Sunsets and Sunrises

Sunshine Key Rv Resort,  Florida 

We’re still waiting for the wind to die down enough to do some kayaking.  The past two days have been really windy and there have been frequent and short lived showers moving through.   It’s okay though, because we can always move on to “plan B.”  Life is always good in the Florida Keys.

Monday, we decided to spend the afternoon at Curry Hammock State Park.  It’s a newer park with a great campground.  The sites are nice and big and angled for ease of getting in.  There are waterfront sites, but they are behind a dune, so you don’t have a clear view of the Atlantic.    I think you’d have a wonderful view from your motorhome window if you pulled in forward instead of backing in to the site.

Most sites looked pretty much like this.

Site 11  (notice it was empty)

 

After exploring the campground and checking which sites we could fit into, should we ever get lucky enough to snag a reservation, we went over to the beach to hang out and do some reading. 

We had to find a spot where we had some wind block.

It was a good day for kite surfing and there were a bunch of them out there.

Al walked over to the restroom and saw these guys.

I thought this one was big….

until I met this guy.

The pictures probably don’t show his massive size, but he was a good  5 feet long.

Isn’t the texture of his skin and all of his markings interesting?  He looks like something prehistoric..

Unfortunately, Iguanas are not native to the Florida Keys and have become a problem by competing with native species for their food.   Irresponsible pet owners have released them into the wild, as they have done with pythons.   Young iguanas eat eggs of protected sea turtles, gopher tortoises and burrowing owls. As 7-foot adults, they dine on endangered flora that includes the delicate butterfly sage. For dessert they devour expensive suburban landscape plants.   There are beautiful flowering trees here at Sunshine Key and the residents are not too happy when the Iguanas eat the blooms.

We were really enjoying our day and I was getting into my new book, when all of a sudden, the wind picked up, the dark clouds came in and it rained pretty hard…for all of 5 minutes.   It’s been like that the past few days.  Sun, then rain, then sun again. 

On Tuesday, we went back to Sombrero Beach with the idea we would sit by the water and read.  It was sunny and hot one minute, cloudy and cool the next.   We found a lovely spot and stayed pretty much out of the wind.

Afterwards we headed over to the Sunset Bar and Grill for happy hour and to watch the sunset.

You don’t find a better place this this to watch the sunset over the Atlantic ocean.

We stayed on the upper level overlooking the beautiful heated pool.  Unfortunately a large cloud bank blocked the sunset, but it was still incredibly beautiful.  I’m sure we’ll be going back soon. Probably tonight.

This morning, we went for a 4 mile walk along the walking bridge.  Sunrise was pretty nice.

Our two weeks here is almost over.  We’ll sure hate to leave.  For a mere $9620 we could stay the year, unless you want a waterfront site and that would set you back a mere  $17,120, plus taxes and fees. For $7380, we could stay 6 months on a cheap site or  $11,226 for a waterfront site.   If you want a waterfront site in February, you will have to cough up $2679 (before taxes and fees).  Ahhhh, the price of paradise.