Turtles & Sharks & Stingrays, Oh My!

Next stop: Key West Aquarium. Actually we ate first. It was very hot. Just walking a block from the parking ramp to Mallory Square I was dripping, I mean, glistening.

We ate at the Red Fish Blue Fish restaurant.

(This photo was taken from the top of the wrecking tower -- more on that tomorrow.)

We both had fish, by the way!

Back to the aquarium . . .

They have a tour that we missed by about 30 minutes so we while we waited for the next one we walked through the aquarium.

This is the eel tank. Basically, the tails of two eels. I don't have a better photo of these because, frankly, they creeped me out a bit.


This is from the sting ray tank. (Also you can see the rear of one of the sea turtles.) There were about 10 - 15 rays in this tank. This is one of the larger ones.


This one's lookin' at me!


They vertical feed the sting rays at this aquarium -- which means the sting rays swim up to the side of the tank and the handlers hand feed them. The handler/guide said that this was preferable for them because they could make sure that all the rays got to eat (instead of the biggest ones being the food hogs) and they could more easily dispense medicine through the food, when applicable. This method is also a bonus for tourists as the sting rays are trained to expect food when they see someone at the side of the tank -- which provides a lot of sting ray action.

They also splash a lot!

This one is thinking my camera is a tasty morsel! I am trying to take the picture without getting splashed!

Tourists (me, included) were not allowed to feed the sting rays or the sharks. But during the tour the handler/guide did. She said the rays have sharp teeth -- her fingers didn't linger as she fed them tasty morsels.

Fish break! Some more of the fish tanks.

He likes me, he really likes me.


This guy liked me enough to sit in front of my face while I tried to figure out my camera and take about 12 pictures. (Of those I wound up with these two. I have never claimed to be a photographer!)


These are nurse sharks. They are the "nicest" shark , if there is such a thing as a nice shark -- excepting those in Finding Nemo. Despite their gentler reputation, they have one of the highest shark bite records. This is due more to the stupidity of humans who do not understand the "nice" in reference to sharks is not the same as "nice" in reference to say, bunnies.


This is the shark I got to pet. (Well, not just me, everyone who was on the tour.)


The shark feels like if you were to take a very fine grain of sandpaper and soak it in water. And my hand didn't smell like fish -- because sharks do not have scales. And yes, that is how close he is -- I didn't use my zoom lens.

Here is a video of the nurse sharks.

And I end this post with some photos of the sea turtle. The aquarium had four sea turtles.


Sea turtles are protected mostly because a lot of the time their nesting ground (the lovely beaches) are easily disturbed by throngs of tourist-type people. The guide said that one of this species' (below) nesting ground was in Mexico where armed military protect the egg-laden beach.

Butterflies & Nurse Sharks

The second stop in Key West was the Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory. Which was the brother's absolute favorite part of the entire trip, especially since everyone walked out of it with this on their shoulder:


Ha, just kidding. He was somewhat indifferent. I, on the other hand, went camera crazy. And as I am not camera adept I did delete many of my attempts at butterfly photography. Here are some of the better photos.

This was the very first one we encountered. Pretty, huh?



This one opens up to be a beautiful blue color (the video below will show that) . If I was this butterfly's enemy I would easily be thwarted, as I didn't realize that this one and the beautiful blue butterflies I couldn't seem to get a photo of were the same butterfly. Yeah, that's me. I catch on real quick.

These photos (and the incredibly shaky video below) can not convey the experience. There were literally hundreds of butterflies (and some birds) in the conservatory. Fluttering around. It would be a great place for kids! Even big kids like me!

Okay, I am going to show you the video. You can't laugh, it is my first attempt at filming. Probably not my last, despite every indication that I will NEVER be a camera person.

Honestly, every time I look at this video I shake my head a little harder. But please try to ignore the camera handling and focus on the butterflies.

And one more:

Then there was a turtle off to the left of a footbridge.


And another butterfly.


There really isn't a lot of commentary to go with these photos and videos. The Butterfly Conservatory was more of an experience.


Tomorrow, sharkey's coming to visit.

Key West

Friday we headed to the Keys. The Florida Keys are a group of 1700 island that arc from the tip of the Florida peninsula to southwestern most isle Key West. Most of these islands are uninhabited.

The Keys are connected by Hwy 1, including a series of bridges.


The longest bridge in the keys, Seven Mile Bridge (17th longest in the world) connects Key Vaca to the Duck Key.


Running parallel the Seven Mile Bridge is a portion of the Old Seven Mile Bridge which is now used for fishing.


It took us about two hours to travel through the keys to Key West. Our first stop was the southernmost point in the continental U.S. (Photo below includes a rare sighting of the brother!)


Off to the left of the above photo is this view:

Towards Cuba.

Tomorrow butterflies, fish and ships.

5 things

5 things I missed while on vacation:

1. This beautiful face -->
2. My bed (despite my brother's comfy couch)
3. A building down the street from me burning down -- understand that I would have like the building to have endured for years, but in a small town a burning building is the biggest news around.
4. Teaching Sunday school & Awana
5. My library :)
   

I'm ba-ack!

Yes, I am home again after a week in sunny Florida. I had a great time with my brother and touring the Sunshine State.

I am glad I am home, despite the 30 degrees difference!

The next week or so I'll try to post my photos and talk a little about my trip.

I traveled all day Wednesday -- flying from Rochester to Chicago to Miami to Orlando. My flight from Miami to Orlando was delayed so we didn't get to my brother's apartment until about 1 a.m. on Thursday.

Thursday we decided to head down to the Keys. We stopped a couple places on the way down.

The first was the Manatee Observation and Education Center in Fort Pierce. This one was a little disappointing. I was hoping we would be able to actually see a manatee but you had to buy a ticket on a boat tour for $30 or so. The observation area of the center was being dredged, so no manatees.

It did have some fish aquariums and a lot of good information on manatees. For instance, did you know that today manatees have no natural predators? Also, manatees are curious animals and have no real fear of humans.


The second stop was the Navy UDT-SEAL Museum also in Fort Pierce. I found this museum to be very interesting. I have read about and seen movies on the Navy SEALs but this museum was truly a learning experience. The SEALs are an amazingly trained and skilled unit. Not only in military arts but in all areas of knowledge. They are scouts and demolition experts, skilled in languages and martial arts. They have been instrumental in key battles during WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf wars.


This memorial is to the left of the museum entrance and its plaque reads:

In memory of our fallen comrades who have sacrificed their lives in the service of their country while serving in the United States Naval Combat Demolition Units, Scouts, and Raiders, Underwater Demolition Teams and Sea, Air, Land Teams.

Above is a photo of some of the military equipment the SEALs units used in training and operations. One of the most interesting things I learned was these specialize units roles in D-day. If you look at the lower right corner of this photo you see some concrete and metal fragments sticking out of the ground. These were pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean of the coast of Florida. The teams had embedded them into the coastal floor to provide a training ground. Their job during the D-day operations was to explode as many of the obstacles along the northern European coastline as possible to allow the troops following behind them easier access to the beach.

Skilled men. Brave men.

I can say that I respect and appreciate them more after visiting this museum.

For more info on the history of the SEAL and special forces teams click here.

Tune in next week for more of my exciting Florida adventures. (As tomorrow is 5 things Friday!)