833 October 29, 2022 Long Key State Park

I took a shorter than usual walk this morning.  My legs were tired and I felt like I was just trudging along!

I took my yogurt and a book across the way to a hammock.  I sat in the shade of a palm tree enjoying the balmy ocean breeze…life of Riley indeed!

We packed plenty of water and hopped on our bikes.  We cycled the three miles to Long Key State Park.  The park is currently not charging admission because the area has been so decimated.  In 2017, Hurricane Irma completely wiped out all the campsites that used to sit along the water.  The park had made  a lot of progress and then just weeks ago, Hurricane Ian happened.  Much of the park is closed.  We walked through the devastated mangrove trees.  Scientists estimate that these mangrove swamps will take 40 years to recover.

We walked to the left and after a very short distance the trail was closed. 

We walked to the right and soon that trail was also closed.

We saw a boat on the beach.

We had hoped to spend the afternoon here but there really was not much left.

We had some quiet time and then dressed up for dinner.  We drove to Lazy Days in Islamorada.  We sat out on the deck.  We watched tarpon and rays and sharks out in the Florida Straits.  I had a key lime colada and a Key West salad topped with coconut shrimp and Tim had tuna. 

After our meal, we sat on the beach.

We walked to the pier.  There were more than a dozen tarpons there in the water waiting to be fed.  We could also see two nurse sharks sitting on the bottom.

The pelican posed for us.

The sun was setting as we headed back home.

We took a walk in the RV park enjoying the light wind and the slightly cooler evening temperature.