Bahia Honda Day 3 & Epilogue

 I didn't set any alarms, but Lucy did.  The day before she left her GoPro in the gift shop, so she was right over there when they opened at 8AM.   As they were some of the last customers the day before, they found it and she had to go retrieve it from the Ranger Station up front.

I got moving and took out the wet fly for the pop up and put it back up to dry out.   She rolled back a few minutes later, and we got all our gear for the SUP together.  Naya was still in teenager sleepy land, so off we went before breakfast.

We had to be off the site by 1, but I wanted to be well into the drive home by then, as the traffic on a Sunday leaving the keys is hectic at best.

We hit the water by 8:45 and off we went.  It was still and SUPER glassy.  Lucy had reported as much from her morning bike ride.  It was the first time Lucy and I tried to stand up paddle in tandem so glassy was a good thing.   Neither of us fell of, but.....

When we pushed off the dock Lucy dug in with her paddle and I wasn't prepped for it.  The sudden movement under my feet, almost took me off the back but I quickly adjusted.  From then on, she set the pace and I was matching her strokes so we were both pulling at the same time.

This made me really have to adjust to meet the length and power of her strokes.  We headed straight out in between to the two bridges as I saw a ball out there.   We got to it and realized the current was running into the bay like the day before.  We did a lap around the buoy and it said NO MOORING, on it.  We then headed to the new bridge as pictured below.

We farted around under the bridge in the shade and it was weird as there would be just a single car going over the bridge about every 30 seconds or so (early Sunday morning), and it would get REALLY quiet in-between.

You can see on some of the pilings that they have been reinforced. The new bridge was the first of the replacement bridges built.  It was built in 1972, so it is showing her age.  You could see some spalling going on, but nothing major.  I'm sure they check it all the time.

We watched a guy fish and just floated around a little.  We weren't real motivated and we knew we had to head in, cook breakfast and break camp.   The RR bridge is still pretty impressive to me as it is over 100 years old.

We got back to the campsite (carried it all in one trip this time!) about 9:45 and started breakfast.   Good thing I put the fly back up as it was nice and dry when we got back.

Rainy Pancake day!

30 minutes later we were eating pancakes in the rain.  Nothing is as delicious as a steaming hot pancake with rainwater dripping right onto it!

It rained for about 10-15 minutes and moved out again.  We packed everything up and were on the road by 11 something.

Traffic was good and when we got to Tavenier, I had Lucy check traffic and it said to take Card Sound Road as there was a 45 minute backup on the 18 mile stretch.   Some jerk probably had a bike fall of the back of his RV or something,  ha ha ha,    

We headed up Card Sound and it was clear sailing.  I remembered the big bump this time and slowed down so that was good!.   

We hit the turnpike and traffic was busy and people were driving like morons, but we made it home just fine around 3:30 PM.   

Bahia Honda Day 2 Kayaking

 After meeting Andy on the dock, I went back and we finished hauling all our gear over to the dock.  I manned the single kayak and girls headed out on the tandem paddle board.  Naya sat in the front and Lucy stood up.  We headed over toward the bridge and the current was running that way so it was pretty easy.

Lucy leaving the campground marina.

We made our way around to the bayside and headed to the east. over toward the cabins and bayside tent area.

Didn't take Naya too long to resort to looking at all the critters below.   You can see one of the cabins in the upper right of this photo.  The bridges are behind the camera at this point.

Right after this photo was snapped I paddled about 100 yards further to the left and saw a Loggerhead Turtle swimming.  It was going up and down every minute or so, I think it was foraging on things growing on the bottom but not sure.   I kept getting closer (got within about 50 ft of it), then pretty sure it saw me and took off as I never saw it surface again.   It's shell was about 2ft across.

We rounded the point in the above picture and got on the lee side of the island and the drift was alot slower.  Naya saw a tasty lobster and two sharks.  Both were baby nurse sharks

If you zoom in, you can see one of the sharks hiding inside the rock.   Nurse sharks are the only sharks that really camp out on the bottom.  Also pictured is a Blueheaded  Wrasse (upper right), a Foureye Butterflyfish (center), and a High Hat (lower center).    For one little rock, I was blown away at the number of fishes on it. I saw over 10 species and the rock was maybe 3 ft wide.

