with crème Brulle type presentation only savory. Yum.
Definitely get reservations is what the captain said. And the chickens were wandering – evidently, they are welcome in Key West because they keep the spiders and other pests at a minimum, and I must say we have not seen any dropping like we are accustomed to when the Snow Geese come through the desert.
Dry Tortugas – NOT
Plans to go to Dry Tortugas the Fort that is a 70 mile ferry ride out to where the Gulf Stream begins was thwarted as the gusts were going to the 60mph and I had heard a podcast that said there ride was one of lots of barf bags and free ginger-ale as they were bounced around. Excellent snorkeling is to be had around the Fort as well. Seeding coral by placing hard structures like forts, for example, is a way that they are trying to bring back the reefs and the beautiful fish that attract snorkelers like us. The hot temperatures of 2023 bleached out much of the coral and the beauty of the reefs. First of all when I went to book the ferry there was only one day available for January through April – so book early. I decided to cancel 48 hours in advance because this was the height of the wind event, but you really don’t get your money back. You need to book a day in the future that they will allow you to do several times evidently. So hopefully we can go next year when it is a bit warmer, but I guess weather is always a problem. Met a gal on our Sail, Kayak Snorkel trip who said it was super cold and poor visibility when they went a few days prior, so I guess we didn’t miss. The other option is to take a $500 seaplane out there for the day
During our final two days, we biked to Fort Zachary Taylor which is a gorgeous public park with a great beach, bathhouse, snack bar for $8 per car or $1 per body. It is perfect with shady pine trees and gorgeous aqua sea and protected swimming.
Sail, Kayak, Snorkel Trip
Now let’s talk Sail, Kayak, Snorkel Trip – luckily our captain was a professional and knew to stay in the deeper parts because we saw several sailboats that were permanently stuck in the sand. Evidently, they were ownerless and abandoned, there for the taking if one had the means to pull them off. Of course, most had been looted for everything of value once they got stuck and this became their final resting place. The state came in and would remove all gas and oil, and they were left to hopefully be a spot for new coral to make a start.
The first part of this tour included nice sailing wind, but we went out to a mangrove island where we snorkeled in sand and grass and saw very few fish and really not much of anything but sand and grass and a few bottom sponges. We learned about the sponge economy that went on in the 19th century as these were easily retrievable and used for filtering, as well as packing peanuts to transport delicate items for the rich from the European continent. There was a whole on-land pirate economy too where the Key West salty types would pretend to help reef bound ships but then steal from them. We also learned that Lake Michigan has had the most shipwrecks of all; however, they usually didn’t have gold and riches like many of the ships that ventured in these blue waters. We’ll have to expound upon the actual Caribbean pirates if we ever make it to Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson because I understand there is a lot of folklore there. And the pink flamingos were hunted to extinction in Key West although there are stories of flocks blocking the sun for a few seconds they were so prevalent in the area.
After our “disappointing snorkel experience”, the kayaks were off-boarded and we kayaked about 300 yards to a mangrove island and followed around a bit. Unlike beaches which seem to always be eroding where you don’t want them to, mangrove islands are growing. We could see the pods that evidently can be carried out to sea and when they float into the ideal place will plant themselves under just the right conditions. As you go across the Florida Key bridges, one can see the many tiny mangrove islands that have popped up. We didn’t see too much under the clear water with this kayak trip, and really had much more fun and went through the mangrove tunnels at John Pennekamp State Park.
Last year after our Dive/Snorkel Tour, I decided only to ever do a Snorkel only trip since divers need deeper water not ideal for snorkelers – not really too compatible. Likewise doing the Sail/Snorkel/Kayak of three item tours, none of the items was noteworthy, although the sailing was really nice. Finally wind at the right time and right speed – this tour had been cancelled in the prior days as well.
Key Largo, John Pennekamp SP
John Pennekamp State Beach was a return trip from 2024. The paddling in the mangrove tunnels was really excellent, especially through the smaller ones which were protected from the wind which was going on for the first half of the trip. These paddling mangrove trails took us to the high-end neighborhoods where boats were hoisted from the water to park and the houses were very upper crust.
I became an obsessive weather watcher, and booked a snorkel tour the only day that looked decent for the week. This happened to be my birthday and John called ahead to arrange the party package with balloons, flowers and cupcakes. I was the queen of the snorkel boat.
The Secret Dive shop was a 5-mile bike ride, right next to the Shipwreck Bar and Grill where we had met new friends Bill and Mary last year. We would definitely snorkel with them again as this was a convenient place for us to ride bikes from the campground.
