Thursday, May 3, 2018

Wednesday 2 May (Key Largo to Key West

We set off at 10 am to visit the Island Dolphin Care which was about a 15 mnute drive and on our way to Key West. This was a wonderful expeience and I would visit it again if I ever returned this way again. It was off the road a wee bit and next door to Dolphn Plus, a differetn experience. The two areas were all oringinally part of the latter but the eventual owners of the therapy facility had a young baby with a heart problem and to keep the story short his mother discovered that swimming with dolphins helped their son.

Once they set island Dolphin Care up they wanted other special needs people to be able to get help and so the facility developed. The program has a classroom component and there is a Special Needs teacher on site, he also goes in the water with the groups. On Fridays, they run a Veteran's program! 


There are eight dolphins in two large pools and all were born in the facility. There are two mothers and their female offspring, the fathers move on to other facilties as they are allowed no more than eight. 

The regulations are very strict and dolphins cannot be captured from the wild today. One of the mothers is 30 years old and has her last baby who is 3 years old and still nursing, these dolphins live much longer than those in the wild.

There were three delightful young men from France with us and our volunteer leader, they had very little English so commuication was fun! As the volunteer was talking to us we watched the dolphins swimming round in the near pool and they were also watching us, lol! 

We then moved to the rear pool where the gate between the pools had been opened so the dolphins could swim through and enjoy some activities. These are Atlantic Bottle Nosed Dolphins and I had not realised that they were pink on the underneath part of their body. Ater a while, certin dolphins were sent back to the first pool and the gate was shut behind them.


We then watched as their was a fascinating mix of husbandry and activity. Each dolphin in turn swam up on its back and prsented its tail for investigaton and/or for bloods to be drawn etc. They seemed more than happy to do this and it is all carried out as part of the stringent regualtions. 

There is a resident vet and they also run an Intern programme. Dolphins are fed top grade fish, given water via a tube to stop dehydration and weighed regulary. We saw many different activities with lots of jumps. 

While this was going on, Dolly, the baby, would work her way onto the pontoon to see what she was missing out on, lol! Dolphins are such curious creatures and very intelligent. They are not pushed to do anything they do not want to and, if they are having an off day, they still get their treats!

After this a therapy session was due to start and we could have stayed but we did need to move on, it was a magical hour!! We then headed back slightly to purchase an item the Jackie needed from Napa Auto parts. 

We then headed south again and stopped briefly at a bird sanctuary. All of the birds are rescues and will not be released back into the wild. Jackie was feeling tired and I think we had both been spoiled by our Dolphin experience!

We had about 100 miles still to travel to key West so needed to move on. We travelled along the southern area of the Everglades and increasingly we saw water on both sides of the road. As we passed through a place called  Marathon we passed a Turtle hospital. 

We also managed to find a Starbucks at one of the small towns along the way so we obviously stopped and lunch was the same as yesterday. There is a hotel, restaurant marina as part of the complex and none have re-opened yet! The road is single lane each way except at the small towns where it is often two lanes either way and the central area is often used for a variety of purposes.

The numerous bridges along the way as well as the islands on either side of the road make the trip very interesting. I find it Incredible that people came to live on the keys, they are surrounded by the many coloured water and open to the moods of the weather! 

As we travelled south we saw some evidence of the devastation from Katrina. many houses with blue tarps for roofs, a business sign blown out, trees uprooted, and some houses damaged. I do think though that it is well on the road to recovery and visitors seem to be streaming back.

Alongside the road was the remains of the railroad which was actually here first, in 1912 to be exact, the supports look in great order. Parts of it were destroyed by the 1935 hurricane and the company could not afford the cost of the repairs so eventually sold it to the state of Florida. 

The most southerly part of the railway is being developed inot a walkway/cycleway, at the moment it is not very long!! The road came somewhat later and was added piece by piece.

We arrived in Key West about 4.30 pm and missed the entry to the hotel parking, it was difficult to see! After parking the car we unpacked with the help of the guys who run the place, they were great! jackie went to collect the electric gold cartcar she had booked and I paid a viit to the pool, enjoying a short dip, the wtaer was a very pleasant temperature. 

I then showered and we headed off for some dinner. We wnet the wong way down Duval street to begin with and then when we rached the correct road to turn down at the other end of Duval we could not find the restaurant. 

We eventually did after I asked, it is tucked behind other buildings with no sign form the main road. As we were searching we saw the three yong guys from France again, much laughter and yelling ensued, lol!!

We noticed it was very crowded further down, people had come to see the sunset! Then a couple of fire engines arrived behind the rstaurant to put out a small fire, always some drama, lol! I grabbed a coffee from a nearby Starbucks on the way home!

Key West has a large number of B&Bs and rstaurants and Duval street certainly rocks! There are all sorts of shops along the way, some of them quite quaint. Key West is very different from anywhere I have ever been, because of its locality basically isolated from the rest of the US, it is unique. Most of the buildings seem to be from a bygone era, especaly in the centre around Duval Street, I love the bright colours. It has its own culture, which is a real mix of types, and there is very definitely an independent feel about the place. Today was absolutely fabulous with so many different experiences.












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