Florida Keys Adventure With Karen & Jim - Key Largo, Bahia Honda, Key West, Everglades National Park

K a r e n & J i m ' s F l o r i d a K e y s A d v e n t u r e

March 1999

Karen and Jim Byerly flew to Ft. Myers, FL to begin their Florida Keys adventure. We traveled to Altamonte Springs (a suburb of Orlando) to visit friends.

While in Altamonte Springs we visited Blue Spring State Park to view the Manatees (left) make their daily migration toward the warmer 72 degree water flowing from the spring. The manatees are docile slow moving creatures who are subject to being hit by the many boats in Florida waters.

While in Orlando we spent an afternoon at Wekiwa Springs State Park. Karen is pictured to the right on the path by the spring. The photo to the lower left was also taken at Wekiwa Spring.

After a few days in the Orlando area we headed down to Key Largo for a few days of camping. We ended up staying at the hideous Camping America Campground. Karen quickly nicknamed it the Indy 500 campground because when we went to bed in our tent our heads were only about 20 feet from the two southbound lanes of US 1.

We spent some time at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. We went out on a sailing catamaran to do some snorkeling on the reef. There was an amazing variety of both soft and hard corals. We saw some evidence of coral bleaching. The water clarity wasn't as good as we were hoping for; it was slightly cloudy. We were also somewhat surprised that we saw so few fish.

Last Updated Sunday, June 27, 2004.