There goes Florida, part 3 - Banana Bay, the Keys

[Hilary]

There goes Florida, part 3 – Banana Bay, the Keys

Cast
Me – Hilary, 48. Beginning to suffer from planning overload, but looking forward to seeing some new-to-us parts of Florida.
DH – Jeremy, 49. Looking forward to fishing opportunities in the Keys and on the coast, but could do without quite as long in Orlando.
DD1 – Rhian , 19. Looking forward to forgetting university studies for two weeks – anything else will be a bonus.
DD2 – Amy, 15. Looking forward to first trip to IOA , Mission Space and the Hard Rock Hotel, but not looking forward to the prospect of being ill on the flights again.

As my reward for waking up, bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4:30am, I spent an hour and a half sitting in the bathroom reading magazines and drinking tea before anyone else woke up (not very comfortable, I can assure you). Then I ran out of sympathy for the sleeping beauties and started clattering around the room a bit in the hope that someone would hear me and wake up enough to tell me to shut up. Then I could wake them up properly. I succeeded (I’ve been practising long enough) and had them all up and dressed by the time the restaurant opened for breakfast.

We had a great buffet breakfast in the hotel (I had recovered from my in-flight headache enough by now to be absolutely ravenous and made the most of everything on the buffet table), and then set off for our drive to the Keys. The drive was pleasant enough, but if I say that one of the most exciting things was spotting a WalMart Supercenter on the outskirts of Florida City, you can probably guess that it wasn’t a highlight of the trip.

Somewhere on, or near, Islomorada we stopped at a small roadside café next to a very small marina. We’d intended to get a drink or ice cream and use the restrooms but, after one look at the two dilapidated ‘portaloos’ outside, decided we could all cross our legs until we reached our resort .

At the entrance to the marina was a shop selling bait and tackle for boat trips, and a sign above the door said ‘Feed the Tarpon’. Well, tarpon being the specie of fish Jeremy most wanted to catch on this visit, we just had to go and have a look, didn’t we? You could feed the tarpon for $2 or just watch for $1. Having seen all the other visitors paying their $2, and imagining one very tame and very fat tarpon lazing in a tank inside, we chose to watch for $1.

We were amazed to get outside and find ourselves on a rickety wooden jetty surrounded by hundreds of tarpon coming in to the marina to be fed! Hundreds might be a bit of an exaggeration (well, we are talking about fish, so telling tall tales is expected, isn’t it?), but there must have been at least 50 or 60 of these huge fish swimming around under the jetty. They were mostly about three or four feet long, and some of the larger ones must have weighed about 70 or 80 pounds each (no, I’m not exaggerating this bit). The surface of the water was broken by lots of large mouths coming up to the surface to find the next piece of bait being thrown into the water to feed them, accompanied by loud slurping noises. Further out, past the end of the jetty, there must have been even more tarpon, as we could see hungry mouths coming up out of the water quiet a long way away. It was an incredible sight, and well worth $1!

We continued down Highway 1 to Marathon and found the Banana Bay Resort quite easily. Then followed check-in number 3 of the trip. We hadn’t been given a room overlooking the marina, as requested, but at least we weren’t facing the main highway, so we didn’t mind too much. We’d also requested a non-smoking room, but as soon as we walked through the door we could tell there had been smokers in there, whether it was supposed to be non-smoking or not. We decided we’d stay put anyway, as the smoke smell wasn’t too bad, but it didn’t start us off a good foot with Banana Bay.

We went to explore the grounds and find the path down to the very small beach, and were very impressed with the beautiful plants everywhere – the landscaping was really wonderful here. We had lunch in the shade on the restaurant terrace by the pool, then I unpacked whilst the girls explored the resort and Jeremy set about making some phone calls to arrange his fishing trip for later during our stay on Marathon.

We made a quick trip to Publix for supplies, Jeremy and I explored the local fishing tackle shop, the girls discovered the make-up and toiletries in K-Mart, and then we went back to Banana Bay for a few snacks on our patio for tea. Jeremy and the girls had a quick swim in the pool and then we were all ready for another early night.

Tomorrow we hoped to see the dolphins at the Dolphin Research Centre.

 

[KayleeUK]

Huge fish Can't wait too hear more...

 

[highlander447]

sounds fun

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

We fed those Tarpon, too - boy do those big fishies move quicky . . . and all together There was also some little fishies (Jeremy would know what they were, I'm sure ), together with a Pelican which attached itself to me a little too closely for my liking, but all made for a very memorable visit.

Glad the headache's better now.

Know what you mean about some of the little roadside shacks down on the Keys

Hilary, it's been almost three days now and there's not been any mention of you checking out the hotel's laundry rooms

 

[Hilary]

Hilary, it's been almost three days now and there's not been any mention of you checking out the hotel's laundry rooms

LOL Annie! I didn't even suffer any withdrawal symptoms - it just shows I can do it if I try! (but I made up for it later in the trip)

 

[squitty]

Great day Hilary, the drive there sounds very exciting