Big Pine Key, FL

I woke up early to start the final leg of the journey to the keys. I put on the rest of my book on tape and started driving. People drive like assholes in Florida. But, If you don’t drive like an asshole along with them, it almost seems more dangerous at times.

When I got on highway 1 I thought I was getting close. Little did I know that people were going to drive at or below the speed limit. I guess things just move a bit slower in the keys. I finally finished my audio book Memory Man which was really good, I would recommend it. I turned off the radio, rolled down the windows and took in the warm air.

A few hours later I finally arrived at Jaclyn, Anthony, Ethan and Emilie’s RV Resort! It was a site for sore eyes. It took around a month after leaving Ohio to get here.

At the entrance there is a booth where an attendant greets you. To the left you see the main office. Directly in front of you there is a sand volleyball court, basketball court, and horseshoe pits. Behind the office there is a nice swimming area, an indoor ping pong area, and tennis courts.

I turned right to go towards the palm tree lined aisles that had parked RV’s sprinkled throughout. It wasn’t very busy, which was nice. I finally made it to 273, their address for the month. We hugged and had our hellos then we went on the tour.

They walked me about 50 yards to the small beach that was right next to the bridge. Gobbler was the name of the extra large iguana that they had named, who like to hang out in that area. A few hundred yards away from the beach we made it to the marina and the fishing pier.

We saw a manatee in the marina! They say that two or three of them hang out there all the time. It’s so cool seeing a manatee in the wild!

Shortly after I arrived I mentioned the coconuts that they had near their front door. They then gave me a hatchet and instructed me how to remove the husk. It was surprisingly difficult to remove the husk making sure not to bust the nut. After about 15 minutes of hacking and ripping I finally got it down to just the nut. We pushed one of the “eyes” in, and passed around some of the water. It was delicious.

Carly, Anthony’s sister was also there. She was just finishing up her visit with the Young’s. We all went to Sunset Grill, a pool bar/restaurant right on the water. We had happy hour drinks and food. The kids swam and ate. After eating I joined the kids in the water and we played pool games like “aquatics moves p.i.g” which I just made up and the water-torpedo dodging game.

The sunset that evening was beautiful. We had a great view at the sunset grille. The clouds made this one extra spectacular. The sun rays were piercing through the top, while the orange orb slowly (or quickly) slid beneath the horizon.

That night the Super Moon had an effect on the sleeping arrangements. It brought the tide all the way up to and one aisle past our campsite. It was crazy. Good thing I didn’t set up my tent yet it would have been under a few inches of saltwater. That night I slept in the back of the Jeep. It wasn’t as comfortable as normal, because it was so warm outside. Also, somewhere in the past few sleeps the sleeping pad sprung a small leak (sorry Jerad).

 

Day 2

I slept in until around 8am. They had already be out on morning walks to check for manatees and other marine life. We ate breakfast and started playing around with the kids.

The big excitement revolved around palm trees. The coconuts had delicious fruit and water. You had to keep your eye out for ones that freshly fell. That became my new mission: Coconuts. I always had my eyes peeled. Then Ethan spotted a tree that had some low hanging fruit. I was able to jump up and rip a small, very spherical, green coconut down.

When we got into the nut, we found that it was completely filled with water. It was a young coconut. When we cracked the nut open (which was white and not very hard) we didn’t find any meat on the inside. I assume that as the coconut ages the water is converted into the meat.

Now, I’m obsessed with coconuts. The water tastes really good, and the meat is delicious. I notice that they only have three harvested coconuts left. That’s not going to be enough for me. I start researching how to climb coconut trees on YouTube. Where I find a large Samoan man with a plant-based foot-rope around his feet for leverage. He jumps up the tree like a racoon. Then he smashes a coconut against the tree and starts drinking the milk like an animal. Impressive.

I find a ratchet strap in my jeep that I tie together and wrap around my feet a few times. I find a tree near the RV that has a nice bend, that isn’t too tall, with some good nuts, and begin climbing.

Going up is surprisingly easy. I feel like a kid again. I’m able to twist off three coconuts and drop them to my excited viewers below. The way down was not so easy. When I was at the top my legs and feet began getting very tired and shaky. It made it very hard to grip onto the truck. I made it back down to Earth without any incident. But, my arms did acquire some pretty good scrapes. All par for the course. That coconut water and meat from my first harvest was oh-so-sweet.

In my understanding the older, browner, and more oblong the coconut gets the more the meat develops. Which means that there is less water. The more the meat develops the harder it gets. My favorite are the middle aged coconuts that are about halfway developed. There is still a bunch of water in those, and the meat is softer and sweeter. You can take a spoon and scrape it away from the inside of the nut. It reminds everyone else of the consistency of cooked egg whites, so they don’t like it. I guess I’m the weird one.

