The Keys

We have been hunkered down on Grassy Key for three days now.  We have a view of the gulf from Bella and most of the time, a nice breeze.  The RV park reminds us of old Baja, funky trailers with added on rooms, painted tropical colors which have been decorated with all kinds of amusing things.  There are even a couple of my all time favorite Airstreams.

Never having been to Florida and not knowing much about the keys, I did a little research.

The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the west, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. At the nearest point, the southern tip of Key West is just 90 miles (140 km) from Cuba. The Florida Keys are between about 23.5 and 25.5 degrees North latitude, in the subtropics. The climate of the Keys is defined as tropical.  The total land area is 137.3 square miles (356 km2). As of the 2000 census the population was 79,535, with an average density of 579.27 per square mile (223.66 /km2), although much of the population is concentrated in a few areas of much higher density, such as the city of Key West, which has 32% of the entire population of the Keys.

There are over 1700 islands in the archipelago but only 43 are connected by the road.  They have really cool names like Sugarloaf Key, Duck Key, Cudjoe Key, Shark Key and Raccoon Key.

Since himself is still down with the bug, I decided to take a tour of the Turtle Hospital, the only state-certified vet hospital in the world for sea turtles.  The most common ailments are flipper amputations, entanglements from fishing lines, shell damage from boats and debilitating viral tumors unique to the Green sea turtle and found around the world.  Cooperative research with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine has successfully transmitted the disease, proving that it is infectious and the cause is close to being isolated.  The vets treat the tumors with CO2 lasers and if the turtle remains free of regrowth, it is released.  The goal is to release all turtles possible.

Turtle Surgery

Current patient with weights to counteract buoyancy issues to to boat impact

Current resident chasing turtle food

While the hospital tries to rehabilitate and release all the injured and sick turtles, a few become permanent residents.  My niece Maddie will receive a notice that she has "adopted" April, whose sweet temperament reminds me of Maddie.

Maddie

While the dining options have been pretty limited due to the sick bay continuation, some key lime pie made it back to Bella as did Key West pink shrimp.  Yet to be tried are conch and the local spiny lobster.  I think a comparison of key lime pie styles is also in order.