Feb 28 2012 Boot Key

I got up bright and early to go biking before it got hot. It was only 74 degrees when I took off.  My bike had a lizard sunning himself on my tire. I didn’t let him deter me, I shooed him off.

Lizard on tire, bike path at Marathon

I bought a hand woven palm frond sun hat from Hatmaker Grif, John heading toward Boot Key

We boated out to Boot Key, the island just off the coast of the key we are on-Knights Key to explore the channels into the mangrove swamp

John heading in to the island between mangrove islands. The mangrove roots are impenetrable.

The  channel through. It was too narrow for my fat boat,  I was having a hard enough time trying to keep my paddle from getting stuck in the roots. It would get caught cross ways and try to throw me out of the boat as the boat floated forward. Or get caught above me.  That and trying to pull the boat through the tight spots.  John  sweetly switched with me. His boat is much skinnier and just floated thru.

John in my boat in a tight spot and on the way out.

Almost out, watch out that paddle will get caught in the root!, John in the bay on the way back.

In the background is the bridge to no where. A developer was going to develop Boot Key. So he built the bridge. A hurricane damaged the bridge, so he abandoned the project. The city did not want to pay to fix the bridge, so they tried to sell it on eBay-buy bridge, come pick up. No one bought it, so they just took part of it out since it was unsafe. Boot Key is still uninhabited.  John in the bay.

A mangrove sprout poking up.  Hardy little things, they sprout, make a tree with lots of roots, dirt get caught in the roots and another island starts. Sunset on the 7 mile bridge.