Florida Keys

So, my pictures of the Florida Keys are not that good, not all bright blue with palm trees and dolphins jumping out of the water, but I was lucky to get any pictures at all.  Timing didn't exactly work out for going down to the Keys today.  It started to drizzle as I left Key Largo and headed south.  Once I hit Marathon, the rain picked up and eventually turned into buckets.  I ended up pulling into a Walgreens to wait out the rain because there was such little visibility.  So, I ate some lunch while some more pictures were being developed.  The sun came out for a bit and I decided to head back north. The rain came in from Hurricane Paula, out near the Caribbean.  I certainly did not want to be around when either the hurricane turned towards Key West or when the Carnival Cruiseline ship docked at Key West to dump off 3000 people until the water was clear of the hurricane.

I must say, when you can actually see beyond the windshield, the drive through the Keys is very beautiful.  Only difficult thing about it is trying to get snap shots while driving.  There are pull-offs, but mainly for fishermen so they aren't very scenic.  Going from island to island over 40+ bridges provides nice 180 views, with ocean on either side of you.  The Seven Mile Bridge was awesome, and it was interesting to see the remnants of the original Seven Mile Bridge (which served as a railroad throughout the Keys) along your side while driving.  It was destroyed in the early 1900s by hurricane.  I know there is a museum and a walk around where the bridge was and different things to see, but I couldn't find those things as the rain picked up again; plus I think you have to take a ferry over to the "attraction."

 

Nor did I get out for the beaches in this non-beach weather... the water was pretty high and the beaches looked kinda like swamps.

Between downpours I got some photos of what views I could, and actually saw a really nice rainbow on the drive back!  The different shades in the ocean that stretch back to the clouds were striking.  I was just so hard to capture anything close to the beauty on camera while it being overcast from the on/off rain.

But, I'm sure you believe that the Keys are awesome to see (and I'm sure they are so great to experience fully when weather permits).

Oh, and just so you have an idea of exactly how the Seven Mile Bridge looks, I've taken a snapshot of a postcard that shows a bird's eye view of the bridges (old and new one).