In the middle of the night Anthony took his sister Carly to Miami to catch her plane. I slept in my car again.

 

Day 3—6

I’ll just combine the next four days with the family into one post, since it’s hard to remember back to individual day events.

The next few days were filled with fun in the sun. The weather was a constant 74-78 ºF and sunny with a slight breeze.

Anthony and I took a paddle boarding trip around the Island while Jac took the kids to a Lego meetup at the park. The wind was blowing in our face so our departure and beginning leg of the journey was a tough paddle and wavy. We headed counterclockwise around the island. We were surrounded with sea grass and it was very shallow in some parts.

Once we came around the bend near the fishing dock it became much easier. The wind was at our backs and the waves were pushing us forwards. It was a nice little cruise past the dock to our left then past the marina inlet.

We pushed forwards underneath the bridge and towards the small island in the distance. To our right was the edge of Bahia Honda. Continuing counterclockwise around the island Anthony spotted a large, orange Sea Star! It was so cool to see in the wild. We paddled nearby to get a closer look and I reached down to touch it.

Trying to shoot the gap between the small island and the Ohio Key we noticed that it was getting very shallow. We opted to turn back and head towards the marina. When we were about 20 yards from the entrance we smelled a strong smell of fish and we saw a small face peek out of the water to catch a breath and check us out. We both thought it looked like a seal (or sealion). Two awesome animal spottings in one trip!

The next day I was trying to teach Ethan how to climb a palm tree. I told him I would give him $1 for each coconut that he could get. He got a couple jumps up, then slid down with our makeshift foot harness hanging around his feet. I ended up climbing up and grabbing the closest palm frond that I had accidentally grabbed onto. At that point It was hanging straight down towards the ground. I ended up ripping it the rest of the way off and that’s when the fun began.

I started searching for things that I could make out of the frond. I started with a small basket. It didn’t turn out as good as I would have hoped, but it looked like a basket, also it doubled as a helmet for the kids.

At that point I got really excited at the idea of weaving a hat. I did a bit of research and watched a youtube video of a white guy in India.

I started off with a small one. The original frond that I ripped off was mostly brown and crunchy and had some rips and holes in it. While I was weaving it, it was ripping even more. Getting something that somewhat resembled a hat made me pretty proud. It was small so I gave it to Emily for her doll. It as even to small for the doll’s head.

I ended up making the next hat for Emily. It turned out to be much to small, and it still wasn’t quite right. Returning to my YouTube Sensei I figured out how to properly make the top part of the hat. The rim was easy to do, simple weaving, but the hat took some planning and practice.

The third hat finally had a top that was correct. It still was a bit small, but supposedly as they dry they get a bit bigger. So, I’m hoping that she’ll be able to wear it for a few months before her head gets too big.

Through my recent experience I learned one thing: The Frond Means Everything. I needed to find the biggest, greenest frond I could find. The palm trees grow from the inside out. The youngest, greenest fronds are in the center, and grow right out of the mother nut. As they get older the fronds move towards the outside and become brown, until they fall off. Now, it was my goal to get a perfect frond to make some legit hats.

A day or two later an RV pulled in nearby that had a family and a dog. The husband and wife had two young girls around Ethan and Emily’s age. The kids hit it off right away. They had a poodle that looked very similar to Phoebe, Shawn and Kaitlin’s dog.

The next day we all went on a big paddle boarding trip. I had a board that they borrowed from one of their neighbors. Jaclyn and Emily shared a board and Anthony and Ethan shared their new larger board. The other family had one adult and one girl on each board and their dog jumped on the board with the mother.

We paddled directly across the from the beach following along the bridge. Crossing under the bridge to the right we came to a small private beach at the key across the way. It was surrounded by mangroves. There was a road directly behind it, but from our perspective it seemed pretty private.

We stopped at the beach to let the kids run around and explore. After a while I paddled away from the beach to go explore the mangroves. Only about 50 yards from shore I saw a massive shark. It was about 2 yards in front of my board and had to be at least 5 feet long. I yelled there’s a shark! It got startled and quickly swam away. Seeing the fear from the shark put me at ease.

Continuing counterclockwise around this adjacent island we saw more marine life. There were some huge whelk shells, a couple stingrays, a couple more nurse sharks, some more sea stars, and near the end Anthony saw a manatee jet by him going about 20mph.

That Friday Anthony and I were on a mission to harvest some palm tree booty. We were on the hunt for coconuts and palm fronds. We came up with the idea to duct tape a small hand saw to the end of an extending pole. We grabbed the ladder and started hunting for a good candidate tree. Our first goal was the fruit. The tree was about 20 feet up to the nuts. There were around five clusters of nuts numbering in roughly 20 total.