A different Nurse Shark a few minutes later. It was about 2.5- 3 feet long.

Another shot of the rock, the baby shark is still back there.  In the foreground is a Queen Angel, the High Hat, and a juvenile  Pork Fish.

Floating around the bayside mangroves.

I tried trolling for sharks on the way back.  Pulling her was easy until I rounded that point and had a headwind. 

Back between the bridges heading to the campground marina.  You can see some of the sites on the left and of course the old railroad bridge to the right.

Here I am, paddling toward lunch time.  We were out all morning.

Before lunch though, I wanted a turn at the SUP as I hadn't tried it since we got it a few weeks ago.  I just went around the little marina area while Lucy took some stuff back and got my flip flops (the dock was scorching hot plastic).

We dragged all the gear back to the campsite, then had lunch followed by a trip to the gift shop.   I got to walk as you recall the one bike was damaged.  We got ice cream!  I also went over to the nature center but it was closed.

This sand sculpture was made with sand from the beach right there.  It had amazing detail and was about my height.  I should have taken snaps of each of the four sides... The fish were life sized.

I went back to the coach and chilled out as it was fairly hot and I had been in the sun for about 3 hours already.   Around 5 or so I walked out as I noticed the sun went away and saw a big squall headed our way.   Lucy helped me secure the pop up tent by tying it off to various things like the GMC, a tree and the BBQ grille.  Also stowed the kayak and SUP so they wouldn't blow around.  I've been in the keys when these squalls roll in.  I wasn't disappointed.

Right before I started the video a big gust blew through and flipped our neighbors tent and lifted ours at least 6 inches up in the air.  Good thing we tied it off.   We spent the next 10-12 minutes each holding a side down.   You can see how much water is coming off the top of it.  It was raining pretty hard!  We also saw pool noodles and things go blowing by.

After it let up, we took a stroll around the campground to survey the damage.   There were a couple of awnings damaged and I did see one pop up frame mangled in the dumpster the next morning.  Beach towels and bathing suits were in puddles or hanging from branches lol.

Naya didn't feel like it, so the two of us pedaled over to the bridge to watch the storm move off to the SE and the impending sunset, which turned out pretty nice.   Thought this was a cool shot.  I probably should have gotten off the bike and got the trailer out of the shot but oh well, I didn't even stop riding.

This is the view looking south, the rain is off to the left (You can see the edge of it on the horizon).  Pics of course don't do it justice, but it was a nice one with a lot of color.  This is shot from under the bridge on the ocean side.  There were a bunch of people up there and there was lightning around, so I stayed down low.

The rest of the evening was relaxing, we headed back and made dinner and played a few games.  More rain was coming so I pulled the fly off of the pop up tent and stowed it.  Sure enough it rained a couple times.   I came out around 10 or a 11 and it was super clear.

We all walked over to the bridge and went up looking at the Milky Way and the stars.  There was a waning meteor shower and Naya saw two.   We watched the lightning far off give us a light show, and then the sky disappear with the next storm rolling in.  We hustled back to the campsite and called it a night....

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Bahia Honda Day 2 pre-game.

 Saturday morning woke up around 7 something.  Got puttering along, made coffee, and got breakfast of bacon and pancakes started.  I cooked the bacon most of the way then handed it off to Lucy, and started pumping up the USS Nimitz.   What is that you may ask.  A 15 foot long dual SUP paddle board.  I also had thrown a 10 ft sit on top Kayak into the coach.  You can see both in this pic:

You can see the paddleboard dwarfs the kayak.  It took about 20 minutes to pump up the SUP and I was sweating by the time we got done.  We woke the child up and stuffed her full of bacon and pancakes and then started to haul our gear down to the boat dock.   It was an easy couple minute walk and I carried the kayak myself.  Decided on the way back, someone was helping as the last 50 yards was a little tough (the SUP weighs less but too big for one to carry).

In the process I  pass a guy with a shirt on sporting the Logo below.
What is important about this logo is that Robert suffered and untimely death in 2005.  He had become my surfboard shaper (I sought him out) only a couple of years earlier.  He made me an magic board that only a surfer would understand.  I had one of his shapes, broke it, took the pieces to him and discussed what I liked and didn't like about it, and he built me EXACTLY what I wanted.

