A Rare and Exciting Encounter with Nature at its Best

 

Cudjoe Key, Florida (high 85, low72)

 

We’ve been taking advantage of good boating weather the past four days and have been out in the boat every day.

We try to take advantage of those rare days when we get them, but it looks like the run is over for awhile.  We will probably start packing up to leave.  It makes me sad to think about leaving the Keys, but we need to get back to Tampa to see my Mom before we head back to the mountains.

 

A few days ago, we were on the gulf side because it was too rough in the Atlantic.  We were heading to a shallow area we previously found that is nice for snorkeling.

On the way out,  we noticed something odd in the distance.  We wondered at first if it was just a buoy flopping around in the surf but the more we looked, the more it looked like a sea turtle.  It wasn’t behaving naturally and we were concerned that if it was indeed a turtle, it was in trouble.

We are not ones to let an animal suffer if we can help, so we headed to the object, all the while hoping it wasn’t what we thought it was.

This is what it looked like in the distance.  We could see the yellow color which made us think turtle.

 

We both felt a sense of dread, wondering what we would find.  We have little to no phone or internet service out there and we didn’t know how to contact any of the local wildlife refuges.

The closer we got, the more certain we were that it was indeed a Loggerhead turtle.

Our first thought was that it was tangled in some fishing line or lobster traps.

Logger heads routinely weigh 250-400 pounds but they can get much larger.  

 

It was struggling violently and appeared to be having trouble keeping his head above water to breathe. 

Turtles live underwater but have to surface for air.  They  normally come up for air every  4 to 5 minutes, but this turtle was over exerting himself and needed to breath more often.

 

 

There was a lot of splashing, turning, flipping.  It appeared to be struggling to breathe.

 

 

We debated what to do to help but could think of nothing with no cell service to call any of the wildlife rescue organization.

We didn’t think we would be able to cut any tangled lines due to the violent splashing we were seeing, but we drove closer to see what we could do.  Then discovered the most amazing thing.

There were actually two turtles!

You can see in the next picture that they were face to face and one appeared to be biting the face of the one on the right.  Turtles eat hard shelled lobsters, crabs and the like so they have some pretty good teeth and jaws.  We knew we couldn’t get in the middle of this….whatever it was.

 

 

At this point we discussed whether they were mating, but they appeared to be stuck together nose to nose and they normally don’t mate from that end.  :)

 

 

Then Al noticed that there was a board or something below them.  We assumed it was a crab trap and they were somehow both stuck to it.

Then during all the frolicking and splashing, we discovered there were actually three turtles.

Okay, NOW we understand.  This was a threesome and the “board” underneath them was a poor female that they were fighting over and about to drown in the process.

 

 

We finally realized that one male was attached to the female who was underneath him and under water, while the two males were fighting on top of her.  We were really concerned the female would drown.

There wasn’t anything we could do, but eventually the female got away for a brief moment before being chased down and caught again by one of the big boys.

 

We were worried about the female but kept telling ourselves this is probably normal turtle behavior and probably happens all the time. 

 

After witnessing this mating ritual, I would be that a fair number of females are drowned in this violent act.

 

We often see turtles when we’re out in the boat.  You usually see their head come up for air but as soon as they see you, they dive underwater.

These guys paid absolutely no attention to us and we were concerned a careless boater could easily run them down.

 

You can see how close they were to our boat in these two pictures, but most of the photos were taken farther away with my super zoom lens.

 

 

After we realized they were mating, we backed off and we enjoyed the rest of the show.

In the picture below I believe these two were the males because the female was a lot smaller.

 

I think this is the female on the left and trying to get away.  Poor thing.

The males finally separated but one male was standing by a few yards away while the other male and female were mating.

We wondered if the other male was waiting for another turn at the female.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We watched at a distance for awhile and finally went on to do a little snorkeling.   They were still going at it when we left.  If the female didn’t become pregnant, it wasn’t for lack of trying!

 

We have been out on the ocean many, many times and have never seen such an amazing thing, but yesterday we again were lucky enough to see something else extremely unusual and equally as amazing!

Stay tuned!

You just never know what you are going to see in the Florida Keys!

 

 

Stay tuned to see we saw yesterday.  You’re not going to believe our luck.