A few steps from the ladder top we started sawing at the vine that held the cluster. After about 10 minutes of sawing at an awkward angle and gathering a crowd of about 5 we tried something different. Aiming for the individual nut’s vine was much easier to cut through. As long as we got the right angle the nuts were dropping in numbers.

We gave a few passers-by a free coconut for their support. I think we harvested 12 in total effectively doubling our supply.

Happy with that It was my mission to find a suitable frond. We walked down towards the marina and found a short tree, with some great options. Through my research I found that cutting the center most fronds was bad for the nut. So I found an off-centered frond that had long beautiful green leaves. Anthony was laughing at me due to my excitement. We dragged it back to our basecamp and I got to work. I wanted to use every part of this thing. Beginning with splitting it down the center I measured out my head and cut off the part that I needed.

Over the next half hour or so I created myself an awesome hat. I was really starting to get the hang of it. It’s amazing the difference good materials makes.

On that Saturday there was an ice cream social at the community center. While we were in line a magician came up to the kids and did some cool tricks. He made a handkerchief move from one hand to another, using a fancy slight of hand thumb holder. There was also a “finger-mouse” that he would have the kids pet and make it bite them. He was a really funny guy who obviously loved what he did.

We sat with the neighboring family while the four kids sat around the Magician on stage. He was a bit cheesy but overall very entertaining. Caitlin would have really enjoyed him.

The next morning I was going to leave early and head up to Fort Lauderdale to get Caitlin! It was very exciting for both of us.

 

Day 6—8

When I picked up Caitlin from the airport she was really excited. I don’t know if she was more excited to be in Florida, or to be away from her students for a few days.

We headed down south and stopped at a Chipotle on the way. It was some of the best Chipotle I’ve ever had. The Cuban’s must really know how to season it.

When we got to the RV it was past the kids bedtime. We woke up the kids inadvertently with the loud rustling of grocery bags. After a quick hello we headed outside to have some drinks and called it a night.

Early the next morning the kids woke us up (as expected). We continued to have breakfast and give Caitlin the grand tour. We didn’t see and Manatees in the marina the first day, I think it was a bit too late (around 9:30).

The next day the kids were going on a field trip that was put on by the home school families. We needed to figure out something to do for adult fun. We decided on going to Sombrero Beach. It was a beach that was on Marathon Key, just over the 7 mile bridge.

After the kids left in the morning we packed up the truck and headed to the beach, making sure to grab some coronas on the way. The beach wasn’t too packed. The beach was awesome. Beautiful blue-turquoise water as expected, nice sand, and it sat in a bit of a cove.

The weather wasn’t super warm (mid 70s and sunny) and there was a slight breeze. So, we weren’t jonesing to get into the water. Once we had a couple Coronas in us we decided to paddle to a nearby island. Caitlin and I were on the small board and Jaclyn and Anth were on the big one.

If you didn’t know Caitlin has pretty poor balance. Also, she screams a lot when she panics. Needless to say it was a loud and tipsy turvy paddle out there. The wind was against us and it was slow going.

After about 10-15 minutes we made it to the tiny island, only about 30 yards across. We walked across some sharp coral and made it to an island that was mostly jagged rocks. There was some relief from some clay like sand that was very soft on the foot.

We paddled back and I ended up trying out the new full-face snorkel that Caitlin just bought. There were some really nice sand volleyball courts in the park where we played some 4v4 against a group of Spanish speaking coeds. After wiping the floor with them (just kidding it was a good match) we headed to pick up the kids.

They just went on their first field trip, and they really seemed to like it. They had a great time running around and playing with all the other kids. Their art projects from the day were touching and heartfelt. We were already over the seven mile bridge so we went the to Sunset Grille where we ordered food and drinks. I played cornhole with the kids and we watched the sunset.

We weren’t sure if the kids were going to like the first field trip, but the next day they wanted to go on day two. The next adult day was in store. We decided to hang around the RV park and just lounge. We made some adult smoothies and a coconut rum drink.

It was Caitlin’s first time playing pickle ball. Jaclyn and Anthony beat us pretty bad and anyone that knows me is aware that I don’t like losing. But, it was a lot of fun. I want to have Randy’s Pickles sponsor a pickle ball tournament.

A bit later we decided to paddle board to Bahia Honda State Park. It was another tough paddle. Caitlin and I tipped over for our first time. We walked a bit of the beach, but were mostly just ready to head back to the RV. All that fun in the sun and drinking will really take it out of ya!