Colorful Plants on the Keys

Palms, mangroves, many trees, bushes and grasses are plentiful on the keys.  It's very lush.

A tangle of mangrove roots. These amazing trees come in red, black and
white varieties.   3/7/14 at Crane Point Museum and Nature Center. 

If I were a botanist, I'd study mangroves -- how they
propagate, help to create land, deal with salt water, are
protective nurseries for young sea life, and so much more. 
3/7/14 at Crane Point. 

 But, every once in a while a spot of color will catch my eye. 

While at Bahia Honda State Park, I went into the butterfly garden. 
I spotted the Zebra Long-Wing Butterflies (pictured above) and the
bright orange Gulf Fritillary, too.  3/5/14 

The Butterfly Garden. 
While mostly green, I found a few bits of color. 
3/5/14 at Bahia Honda SP. 

Very tiny orange petals/leaves.  Do you know what it is? 
3/5/14 at Bahia Honda SP. 

Small, but the butterflies like it. 
I think it's called a Bay Bean or Seaside Bean.
3/5/14 Bahia Honda SP. 

Another small flower that attracted the butterflies. 
What is it?  3/5/14 at Bahia Honda SP. 

A little daisy? 
3/5/14 at Bahia Honda. 

At Crane Point we saw this large bush.  The sign 
said it was Sea Lavender.  3/7/14  

The Sea Lavender's little white flowers were 
very fragrant.  3/7/14 

Also at Crane Point we saw this little flower that the 
Zebra Long-Wing Butterflies were enjoying. 
Do you know what it is?  3/7/14 



Seed pods of the Blackbead tree with bright pink arils. 
The black seeds are used to make jewelry, thus its name. 
3/7/14 at Crane Point.



The copper-color bark of the Gumbo Limbo tree.
3/7/14 at Crane Point.

I have a few more days here in the Keys; so, don't be surprised if I update this particular blog with more spots of plant-life color!

Dolphin Research Center

The Dolphin Research Center (DRC) is close to where I'm staying on Grassy Key.   Gary & Mary are members and gifted me with a free pass for the day (thank you!).  I arrived when they opened at 9am on Saturday, and left shortly before closing.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The facility has a large front lagoon with young dolphins and a few of their mothers, 11 total.  One of the trainers referred to it as the "day care" of the facility.  This type of grouping is how dolphins live together in the wild.

I was a bit taken aback by how much all of the dolphins people watched,
as these two are doing with me.  One eye watching me, and the
other watching their friends and family under water.  3/8/14

Here are the same two dolphins.  The trainer had one of them wave at me.
You could tell that they enjoyed my reaction and waves back.  3/8/14

The dolphins all know their names and each responds to a unique symbol (square, circle, triangle, etc.).  In addition, researchers believe that the mother gives each of their babies a unique whistle when born.  They liked to be talked to and become enthusiastic when you clap and cheer for them.  And, to my surprise, some really liked their picture taken as well.

Every 45 minutes is an activity at the facility -- training, playing, interactions with guests, power point presentations with information about DRC's history, research, and the 3 resident sea lions.  A bulletin board posts the activities and their locations (front or back lagoons).

The back lagoons are smaller in size and smaller groups of dolphins will often have the run of a couple of them at the same time.  In one of these lagoons were two mothers and their babies, both born in November.

Mother watching her picture being taken as baby
surfaces behind her.  3/8/14

Mama and baby under water.  3/8/14

Two large male dolphins stay together in the deeper, larger back lagoon.  The largest is 23 years old and weighs in at 650 pounds.  They are both very athletic.

The large muscles just in front of their tail gives
them the amazing abilities to tail walk, high jump, and
the propulsion to speed swim.  3/8/14

One of the big boys jumping on cue for a "trainer for the day" participant,
with the whole Gulf of Mexico behind them.  3/8/14

The DRC has programs that allow for interaction with the dolphins, including swimming with them, training them, or just shaking their "hands."  You can also be a researcher for the day.