John Pennekamp also had snorkeling tours that only required a ride through the parking lot. The nice thing is that you could call and rearrange your time for no cost if the weather was projected to be unfavorable. Since the weather was just this way for most of the time, we only did this trip one time. But with all my weather obsession tendencies, we went back to the Christ of the Abyss Statue twice which evidently is in an area that can be rough waters. You have to check a box that says you are not guaranteed to go to this iconic statue; this throttles back the tourists that scream false advertising.
The wetsuit rental was highly recommended, especially because wet cold snorkelers on a speeding boat is quite a “cool” experience. The professional photographer who did the advertisements did much better than my GoPro, although the sun came out during our snorkel, and it was quite mesmerizingly beautiful with the abundance of fish and the waving coral leaves (evidently this is coral too).
We learned this last year from the excellent movie at the John Pennekamp Visitor’s Center. This was the same location we had gone to for my birthday trip, so I guess we were lucky to see Christ twice in one week! I even got to see one of my favorite little pufferfishes and a school of barracudas, although I only captured these two.
On our in second trip the tide was lower and the sun came out which made the underwater glisten magically. During our first trip we saw the biggest mammoth grouper which was as big as John, but our photos don’t exactly reflect that. Perhaps it was so far away from him that it appeared smaller, but we both agreed it was the biggest fish we had ever seen. It was very gray and ugly, nothing like the beautiful professional photographic grouper in Australia. Although it was real, at least we thought so, somehow, it was so pretty and blue that maybe we were fooled.
John Pennekamp State Park was also the first sunset paddle we did. The wind finally stopped and it was a beautiful evening. Amazingly there were no bugs on the water, just a beautiful sunset in the mangroves.
During our 2 weeks at John Pennekamp, John flew to New Jersey for a long weekend to see Vaclav Prospal, his long-time favorite hockey player who is now coaching the AHL Rochester Amerks – John is hoping he moves up to the NHL soon. (Jazmine learned to count 1,2,3,4,5,…11,12,Vinny,14,15,16 – that’s how influential he was and now she 28-that’s a long time – 2001 photo below watching Vinny)
After dropping him in Miami, I hooked up with Mary, as in our 2024 Shipwrecked Mary and Bill friends.
Vinny was very happy in her driveway and I got to stay in a real bed and bathroom. Oh Lah, Lah. We visited and she showed me around her area. Peacock Park has a SUP vending system where you can scan and rent a paddle board; My Padde Boy Would be out of a job if this was everywhere.
Key Biscayne NP
I also took a walk on a trail through Biscayne National Park and learned more about the ecology of the area. This would also be a great place to paddle when it is not so windy! Even have a rinse off station.
Shark Valley Bike Ride, Everglades NP
I had planned to visit Everglades National Park while Paddle Boy was doing his Prospal hockey thing. But I ended up cancelling. We had already done the Shark Valley Bike ride on our way down, and I just was not enthused to see more grass and statue-like alligators. Although, we did see one in action as he tried to crack a turtle that he had snuck up on, and that was pretty exciting.
Homestead, Farm Country
“Robert is Here Fruit Stand” was a must see according to Mary and I did a visit to this unique Homestead Farm Country. Not only local fruits and vegetables, but quite a collection of animals. Robert is famous for their milkshakes, but the line was about 25 people long this evening.
We had already been in this farming area when we harvested hosted at Schnebly Redland’s Winery and Brewery too. The winery had the most beautiful plant grotto to enjoy wine and a snack.
Unfortunately, it was dark after our Shark Valley bike ride so was not so visible. We ended up tasting some unique fruit wines including Avocado and having a few glasses. It ended up being quite expensive for what we got, but the Harvest Host Parking (long dirt driveway with lots of space that brought you in back of the winery where the brewery was going on) was excellent and we ended up staying 2 nights. On weekends this brewery is the entertainment hotspot and there is Friday Latino dancing and Saturday country line dancing which can make for quite a bit of ruckus at the adjoin harvest host parking. It ended at 11pm and the music from across the gravel was not too bad.
The beer selection was nothing special, but it the indoor game was huge and had several cornhole setups. They never checked our reservation as a harvest host and the area was so big that I would consider going there un-announce in our small setup.