Lost at Sea

 

Cudjoe Key, Florida

 

Between strong winds and being sick, we’ve been landlocked for weeks.

The wind finally died down and we were feeling better yesterday, so we decided to take the boat out for a short cruise.

By the time, we had lunch and got motivated, we didn’t get on the water until  3:45 pm.

We wanted to head out to the Atlantic side but it was pretty choppy, so we decided to head to the gulf or back country side of the islands.

The waters in the lower Keys are pretty shallow, so you have to be really careful not to run aground.  There are navigational markers on the Atlantic side to get you offshore and into deeper waters, but on the backcountry side, you have to rely on your GPS.

We headed under the Kemp Channel Bridge and straight offshore through familiar waters.  Our Rv site is just left and down from the bridge.

 

We  cruised around enjoying being on the water and found some nice fishing spots. We had never gone out quite this far before and we cruised over to Content Key.

Our marine GPS shows our tracks, so we use them to find our way back and to stay in the deeper water.  We ended up in the next channel to the right of the red pushpin, with a big shoal between the two.

 

It looked like the water was deep enough to cross over to our channel,  but we never could find the right spot.

The tide was going out, the sun was going down and we couldn’t get back to the correct channel because of the shallow water. When the sun gets low on the water, it makes it difficult to see how deep the water is.  The previous tracks our GPS was showing were now too shallow to follow so  we couldn’t just follow the way we had come.

It was 6:30. The sun was setting, and if we didn’t get to our channel, we would be spending the night in the boat.   I was mentally preparing for a night offshore.

After several unsuccessful attempts to cross the shoal, we finally decided we needed to head offshore to get back to the entrance of the channel since there didn’t appear to be a way to cross the shoal with such a low tide.

Thank goodness for the blimp which is always flying in the air on Cudjoe Key, as it gave us our bearings.

Once we headed offshore, the water got deeper and we finally found a cut where we could get back over to the correct channel.  Soon we were heading in the right direction.

I was hesitant to breathe a sigh of relief until we got home, but I was sure happy to see this bridge in the distance.

We were in deeper water and heading home.  Our Rv site is on the other side of the bridge, but first we had to navigate through some narrow channels.  At least there were navigational signs again.

The sun was getting pretty low.  Our last two channel markers we needed to find were facing right into the blinding sun, so we had a difficult time finding them.

Al finally spotted the channel markers and we got back to the marina at 7:45 pm…..  

It was nice to be home and NOT lost at sea.

Phew.

Meet Mr. Barracuda

 

Cudjoe Key, Florida (high 85, low 75)

 

We’re expecting a cold front in a few days bringing a little wind, so we may not get on the boat for a few days.  It’s predicted to get down to 75 for the high and mid to low 60’s at night.   burrrr

We try to take advantage of each day where there are light winds, sunny skies and calm seas,and that  is exactly what we did yesterday.

We headed back out to the Atlantic side and did a little fishing.   We don’t need to worry about Al hurting his shoulder with the size of the fish he was catching.  :)

This pelican flew in and waited nearby, hoping for some fish cleaning scraps.  Sorry Pelican.

We were being watched by the ever present blimp known as Fat Albert.

We heard the sound of freedom all afternoon as the Navy fighter jets flew overhead. They always give me goose bumps and we love watching them.  No pictures though, they are just too fast.

After fishing for an hour or two, Al wanted to head back out to Looe Key Reef.  The water is always so beautiful, we love just being there.

In a previous post, I mentioned our fish finder and some of you wondered what it was.  It’s an electronic device that is mounted to your boat which tells you the depth and water temperature, as well as a view of the bottom, and any fish who happen to be swimming by. They have improved greatly over the years.

You can see on this next photo there were some larger fish below.

The ocean mostly consists of flat sandy bottom, which is not where most fish live.  Fish like some sort of  structure on the bottom, whether its a reef, rocks or a shipwreck. You can see from the fish finder that this bottom was not flat.  The old fish finders used paper which had to be changed when the roll ran out.  The new ones are just like a computer screen, much nicer unless you want to rewind and see what just swam by.

We got to the reef and headed towards one of the mooring buoys in the shallower water.  8.3 feet to be exact, as you can see from the fish finder.

