Snorkeling at Bahia Honda State Park

Big Pine Key, Florida   -  Sunshine Key Rv Resort
Yesterday, was to be our last really warm day for a while since a “cold” front is heading all the way to the Florida Keys! 
It was in the mid to upper 70’s yesterday, but today’s high is only getting into the low 60’s.  It’s real windy too.  The sun is shining, so I don’t think the day will be too bad.
We haven’t found any great places close enough inshore to snorkel yet, but Al was determined he was going to at least get wet.
We headed the mile or so over the bridge to Bahia Honda State Park and launched the kayaks.  This is a very popular park and the beach gets pretty crowded.  We had been waiting, thinking some of the visitors would have to back to work.  It didn’t appear they did, and the park was also full of kids.  Don’t they have school??
Al brought along his new Hummingbird Fish Finder so he could tell what kind of bottom we were in.  Fish don’t normally hang out on a flat sandy bottom.  They prefer some sort of rock, or reef structure so that they have  hiding place.  The water is so clear, we really could see the bottom very well, but we though maybe with the Fish Finder, we would find a good spot to snorkel.  It did start picking up fish that we didn’t see, and it also gave us a depth and water temperature, which was 74 degrees.   brrrrr…it was going to have to be pretty nice before  I was getting wet!
The water was clear and surprisingly calm.  The forecast was calling for 15-20 knot winds, so we figured it would be choppy.

It was nice and calm, with an incoming tide.

We paddled at least a half mile offshore to about 10-11 feet of water.  Al decided this would be a good place to get wet.
He thought he could put on his shortie wetsuit in the kayak since it zipped up the front.  Well, that was easier said than done, I’m afraid. 

Our Sea Eagle kayaks proved to be very stable with all the struggling, twisting, turning and grunting that was going on!
He finally got the wetsuit on, and then discovered the strap on one of his fins had come loose. We got it fixed and overboard he went.  
I immediately heard a gasp, some mumbling that I couldn’t understand because he had the snorkel in his mouth…then a big splash.  At that time I decided to put my camera back into it’s waterproof bag! 
As it turned out, he had to dive to the bottom to retrieve the fin that came off.  That darn strap had come loose again, and he lost both fins.   He was cold, out of breath and had no fins.  The snorkel trip was over before it even really started.
Next, was how to get back into the kayak without fins to give you that little extra push?  It was a bit more difficult than he figured on and in the end, he used my kayak and swung his legs up over and into his boat.  It wasn’t pretty, but he got back in.
Okay…lesson learned….new fins.   Practice getting back into kayak in shallower water…and wait until the water temp gets back into the 80’s!
I guess we’ve lived in Florida too long and our blood got thin, because there were lots of people snorkeling and swimming with no wetsuits at all!
We ended up just paddling around.  The water was so clear and pretty, it was a nice day.


I did a little experimenting with the new Picasa features.  I kind of like the next pictures.  What do you think?

These were both taken yesterday at Bahia Honda.

After we finished kayaking, we headed back home.  I have been wanting to sit outside on the patio and read.  I finally got the chance.  I opened up a bottle of Asti Spumate that I had left over from New Years eve, and enjoyed my evening.
**catching up on blogs….go to previous post I just did to see pictures of mangrove kayaking at Curry Hammock State Park***