Peppermint and I are here on the Florida Keys. This apparently
is the prime season to be here, as there is a conveyor belt of cars north and
south on the islands only road highway 1. The main commodity here that is abundant
and free for now. Sunshine.
Tourism is the second largest commodity here, followed by
the selling and building on the keys. That last commodity is in short supply as
almost every square inch of land has been developed.
We are doing our share of touristy things in order to blend
in with the locals.
The other day we took a spin on the original African Queen.
Looking Forward on The African Queen
I thought the little boat was merely a movie prop, but it is
a steam boat built in England in 1912 that steamed along the rivers of Africa
delivering supplies. Director John Huston used it for some of the shots in the
movie, It sat rusting until 2011 and now with a Yamaha outboard it navigates a channel
in Key largo.
Actual Florida Lawn / Pool Man In His Natural Habitat Along the
Route Of The African Queen
The boats steam engine is restored and the boiler is
undergoing overhaul in a northern state where they know what a boiler is.
One of the coolest tourist things we did was ride a steel
boat with plastic windows on the bottom of its hull 7 miles out to sea to the
Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary.
The sanctuary is a living protected coral reef that supports
an amazing spectrum of life. We saw several parrot fish, nurse sharks sergeant
fish, big fish little fish, and lots of coral dancing with the current.
Bonaparte’s Gull
On the way back to shore one of the passengers Dr. Jill
started to feed the gull’s cheese puffs. Soon our ship was surrounded with
diving chattering Bonaparte’s gulls. It was all a grand sport until a couple of
passengers sitting aft got nailed with gull poop. Not to worry the crew rapidly
responded with sanitary wipes and the dirty passenger was all cleaned up, and the
gull feeding ceased.
Another stop was the Theater of the sea. This attraction has
magnificent gardens. Orchids abound at every turn. They also do shows with
rescued parrots and marine mammals, that they acquired because they were
injured, but now for some reason (profit) they breed their own dolphins, and sea
lions.
The parrots all squawk and do tricks, like putting the round
peg in the round slot, the star peg in the star slot, and on and on. Young girls
make the dolphins preform leaps and jumps, and they stress conserving the resources
of the ocean, to an audience of adults that have plenty of children and haven’t’
a clue or care, aboot the stress humans are putting on the things that keep us
alive. Especially the ocean.
California Sea Lion
Nothing says we care aboot the planet more than a captive domesticated
California Sea Lion doing the same tricks I saw at the San Francisco zoo in the 1950's
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