John Pennecamp State Park/ Key Largo Florida

Saturday Dec. 28th we packed up and headed towards our next destination, John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park. We were happy to be heading north cause those traveling south had bumper to bumper driving. After a short 47 mile drive we arrived without incident and backed in to site #7.After we set up we took off for a walk around the park to see what had changed since our last visit. This park is a very popular park and is busy. They offer scuba diving and snorkeling trips, kayak rentals and a couple of small beaches. The layout of the park was as we remembered it, but the campground had been much improved with paved roads and full hook ups although the sites are much too close for our liking.

Birds that hang out behind our site

Sunday Dec. 29th Decided to make a breakfast this morning. We got to visiting with our neighbors, they have been coming to the keys for 10 years and love to kayak. They gave Jeff there card and it contains a lot of launch sites they've used and like. Here is a link to their site:
https://sites.google.com/site/flkeyskayaktrips/
Drove to the Hobie dealer because of our leaking boats. After Jeff emailed them they asked us to bring them into a dealer so they could look at them and get pictures. When we got there we talked to someone but not the boss so they asked us to bring them back on Monday. When we got back took another walk without the dogs so we could look at the visitors center, it's really nice with lots of things to see with the main attraction a huge aquarium full of unique critters. The place was so busy. Hoping that after the weekend things will settle down.

Monday December 30, Again we drive over to the Hobie dealer, it's just right up the road. Todd was the guy that came out to look at the boats and take some pictures. We also gave him our information to contact us when they hear back. Since we were out we headed to the Bass Pro Shop. Jeff had a few things he wanted from there . It was a long drive (23 miles ) cause we were the ones heading south this time, bumper to bumper. After shopping at Jeff's favorite store we headed north, stopping at a flag store I spotted earlier. They had every kind of flag you could want. They just happened to have one I liked, imagine that. One last stop at Kmart. I've decided to get me some clippers. I already cut Jeff's hair and groom Belles, why not cut my own....the clippers cost about as much as 1 haircut.

Tuesday...New Years Eve... It was rather cloudy and gray today and forecasting rain. Went into town to get my pictures developed at Walgreens. I used to develop so many pictures, I like to scrapbook. Now I mostly just scrap pictures of the grand kids. I had pictures from our summer in Iowa and I needed to clean off my camera. While I was there Jeff was at Divers Supply. It started pouring down rain while we were there. After it slowed down I went to look at Divers Supply with Jeff. He seems to still have lobster fever so he purchased a lobster lasso. We came back home and didn't have anything planned for welcoming in the new year. I figured we could do that in the morning.

Wednesday January 1,2014.....Happy New Year!!!!! I was right we didn't make it to midnight but others did, I heard the fireworks. It was pretty out this morning so we thought we'd put the kayaks in here at the park. Took them to the kayak launch and put them in. We headed around the island and right away I could see mines still leaking. This is really starting to make me mad. The water around the mangroves was a bit choppy but once we got into the mangroves it was really calm and so pretty. We got sprinkled on a little. Didn't stay out that long because we wanted to head to a sports bar to watch the Hawkeyes play in the Outback Bowl. Still no TV here. We drove to D Hookers to watch the game. The Hawkeyes didn't do so good but we did meet an interesting guy who told us some funny stories. Never know who you'll meet. He kept us laughing.

Mangrove trails

Thursday January 2, Really nice day today. Jeff wanted to go to the Hobie place to rent a tandem island. We called ahead to make sure one was available, it was. Headed over and got loaded up. That place was hopping. This boat is a double seated kayak with amas and a 90 square foot sail. I got to sit in the front. That just happens to be the wet seat....I got soaked. We had brought some stuff so I was trying to keep it dry. That didn't happen. The wind and waves picked up so we stayed close to shore sailing around the Bay Area. We rented  the boat for 1/2 day. Here's a short video below:

Friday January 3, A cold front came through and temps only reached about 70. Jeff went to get milk and wanted to stop and wash the truck. He came back with the milk but said the car wash was a joke so brought the truck back dirty. I cleaned the RV and then scrapped most the afternoon since the weather was cloudy and cool. We also took the dogs for a walk and the cool weather has drove the bugs out  Jeff made homemade chicken and noodle for supper. It was good................One week down one week to go. The weather here hasn't been the best but compared to what they are getting up north I'll take it. They are breaking record cold temperatures and getting lots of snow, so I guess cloudy and windy is fine.