This colorful sailboat passed right in front of us.

I was trying to get a picture of the beard Al is trying to grow.  Can you see his furry face?   I think he may be about to give up on it, but he really hates shaving, so we’ll see.

The water has warmed up to the point we’re ready to get wet.  Almost 82 degrees.  Sherry would have been in 10 degrees cooler, but not us!

I sat on the dive platform with my feet in the water to test the water temp.  This barracuda came up so say hi.  I think he is the same one who swam all over the reef right beside us last year.  I think he may have grown a little though. 

I have a long handled camera mount that can attach to my underwater camera and go in the water.  I stuck my camera in the water and photographed Mr. Barracuda.   I was a little worried that he might try to take a bite out of it, but he didn’t seem interested.

He is a pretty big boy.  It was hard to tell for sure from the surface but probably between 4-5 feet long.

He has quite a toothy smile.

 

There were actually 2 other barracuda but he chased a smaller one away and the bigger one only came for a short visit.

We had the usual school of Yellowtail Snapper.

They seem to know you can’t catch them on the reef since it’s a marine sanctuary.  They come right up to you, but you go outside of the sanctuary and you can’t find them.  Darn…they are very good eating.

Mr. Barracuda had plenty to eat if he was hungry.

All too soon, it was time to go, so we disconnected from the mooring buoy and headed to shore.  It’s only about a 20 minute run back to Venture Out.  

Sell Your Stuff, Keep the Dog, Live on an Island

 

Cudjoe Key, Florida (high 85, low 72)

 

Here in the Florida Keys, everybody “lives on and island.”   The Florida Keys consist of a string of many islands starting in Key Largo and ending about 100 miles down in Key West.  We are on the island called Cudjoe Key, which is in the lower Keys.  There are hundreds of unnamed and uninhabited islands, as well as  hundreds of islands which are being started every day with just a single drifting piece of a mangrove bush.

There is a popular local musician here by the name of Howard Livingston.    He came down here to retire, but was inspired to start writing music.  His music is kind of the Jimmy Buffet style. 

His favorite saying is “sell your stuff, keep the dog, and live on an island.”  Which he does.  A few months back the Tv show “Buy the Beach” featured him and his wife looking to purchase an island.   They have two Golden Retrievers which they apparently he and his wife dearly love. Golden Retrievers are our favorite dogs ( as well as Shelties, thanks to sweet little Finney and Binney)

Every time Howard and his band play,  the crowds are crazy and we have a difficult time getting a place to park or a seat at the bar.

He was playing last Saturday at the Koa RV park on Sugarloaf Key, where our friends Kathy and Rick are staying.  After dinner at the Square Grouper and a visit here to Venture Out, we all drove back to their place with hopes of finding a place to park.  Fortunately, we were able to park on their site, but a seat in the bar was not available.   We enjoyed listening to the band and watching a 96 year old woman dancing and enjoying her birthday celebration.  He puts on a great show with songs like “Magic in Key West” and “Blame it on the Margaritas.”

Howard always does a thing where he makes a margarita in an old Johnson boat motor.  He rigged it up with a blender on top that’s powered by the motor.  The highest bidder gets the margarita, and the proceeds go to Care Camp, for kids with cancer.  The highest bidder was $5500.  I neglected to bring my camera, so you’ll have to check out Ricks blog for pictures of our evening.

 

Speaking of Golden Retrievers, this is who we came across the other night while waiting for sunset.

She was enjoying playing fetch while waiting for the sun to set.

A couple nights before, we arrived a little late, but got a few interesting pictures.

Sunsets are popular in the Keys.   :)

The weather has been perfect for boating, so yesterday decided to head out for a little fishing.  The Overseas Highway or Highway 1, divide the waters into what’s called the Atlantic side,  and the back country side.  Venture out is on the Atlantic side, so when we leave here we can turn right for the channel leading to the reefs, or left and cross under the bridge leading us through Kemp Channel, and out to deep water.  It starts out being fairly shallow, the visibility is not as good, but its a good place to fish and lobster.

We went back to a spot we found last year, but unfortunately another boat was sitting there, so we had to pick a different spot.   We anchored, I read,  Al fished, we ate our vegan eggless “egg” salad sandwiches.

