Back up the Keys We Go, Day 1...

Monday, February 17th, we would leave Key West and start our journey back up the Ocean Highway to Florida City. We would spend one night in Marathon.

Here are pictures of our drive from Key West to Big Pine Key.

Our destination was the National Key Deer Refuge. We picked a couple of spots to visit in this Refuge hoping to site a Key Deer. These are the smallest sub-species of the Virginia white-tailed deer. We were told the population of key deer once got as low as 50. Now, it is estimated there are 800 of them. They are protected and endangered and you are not to feed them. Since we didn't see any, this was not an issue. 

We first found the Blue Hole. It is an abandoned rock quarry that was used for nearby road fills and Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad. It is now the largest freshwater body in the Keys. It is a freshwater lens. The last picture shows how this works. It was planted with native vegetation all around the edge. This was a very pleasant visit. The wind gave a gentle breeze. Very relaxing. 

We drove a little way down the highway to Mannillo Nature Trail. Again, no sign of the Key Deer but we really weren't there the right time of day to see them. One of the things I learned in my preparation for this trip was the word 'hammock'. A hammock is a tropical hardwood forest. We would see bits of this on this trail. 

Our final activity for this day was to get to Pigeon Key. Here are pictures of the drive from Big Pine Key to Marathon.

To get to Pigeon Key you must go to Marathon and then walk, bicycle or ride the Pigeon Express out to Pigeon Key. The Ocean Highway goes right by it. A section of the Flagler Railroad bridge is in place from Marathon to Pigeon Key. It has been paved like a road and was used as a road for a while. We chose to ride the Pigeon Express from Marathon to Pigeon Key. 

We were dropped off on Pigeon Key and a tour guide was waiting for us. Lawn chairs were set up under a pavilion and we all sat while our guide explained the history of Pigeon Key. In a nutshell, Flagler owned a railroad that went down the east coast to Miami. He noticed a need to go to Key West for passengers and for commercial gain. He had LOTS of money and invested his own dollars in this venture. Pigeon Key would be a staging area for this operation. At that time there was no road down to Key West. The railroad was built and wealthy tourist would now travel from Miami to Key West and stay in that huge hotel I took the picture of. Pigeon Key would be a place for workers and supplies to stay. Flagler was good to his workers. 

After a thorough history of Pigeon Key, which included more that Flagler's use of Key, we would tour a couple of the buildings. The first of these was the barracks for the workers. It has been restored and is now used for school children coming for educational trips. When the students find a buoy that has washed up on shore, their class paints it and they hang it from the ceiling of the barracks building. The last picture of this group was taken when it was used as the barracks with bunk beds lining the walls. 

Outside, the seven mile bridge we traveled in the Pigeon Express could be seen from the Pigeon Key back to Marathon. It was constructed beautifully. 

We entered a building that is now the museum. There were several pictures on the walls of points in history with the bridge and the Key. The first old picture is what Pigeon Key looked like as the staging point for building Flagler's railroad. No vegetation as they have today. Several barracks buildings as well as tents for the works. The second old picture is the devastation of the hurricane to the railroad. It was a huge hurricane and destroyed the railway. The railway only operated for 23 years. Once it was destroyed, portions of it were paved over and used for cars (like this stretch from Marathon to Pigeon Key). It was extremely narrow and lots of rearview mirrors were lost in the passing of vehicles. No shoulders to pull off on either side. Eventually the Ocean Highway was built and that is what we use today. The third old picture is the place on the railway for the turning of the tracks to let ships pass through.  

Across from the museum is a path to the beach. Lots of people come with their snorkeling gear and spend their time in the water, not on the tour. 

This is the building that would have been the cooking building.

And this cute little building is the Honeymoon Cottage. Yes, someone was married and this was built for them to honeymoon in.

I talked to our guide for a bit and met some of the local wildlife.

It seemed like that two hour tour went really quickly. We journeyed back to Marathon Key on the Pigeon Key Express.

Claude saw a place called FL Keys Steak & Lobster so we headed there for our dinner. We each had a lobster po-boy. Yum. It was way to big to get your mouth around. But the food was delicious.

We would spend this night in Marathon at the Coconut Cay Resort and Marina. Our second most expensive hotel room of the trip.