Kayaking at Geiger Key Marina

Big Pine Key, Florida

Our time here in the Florida Keys is quickly coming to an end, so we’re frantically trying to get every thing done before we leave. 

We have to keep reminding ourselves that we will be back and some things will have to wait until next time…..which will probably be late March.

Yesterday, we decided to head down towards Geiger Key Marina to do some kayaking.  This is the place that had the wonderful restaurant where we so enjoyed their (expensive) Hogfish Sandwiches. 

I emailed HeyDuke to see if they wanted to meet us and maybe do some kayaking. They are staying nearby for a few weeks, so I thought it might be a good chance to meet them.  Unfortunately, they were not in the Keys yet, but still on their way.  Maybe next time.

We launched the kayaks at the free boat launch by the marina and campground. 

There are a lot of mangrove islands there and we thought it might be a fun place to paddle. 

We paddled by the campground and restaurant. This guy here has the best site, doesn’t he?  His Monaco looks very similar to ours, so I tried to imagine it was us staying there!

A lot of sites have tiki huts, which are nice but cut into the space you have for your rv.

The next photo is a waterfront view of the restaurant where we got that wonderful food. 

Unfortunately the tide was at it’s lowest and we had trouble maneuvering around except in the channel.

There were a few boats zooming by and one of them got the finger (after he was far enough that he couldn’t see me) 

Polite boaters slow down when they approach a small watercraft.   A***holes don’t slow down.

The other direction from the restaurant was a few houses.  I thought this shot of the pink house was interesting with the reflection on the water.  I used my new favorite Picasa editing feature…vignette.

We stopped here and had a sandwich. 

We would have had a better time if we had a little higher tide.  There were a lot of fish in the mangroves.  Unfortunately since it was a Saturday, there were too many boats.  Next time we come back, we will make sure we aren’t there on a week-end or a low tide.

We discovered a nice little beach across from the Naval Air Station, and nearby Geiger Key Marina.

It had some nice shady areas where you could bring a book and a chair.

The shoreline was rocky, which may be a good spot to snorkel (once the water warms up)

There is no pretty white sand, but the water was clear and pretty.  We’ll bring the kayaks there next time.

You can drive only so far and then have to park and walk if you want to go further down the beach.

We found some interesting things along this walk.

We headed back up towards Big Pine Key.  There was some sort of marathon run on Highway 1.  There were hundreds of runners running some sort of relay.  There were many, many vans, and lots of traffic.  It really held up traffic.

I guess we’re getting old.  We just can’t seem to go like we want to.  By the time we got home last night, we were both pretty tired.  We read went for a walk around the campground, read a while, watched some tv and then both were in bed by 10ish.

We got up at this morning to watch the sunrise over the water.  Not many more morning left.

It was daylight out, and we thought we had missed it.

We have to walk up towards the bridge to see the sunrise.

Here it comes, as beautiful as ever.

I like the sunset better, but this is pretty nice too!

I have been taking pictures of our campground.  I’ll do a campground review soon.