Cat's South Florida Winterim, Part 2

 Day 4: Friday

In the morning we did one last snorkeling trip at MarineLab, this time looking closely at the seagrass ecosystem near the mangrove coast of the Florida Bay and getting to touch and hold some of the animals we found there.  We had lunch at a fun restaurant in Key Largo then drove down to Key West to spend the night.  

Walking through the mangroves - and I took a pretty embarrassing fall
after picking up a plastic bag I found, then stepping on a dead branch.

The spot where we snorkeled was aptly named Pelican.

An underwater view of the mangrove shoots in the water
and the many fish that live in the habitat.

We collected several sea stars, a snail, an urchin, a sponge,
some jellyfish, a nudibranch, and more.

Brittle Sea Stars

Mitch (l) was our captain for all of our snorkels and Pat (r) was our
instructor on Thursday and Friday.  They were so knowledgeable and fun!

As soon as we got checked into our hotel, we walked to the Southernmost Point marker.  Then we had just enough time to get to Mallory Square to watch the sunset and see a few street performers.  We ate dinner at Margaritaville, spoiling ourselves with fancy drinks and Key Lime Pie, and back at the hotel we had a movie night.

It was fun to see the cute little cottages along the streets while we walked
around town.  Also, there lots of little chickens roaming free!

(notice the name of the sunset dinner cruise ship in the background)

Day 5: Saturday

We spent the first half of the day at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, touring the pre-Civil War fort, then relaxing on the beach.  

Then we drove up to Marathon to tour The Turtle Hospital, which was truly amazing.  The facility takes care of up to 100 sea turtles of all species and ages, with a variety of natural or man-caused ailments.  It was really sad to see the turtles who couldn't dive because of air pockets under their shells due to being stricken by boat propellars, and turtles with fibropapillomatosis tumors caused by pollution.  The turtle hospital has local vets treat the turtles, then rehab staff works to get them ready to be released into the wild.  They release as many turtles back to the wild as can survive on their own, and the ones who cannot survive in the wild either become permanent residents at the hospital or go to zoos or aquariums.

Top right is a turtle with many visible FP tumors,
bottom right is a turtle who recently had surgery to remove tumors
and will obviously have more procedures to remove the rest.

We stopped for dinner at the five-star restaurant locals call "Panda Express" back in Florida City (the girls were really excited to eat there and we waited for quite a while before we could order!) then finally got to our hotel in downtown Miami at about 8:45.

Day 6: Sunday

The girls decided they wanted to go to the Frost Science Museum so we used the Metromover to get there (the nearby stop was one of the reasons I chose the hotel).  We watched a planetarium show called "Dynamic Earth," which was great for putting some of the things we'd been learning about climate change and its impact on South Florida into a broader perspective.  We examined the many marine animals at the museum and enjoyed the exhibits.  At lunch time we took the Metromover to Mambo Cafe so we could try Cuban sandwiches, then back to the hotel to pick up the car and drive to the airport.

From the roof of the museum we got a beautiful view
of Ferre Park, Port Miami, and the rest of downtown.

A Spoonbill in the aviary really wanted to eat Cat's shoelaces.

They had this cool tank with sharks, rays, and fish
which had viewing options from the side, above, and below.

Luckily, there were no problems with the trip home and we arrived as scheduled in SLC.  Kylie and Ella's brother picked them up and Suz came to get Cat and me.  It was so nice to see her and talk about what we'd been doing.  It was a great experience, and I was so thankful to be a part of it!