John Cole is an accomplished photographer and he willingly shared some of his photos with me to put up on this blog. I noted his name below the shots that belong to him. He has a website where he posts some of his work. If you care to take a look check out www.johnsdigitaldarkroom.com. Mary also takes great shots and I have given her due credit when a photo was hers. Thanks Mary and John for sharing.
We started off the week with a visit to Doc Ford's Rum Bar and Grille in Ft Myers Beach. The traffic getting there was a nightmare, since it was Everyone's vacation, but once there the restaurant was not too crowded and we got a table on the upper outside deck over looking the water.
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Our waiter was fun and he assured us everything on the menu was "fantastic". He was right. I had fish tacos (Thank you Jenny Bridgers for introducing me to them). These had shredded cabbage along with very fresh perfectly cooked fish. We also shared a couple of orders of muscles which were cooked in a "Fantastic" garlic and tomato sauce. Great Meal and a great view.
The next day we took off for Key West, all five of us in our little Prius. It was going to be at least a five hour drive but of course we made a few stops along the way. About an hour into our trek we pulled into Collier Seminole State Park to have a look at the "walking dredge" that Marlin and I had seen last year and knew John Cole would be interested in learning about.
The spider looking piece of machinery was used in the construction in 1928 of the Tamiami Highway that crosses the Everglades from Naples on the west coast to Homestead on the east coast.
The dredge is basically an enormous shovel suspended between 4 long flat skids thirty three feet apart and twenty eight feet long. Any ordinary digger could not function in the swampy mud that was layered on top of a limestone base. After the limestone was broken up by blasting, this walking dredge would dig up the broken rock and mud to make a borrow pit for road building.
When it had to move forward, a center skid was pushed down, raising the outside skids off the ground. With a series of pulleys the outer skids were moved forward, then the interior skid was raised and the outside "feet" lowered into a new forward position. What is truly amazing is this machine was manned by two men who worked 18 hour days, 6 days a week!
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Our next stop was the studio of photographer Clyde Butcher in the Big Cypress Swamp. Mr. Butcher is famous for his very large black and white photos of the Everglades as well as other National Park scenes. His large format camera and the amazingly enormous enlarger he uses are intriguing. If you are interested in seeing his work, his web site is www.clydebutcher.com. The short nature trail surrounding his studio provided John Cole with some great wildlife shots.
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We finally arrive in Key West around five o'clock. We had booked our reservations on line and when we were driving in we began to wonder what we would find since the neighborhood didn't look all that promising. We were more than delighted when we checked in and got to our room. It was a two bedroom suite with two bathrooms, a full kitchen, and full living room. What really impressed us was when we opened the french doors to the back deck. Below is our view looking over the pool to the ocean. It was marvelous to say the least.
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The next morning, after relaxing on the deck for awhile we took a walking tour of Key West. First stop was the Key West light house. Built in 1849 at 66 feet, its height has been increased twice to the current 100 feet above sea level.
John Cole is a light house buff, so he took these great shots and climbed (alone) to the top for the mesmerizing shot of the stair way down.
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When we were in Key West a couple of years ago, Linda and I found the Eco Discovery Museum. At that time we knew Mary would enjoy this spot, so I wanted her to see it on this trip. We didn't take any pictures but it was just as enjoyable as the first trip here. The exhibits are all ocean education, with tanks of live coral, fish and ocean organisms. A 20 minute film about snorkeling in the mangrove and ocean is a joy to view and an exhibit about a NOAH underwater research station was fascinating. The museum is not well publicized in the tourist literature for some reason. We think it is one of the best takes in the city. Guess others come to Key West for different reasons.
All that walking called for lunch. Where else when in Key West but Jimmy Buffett's "Margaretta ville" restaurant! Lots of concert videos of Jimmy and others playing on the multiple screens throughout the place. As usual my eyes were bigger than my belly and after drinking two tropical concoctions I couldn't finish my fish sandwich!
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Next stop was the Truman White House. President Truman loved Key West and returned here often. In those days he paid for all his food, help, and even postage for the letters he wrote daily to his wife Bess.
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By this time it was late afternoon so we headed to Malory Square for the entertainment and to see the sunset on the southern most point in the USA.
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After the long walk we found a comfy place to rest and wait for the sun to set.
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Our next adventure took us on the Yankee II ferry, out to the Dry Tortugas National Park and Fort Jefferson. These seven small islands are 70 miles, and a 2 hour boat ride, west of Key West. Fort Jefferson was built on Garden Key. Construction began in 1846 to protect access to the gulf of Mexico and continued for 30 years but was still never completed. Apparently just its existence was a deterrent. The army abandoned the fort in 1874 and in 1908 it became a wildlife refuge to protect the sooty tern rookery from egg collectors. The area was re-designated in 1992 as Dry Tortugas National Park.
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At 3:00 we returned to the ferry for our ride back to Key West, then on to Naples for us. A long and enjoyable day that began with a 7:00 breakfast on the boat, a guided tour of the fort, with lots of history and stories of the hard life for wool clad Northern soldiers building here in this tropical climate, and ended with a peaceful cruise back Key West. I would definitely recommend anyone going to Key West to take this all day trip to the Dry Tortugas.
After we returned to Naples we spent an evening on a sunset cruise that took us through the Cocohatchee River estuary. There were about 20 people on the 40 passanger boat that cruised through the mangrove islands all the wat to the ocean outlet at Barefoot beach and a magnificent sunset.
Another great sunset shot by John Cole and a perfect end to an almost perfect week. Among the great sights and beautiful scenes were many sad moments thinking of Linda and wishing she were our sixth traveler. So many places she would have been so excited to experience or to see again. We missed her every moment of the trip.
On March 1st Marlin and I will leave John Miles and Naples to head back to Collier Seminole State Park in the Everglades, then on to the East Coast of Florida before heading to North Carolina for Ben Baldwin's March 17th wedding on the Outer Banks.