Many people go to Florida for the many wonderful beaches. Few of those beaches are in the Keys. Most of the sand piled up by the Atlantic is apparently caught by the Bahamas to the east. The one major exception is on Bahia Honda Key, at Mile Marker 37, where one large, sandy oceanside beach and two smaller beaches (ocanside and bayside) have led to the entire key being made into a state park.
But on the way we stopped for lunch in Marathon, at the Keys Fisheries Market and Marina. This
Though we weren't exactly excited by the idea of lobster with sauerkraut, we felt that we had to sample this local cuisine, so we got one to share. Not bad, but not a life-changing culinary experience.
We went on to Bahia Honda. There we parked in one of the lots by Sandspur Beach, the longest and best-known. First, we walked the Silver Palm Trail, a quarter-mile nature trail. Mary Joy had been looking for an opportunity for a long walk, and was feeling frustrated about not finding one. We didn't find it here.
Sandspur Beach was crowded, narrow (the tide must have been in) and largely covered with washed-in seagrass. A signboard elsewhere pointed out the wonders of washed-ashore seagrass--how great it is for the ecology of the island. But if you are looking for the stereotypical sandy tropical beach, it's a little offputting. In the end, we drove down to Loggerhead Beach, at the far end of the island, which is much smaller, but less crowded, and a nice place to sit in the sun and read, which we did (Mary Joy reading Olivier Bellamy's biography of the pianist Martha
Then we walked out onto the old Bahia Honda Bridge, now an observation platform,
At this point, we were only 37 miles from Key West (originally Cayo Hueso--"Bone Island"), but Mary Joy wasn't interested in going there, especially on a daytrip, and I'd already been there with my brothers, driving down from Naples and returning the next day, in October 1987.
A woman we'd met on the beach had told us that another good beach was Sombrero Beach, a city park in Marathon.
We went on, and after sunset we stopped for dinner at Marker 88 Restaurant in Islamorada, sitting outside in a gazebo near the water. I don't remember what we ate, but I do remember that it was very good, the best meal of the trip.
When we got back to Island Bay, we walked to the dock. Someone pointed out to us an egret that had just caught a large fish. It took a while to swallow it, whole, then resumed its patient wait for other prey.
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