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April 25th, 2010:

Second Visit to Bahia Honda State Park

4/24-25/10

Our unplanned return to the lovely island of Bahia Honda Key, allowed us to experience it more thoroughly than our initial visit there.  For that reason, we are glad our plans to return to Marathon yesterday did not come to fruition.  The other reason we stayed two more days on this island is because the wind became so intense it made H awk Channel unbearably rough.  We soon found out in our attempts to go out into the channel that the ride back to Marathon, enabling us to reunite with Ed and Cheryl, would be a very uncomfortable three to four hour journey.  So, we waited for the wind to lessen and I was able to guide Gary to all the fascinating places I visited the day before.

Nancy and Sandy told us about a small museum in the park and we visited it as well.  There we learned more about the indigenous plants of the island, watched a video of the making of the original great railroad of the Keys built by Henry Flagler, received numerous pieces of informative literature regarding the island, and a presentation of wild birds via taxidermy.  One of the “stuffed” birds displaced in a glass case, all by itself, was a tall great white heron.  We’ve never seen a great white heron in the wild, nor did we know they existed.  It’s amazing how much we don’t know.  And traveling aboard White Swan to new places has given us a wonderful opportunity to learn new things.

Since we were unable to get back to Marathon, and celebrate my birthday tomorrow with Ed and Cheryl as well as the present company of Sandy and Nancy, we decided to do Plan B.  Nancy, Sandy, Gary and I are going to take the bus to Key West for my birthday celebration.  Our friends will spend the day with us and then return to Bahia Honda Key while we spend the night in Key West.  It’s too far to take our boats there for one day, and we would risk getting “holed up” there for days on end because of the strong winds.  Taking the bus is the best option with the weather as it is.  Since we can’t be in the Bahamas for my birthday, I’m thrilled to get to go to Key West.