Bahia Honda & Islamorada & Not Wanting To Go Home

Okay - the only way we were able to drag ourselves out of Key West was to spend a week in Islamorada. There's a bit less to photograph, but the restaurants are truly amazing. Here's a bit of what we managed to point our cameras at throughout the week. The banner above is a 210mm zoom view from our hotel balcony.

The full view of the banner shot. There was a funky bit of weather off to the east, and this is the actual color we got when the sun peeked out from beneath the cloud deck.

The old (left) and new (right) bridges of Bahia Honda, shot from the beautiful state park of the same name.

Atop the old Bahia Honda bridge. One of the highest points in all the Keys!

Oops.

Pool of sunlight. Islamorada. (Heart)!

A [Maris] shot from the "beach." More (Hearts)!

There's a lighthouse out there. Alligator Reef Light - near the upper left of the shot. Alligator Reef is serious business, as there was a fatal boating accident out there right before we arrived.

Two frames of the magical Morada Bay Beach Café. Did. Not. Want. To. Leave.

Florida Keys, adieu. For now. (sniff)

Thanks for coming along. More to come...

Playing Fort In The Dry Tortugas

Finishing up an awesome morning at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas - Here are some of Joe's shots. Theses first two are the best I could get of Dry Tortugas Light Station, on Loggerhead Key, just southwest of Fort Jefferson. It's an active Coast Guard Station and not open to the public, so I could get no closer than the fort's moat wall and my 500mm mirror reflect lens would allow. I'll go back someday, with longer lenses and maybe a boat!

Meanwhile, back to the Fort at hand...

Foliage!

Water!

Two teeny fish!

Moat wall! If I lived here, this would be my jogging track.

This fort was never actually finished. I'd like to think it's because they spent too much time on the intricate masonry work, but really I believe it's simply because the war ended.

Another view of the coolest little lighthouse. That's Bush Key in the upper-right of the frame. I could live there, too. Fewer tourists, but bugs the size of trucks, I bet.

And another look. In this one picture, we can see bricks from two different sources (red clay on top; a more sandy mixture below). The ornate masonry is also apparent, as well as a combination of decay and simply unfinished work.

One of the hundreds of "windows" on Fort Jefferson. After a couple of hours, this had forever become one of our very favorite places on the planet. It just has a kind of magic, for us.

Thanks for visiting! Next, we'll head up old Route A1A to Bahia Honda...

Fort Jefferson, By [Maris]

We came away from our October 2000 visit to Fort Jefferson with enough photos that we figure it's time [Maris] had her very own post. All of these amazing shots are the work of my soul mate, her very impressive Olympus Stylus and her incredible eye. Above, a bit of the moat, the sea wall and the azure Gulf beyond.

The fort entrance, shot from her favorite vantage point.

Looking across the interior of the fort from the foot of the lighthouse. The little kid in us wants to live here and play fort for the rest of our lives.

A view of the light from the interior yard. I passed this shot by, concerned about the back-lighting. See why I married her?

The original purpose of our visit - a little black lighthouse. Who knew its setting would be so incredibly cool?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just the teeniest bit jealous of these two shots looking through the exterior and interior archways of Fort Jefferson's northwest side. They are a study in perspective, use of available light and depth of field. And no - we didn't lift them from the official website or anywhere else. And yes, these two frames rank among our very favorite photographs of anything, anywhere, ever.

Looking back at the entrance, this time from a ground-level window in the southeast corner.

If we lived in Fort Jefferson, we would have to stare at views like this every day and go absolutely mad at the sheer beauty. It's a risk we're willing to take.

Many, many thanks to [Maris] for agreeing to share her photographs with me and my friends!

Coming up next - Joe took some pictures that day, too!

Fort Jefferson By Air

The highlight of our week in the Lower Florida Keys in 2000 was a seaplane trip to Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Tortugas, about 70 miles west of Key West. It's a scheduled flight, so the shooting was challenging, with a couple of seconds for each photo and dirty windows in the way, but we got a few decent frames. The shot above is less than decent, technically, but how can you not like a shipwreck with trees growing out of it?

Shipwreck #2 - surrounded by barely-submerged sandbars and birds jockeying for perches on its mast.

Two shots of a small atoll between Key West and the Dry Tortugas. I like the broccoli-like appearance of the mangrove islets, and the S-shaped swath the current has cut through the shallows in the second photo.

Two frames of the spectacular 150-foot lighthouse on Loggerhead Key, just a couple of miles southwest of Fort Jefferson.

Our pilot was kind enough to do not only the fly-by of Loggerhead Key, but also an extra pass over Garden Key/Fort Jefferson, before touching down on the liquid runway. Even at a couple of thousand feet, we had no words.

A moat! It has a moat! AND a lighthouse. Just behind the black lighthouse tower, the old foundations of the barracks, as well as the more-or-less intact armory, are visible. We'll be stepping onto that beach in the foreground in about three minutes...

... after a smooth splashdown and taxi in front of the fort. Photo by [Maris].

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought." It wasn't that bad, Mom - honest!

Next - all over and around and in love with Fort Jefferson...

Impossible Water And Offshore Lights

The Florida Keys stretch 120 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, so you can't really see the Keys without getting into a boat and heading out. Our 2000 visit to Cayo Hueso included a day trip in a little 18-footer, out to Sand Key Light and American Shoal Light. The banner above is some of that impossible water color, just west of Key West.

More impossible water color as we head farther west toward Sand Key Light. The amazing color is due in large part to the shallow depth, sandy bottom and coral surrounding the Keys.

Sand Key Light. There was a house built into that steel frame, but it burned to a crisp (the reddish bits are where the paint burned off), leaving only the skeleton and a modern cupola. The light marks a dangerously shallow spot (at low tide, it's a sand bar), and the snorkeling here is said to be world-class.

More impossible water color - at Sand Key Light. Photo by awesome bride [Maris].

Fins to the left, fins to the right... You can't go to and from Sand Key without running across a pod of dolphins.

Approaching one of my Happy Places - American Shoal Lighthouse, off Sugarloaf Key...

If we ever win one of those massive lottery jackpots, we're buying this thing. And living on it. (HEART)

Yeah, I'm King of The World. Yay, me!

Next, we take to the sky and find another simply amazing place.

Key West 101

More from Key West - October, 2000. We started off 100% tourist, photo-wise, but had a great time. The photography gets a little more serious in the next couple of posts. Above is the recently renovated Customs House.

I can't quite explain why I loved this scene at the Key West cruise ship dock, and felt so compelled to shoot it. Something about the colors, soft light and spacing. Dunno. When in doubt - take the shot!

Key West Light at night. Scarier than it looks.

Capt. Tony's - the original Sloppy Joe's, shot by [Maris]. More locals, fewer tourists, more character...

... and it's right down the street from the Toe Ring King! Oh, and there are chickens! How can you not love a seedy, end-of-the-road tourist-trap town with feral chickens (and Hemingway cats!) running around?

... and bars called Crabby Dicks! [Maris]'s shot.

The garden between La Mer and Dewey House - Southernmost Resorts. Another [Maris] photo.

Halloween in Key West! Booya!

Snowy Egret prowling the beach at La Mer.

Another obligatory sunset vista from Mallory Square. Nice.

Okay, friends. Join us next time for a seaplane excursion to Fort Jefferson, some 70 miles west of Key West, to see why it is Joe's Happy Place...