Me on my first RS (the one I snapped at Reef Road, but that's it's own story) at Pompano Pier, early morning.

Anyway, you can imagine my surprise when I saw this logo walking by me on a dock in the keys in 2021.  It was just the RS logo, without the words and as the guy passed, I blurted out Robert's full name.  Of course the dude stopped in his tracks and we started to chat.

He introduces himself as Andy, and I use my nickname Sprocket.  He's says, "Hey I know you, you have a couple of Roadmaster Station Wagons!"   Um, okay, we obviously know each other!   Turns out back in the day (probably 10+ years), I sold him a rare 1970s Pat Mulhern (Florida old time pro surfer) model board that was probably shaped by RS.   His family is in the boat with the motor running and neither of us have a phone or pen to jot down contact info.  I tell him which campsite I'm on (the one with the Yellow GMC) and he says he'll swing by later and we can catch up (spoiler, it rained REALLY hard and he never popped in).

Crazy cosmic convergence.   I tell a good friend of Robert's about it after the weekend and he knows the guy too!  Hoping to reconnect at some point...the surf universe is small and everyone knows everyone one way or another...

So today is going to be a great day!  We schlep all the gear over to the dock and off we go.....

Bahia Honda Redux

 In case I have not mentioned it before, Bahia Honda State Park in the keys, is my number 1 State Park I like to go to.  It has it all, history, tropical landscapes, a decent swimming beach (two, and they are hard to find in the keys), and a commanding view of the area from the top of the bridge.

Saturday Sunset, post thunderstorm, placed for the header view...

Back in August or September, my old boss Detlef, posted that he had scored 4 or 5 nights in Bahia Honda in September.   I was jealous as I love this park.  So I thought, 'hmm, I haven't looked in awhile' and went on the reservation site.  Imagine my surprise to find a Friday and Saturday night open!  I almost immediately pressed the reserve button, but quickly checked that I did not have to work that weekend.  I didn't!   I booked it, then told Lucy I did.   At first she said cool, then found out she had a business conflict, however, in the end that worked out and she was able to go.  

As I took Friday off, I wanted to get an early start.  Too early and we would hit Miami rush hour, so I planned on leaving around 9:30-10.   We got out before 11, as we had zero packing done the night before.  The only thing I had done, was I had gassed up the GMC.   Here I am waiting on Naya and Lucy to move the car and lock up the house.  All systems are go!

The drive was magical, as there was light traffic the whole way down except for the construction in Ft. Lauderdale.  Once on the turnpike is was open roads and clear sailing.   The 18 mile stretch was a dream......until the last 3 or so miles.   As the coach has no AC while driving, you can hear outside pretty well as all the windows are open. All of sudden about a mile or so north of Jewfish Creek there was a new but disturbing noise.   

I heard it and asked Lucy, then Naya.  It wasn't constant so it wasn't a driveline issue, but it was loud and noisy.  Naya said it sounded like something hanging down and rubbing....She was right!

For those that have driven the stretch, there isn't anywhere to pull over.   No one was behind us as I passed a slow truck a few miles back and he was a dot in the rearview.  I pulled over at the top of Key Largo at the Visitor Center.   I got out and found that the tabs on the bike rack holding the bikes on had snapped off and Lucy's old beat up college bike and been dragged for the last 2 miles or so....

The rim was done as well as the tire and tube.  DOH!  I came up with a solution and we were back underway in a few minutes.....

Lucy somehow got this shot while driving over the 7 mile bridge. Both vehicles are going over 55 MPH.  If you zoom in, I think the driver of the other RV is checking us out, lol.  

Tommy and Hugo were the first out of the coach when we arrived.   They were ready to kick back and relax (Stuffy life is hard apparently).

After getting the site all set up, we went for a swim at the beach to the right of me in this pic, then took a shower and headed up to the bridge for the sunset.   This is probably my favorite view in the keys that is car accessible.

Well Mother Nature, had other plans for the sunset with storms off to the west.  The nice part was we had the bridge all to ourselves for the 45 minutes we hung out up there.  It's a shame you can't get out over the water anymore, but the bridge is over 100 years old and going back to nature.

We headed back to the coach and cooked up some dinner and tiki drinks.  We chilled out and played a few board games in the coach as it very cloudy, so not much star gazing.