Bahia Honda State Park
Bahia Honda State Park was the next destination upon picking-up John at the airport. And wouldn’t you know it, poor Eagle’s planning, as he was in the air for the first half of this important play-off game. (That poor planning saga continued as he was doing colonoscopy prep while watching the Super Bowl a few weeks later – no giant Watch party for us, but 100s of texts on the Smith Clan message group.) His after surgery-propofol influenced singing of the Fly Eagles Fly and he has gotten 500 views – the Doctor came in before we could spell “E A G L E S” at the end of the song.
Bahai Honda for two nights where we arrived late and in the rain. Later that night the sky opened and for the first time in ten years,
Vinny was leaking. John decided it was leaking through the backup camera, and he was out in the rain to cover the camera with a plastic bag – all those magnets came in handy and the dripping stopped. We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning, so that camera area could dry and the perfect picnic table could be stood upon to apply some silicone calking. Vinny hasn’t leaked since then, and we had some heavy rains. The weather was still pretty variable and the Tuesday Snorkel trip from here had been cancelled several days prior. Evidently, they only start with every day snorkel trips from Bahia Honda when Spring Break season starts. We did a bit of bike riding and decided to snorkel off of the Calusa Beach along the jetty to the harbor, and saw way more fish than in Key West Snorkel, Sail and Kayak tour.
Sanibel Island and Periwinkle Park
Periwinkle Park on Sanibel Island on Florida’s West Coast was our final stop. Biking Sanibel is the best way to get around as there is one main drag along the island. One day we biked North about 8 miles J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. It was finally a warm day and we welcomed the air conditioned showroom where we continued to learn about Florida’s ecosystem and cool off. The island suffered extraordinary damage from Hurricane Ian in 2022 and further in 2024 from Milton. As one walked along the beach many of the condo complexes were in a state of abandonment or repair with less than half seeming like they had occupants.
Near the town there were shops and restaurants that had returned to business, but there were also some that were not. The bike path was separate, but ran along the main road through the island. There was a variety of housing in states of newness on down to boarded up. The destruction and downed trees and standing water was particularly evident in areas where there was no housing or businesses. We decided to find the Turtle’s Tiki Bar and were transformed to the resort style outdoor bar and seating, swimming pool that was right on the ocean free from the destruction and renovation going on in much of the island.
The Periwinkle RV park was outdated on the outside, but somehow old school charming, and they even had a fenced bird park with swans and other duck pond like swimmers (2 feedings a day)
They were still in the process of clearing and our site actually had some standing water behind it, few mosquitos though. The bathrooms were immaculate and the laundry facilities had a backyard with many long clothes lines and there was a fish cleaning station and a very rough screened in meeting room where there were tables, puzzles, games, kitchen counters and a sink. I was told by the friendly staff member that Old Fokers, a group of retired men, had been meeting there every morning for coffee at 730am for years. The slam of the wooden screen door on the concrete slab was freshly painted and neat. Somehow it was very old school and quaint and I liked it. Many people had seasonal trailers, some with permanent decks and foundations. Many were from out of state. It was quite a mix, but evidently, Periwinkle was totally full because I could only get these three days when I inquired many months ago and called occasionally to see if anything was available. The beach was a ½ mile through neighborhood streets and was perfect for walking with really cool birds
We were hankering for pizza and when we got to Island Pizza Restaurant, we didn’t have reservations, so we had to sit at two of six free places at the bar. Other white clothed tables were free but filled up as we ate the delicious pizza. There were many other Italian selections and we would definitely return to this one. Another Michigan couple, Tom and Sheila, strayed in and had to sit at the bar too. We ended up playing music with Tom in the screened porch room as they were camping at Periwinkle RV park too. There was little luxury about the island, and the place was not over-run by tourist stores. It was truly relaxing. Sanibel Island Beach is wide and perfect for walking and riding bikes everywhere.
And as I finish up this blog post almost a month after the fact, I begin planning for Newfoundland since the ferry cabins are already full during the night crossings. We also met fellow RV expeditioners from Mississippi and joined Susan’s Facebook group called Finding Freedom. She posts exquisite photos almost every day they travel with great explanations and will be an excellent travel resource.
Our February adventure was about to begin as we returned to our home away from home with Bo and Julie in Fernandina Beach. It’s time for doctoring that includes colonoscopy and an eyelid surgery for John hopefully followed by Cataract surgery. But first Fly Eagles Fly and so they did !!
I will be checking out until I go back to Hawaii at the end of April lots of family stuff and then off to Newfoundland just after Memorial Day, but wanted to give you a day by day of John’s progress through eyelid procedure.
John’s Eyelids in Pictures
Day 1
Day 2
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6 -stitches out
Travels with Vinny VanGo 