Here are the two new mothers interacting with guests.  The trainer places
a paint brush (loaded with paint) in the dolphin's mouth, then the guest
holds the t-shirt (stretched on a board) over the water
 so the dolphin can paint it.  3/8/14

Most of the dolphins at the DRC were born there.  A few were rescued from the wild and determined to be too young or hurt to return to the wild.  One dolphin is badly scared from a bull shark attack. 

The DRC publishes their research findings in scientific journals.  And they recently started a college associate degree program at the facility.  I found the trainers and students very friendly and open to chat about their program, the facility and the animals in their care.   I'm still an educator and researcher at heart; so, I especially enjoyed that aspect of DRC.

In addition to the dolphins, the facility houses three sea lions (unable to be released to the wild) and some large parrots (most given to the facility by their owners).  There was a cute water park for kids, gift shop, food stand, photo booth, and a beautiful shady garden in which to sit and relax.

The DRC: a very memorable experience.

Sharks, Tornados and Food

Here's a story of Gary and The Big Fish, as told by Mary:

"Gary finally hooked a big shark last night! A crowd on the dock watching, he fought with it for nearly 45 minutes (fortunately a volunteer took over the pole for a few minutes so Gary could rest). At one point, both Gary and shark took a brief break. Ultimately though, the shark tangled the line around the snorkel area buoy line and then he was stuck. Sharks can't breathe if they can't swim, so ...

Gary hamming it up for the camera. (Mary, 3/5/14) 

" ... Gary and another brave soul grabbed a skiff from shore and paddled out to cut the massive man-eater free. Reel life heroes. As we watched, the shark had stopped struggling and disappeared from the surface. All concerned onlookers feared the worst. Fortunately though, upon the approach of the rescuers, the shark mustered up the strength to break the leader and swim free!!!"

A big thank you to the owner of the borrowed skiff.  (Mary, 3/5/14) 

It was an exciting night of shark fishing ... and all the while some of the park guests were playing bingo in the close-by pavilion.

A good calm night to play bingo.  3/5/14 

The next day brought its own excitement as well.  I woke up to my smart phone telling me we were under a tornado alert.  It was a warm morning, 10-mph winds from the SE, and very humid.  I watched the sky and the Doppler Radar (iMap Weather Radio).  It was coming closer, with a chance that it might swing toward the mainland and miss us completely.

It was so muggy that I was most comfortable inside my little apartment with the AC on.  I'm not a fan of AC; so, you know it had to be really humid.

About 3:25pm, I looked out my window and saw that the sky was half bright and half dark.  I grabbed my camera phone and went out on my second-floor deck.

Looking SW at the wall cloud passing by.  3/6/14

About 30 seconds later, this picture shows the wall cloud moving quickly.
The temperature dropped a good 10-12 degrees during that time.
Gratefully, there was no rotation.  3/6/14

The rest of the afternoon and evening it rained, hard ... and blew hard.  A good night to watch a couple of movies.  I heard that a couple of tornadoes touched down on the mainland with minimal damage.

Although, not as exciting as sharks or tornadoes, the food here is just as notable.  Some highlights include the 25-cent peel & eat cold shrimp for Happy Hour at Sparky's Landing.  The cocktail sauce was perfect.  We sat out on their deck, watching the fish surface in the lagoon to eat our discarded shrimp peels.  I'm also hoping to try their seafood gumbo, made only on Tuesdays.

Based on their good review on Yelp, we went to King Seafood and weren't disappointment.  I would definitely have their Seafood Soup again (a small bowl was actually quite large, $5).  And their Cuban sandwiches looked wonderful.  Gary was impressed with their Imperial Sandwich.

On a day out exploring some local State Parks, I stopped at
 Keys Fisheries Restaurant and Marina and had their
famous Lobster Ruben to go.  3/5/14

And, the day after the big storm, the three of us ate out twice while exploring more of the local parks and preserves.  For lunch I had a very good grilled burger at Hog Heaven, a sports bar on the water with a tiki-motorcycle theme ... complete with rattan Harleys.  And for dinner that same day, we stopped for Happy Hour at Cabana Breezes where the Key West Sunset Ale was an especially good beer to go with the conch fritters, ocean-front seating, and perfect weather.

For anyone who enjoys seafood, the Florida Keys is a good place to be.