Al got a few bites and one big bite which bent his rod.  Unfortunately, he lost that fish so we never knew what monster he had briefly hooked.

The fish finder was showing some big fish right below the boat, but he never hooked one of them.

The only thing he got was a baby  grunt, and quite a bit of sea grass.

We had a good time anyway.  

Today is therapy day and then a board meeting at the clubhouse, so no boating today.   He is changing his PT to twice a week, down from three times, so we’ll have more boating days.   :)

Two Rescues

 

Cudjoe Key, Florida (high 85, low 70)

On Thursday we enjoyed another beautiful day out at Looe Key Reef.   The seas were calm, the water clear, and the breezes gentle. 

We didn’t get in the water, but were happy sitting in the boat watching the fish, snorkelers and reading our books.   I tried out my new underwater camera (Christmas present) and watched the activity below water.

This boat appeared to be sitting pretty low in the water, so I  used my “stalker zoom” to see what was going on.  The boat had a low freeboard (sides) and 4 people and one dog were all sitting on one side.   Not too smart, do you think?

Friday was physical therapy day for Al and a block party here at Venture Out.

A while back,  during a run up to Marathon for boat supplies,we drove over to Sombrero Beach, and found a little excitement there.

They have a beautiful walkway on the back side of the beach.

The pavement has special “Keysie” type designs of crabs and hatchling turtles.

 

People seem to be trying to aggravate me lately.  Many people seem to think they are the only people around and pay absolutely no attention to their surroundings, other people or vehicles. Everywhere we go we see clueless and rude people! 

We walked along the narrow walkway to the beach behind 4 very clueless and rude people.  This is what the walkway looked like so you can how narrow it was.

They spread out, slowed down, stopped, chatted, then moved a few steps, all the while blocking our path to get around them. They were oblivious to the fact that there were any other people in the world.  I was patient and didn’t say anything, but I sure wanted to!  We finally got past them and I was stopped with my camera aimed, ready to take a picture when one of those same women walked right in front of me as I was snapping the picture.   grrrrr.  Now, you’ve ticked me off all the way!  Again, I kept my mouth shut.

I got my revenge a minute later when her friend was trying to take a picture.  I decided to “photo bomb” her.     She got a lovely picture of me too!   Not very nice, but it sure felt good.  :) 

anyway…back to the excitement we found on the beach.

The beach was beautiful and there were lots of people enjoying themselves.

All was well until we came upon this pelican.

Something didn’t look right, so I zoomed in to get a better look with my camera.   I couldn’t see anything wrong, but I worried that he may have had a slashed pouch.  Some cruel person  around here is intentionally slashing the pouches on pelicans.  The pouch below their bill is where they put the fish before they swallow them.  A slashed pouch will cause them to starve to death. It turned out the problem with this bird was a fish hook and fishing line.

Some good Samaritans had already noticed the bird and called the Wildlife Rescue, but they were delayed in traffic due the annual Seafood Festival in Marathon.

The wildlife rescue guy finally arrived. That’s him in the turquoise shirt.  He examined the bird, and determined he would be okay, but that he needed a few days rehab at their facility.

It was a happy ending.

 

Later that same day, we stopped in at the grocery store and came upon this.   See what I mean about oblivious people?

Notice the yellow line showing where the parking space was? 

There was plenty of room for the truck, he just didn’t bother to worry about the car already occupying the other space.

It was obvious the red Cadillac had been parked when the truck decided to squeeze in and it was obvious who was at fault. 

Apparently, the truck had previous parking issues because  the left fender was also damaged in about the same place.

I grabbed a store employee and asked him to call the manager, police and page the driver of the red Cadillac.  I was concerned the truck drive would come out and just drive away.  My ex claim adjuster background made me want to see that this guy caught.  I paid way too many claims for this type of accident where no one was caught. We waited around for the police to arrive and to see if the truck driver ever came out.  The police finally came, but we had to leave before the truck driver came.  I really wanted to see what that idiot looked like.

I hope it turned out well for the lady with the Cadillac.

Today, it’s dinner with friends and tomorrow out on the boat to the “back country.”