Florida Impressions
Guest
The youth pastor at my trip recently asked if I would be interested in helping take the youth group down to the Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge for a few days. Since I hadn't been down to the Keys in a couple of years it only took me a few seconds to agree.
A day or so before we were scheduled to drive down we find out due to some paperwork/insurance issues we were not going to be able take the boats down. I make a quick call to Mya at Big Pine Boat Rentals and reserve a couple of rental boats to take us out to the reef on Sunday. Mya graciously lets us take the boats out late Saturday afternoon so we make a quick run to a patch reef to wash the road off.
Sunday morning I wake up early to take a few quick shots of the sunrise before heading to Innerspace Dive Center on Big Pine to rent a couple of tanks for the day's activities.
A couple of the teens wanted to do a little spearfishing and we had a few new snorkelers on the boat so we made the first run out to American Shoals Light to let the new snorkelers swim around the lighthouse a bit. The wind was steadily increasing and once anchored up some of the riders on the boat started feeling a little ill so I figured we'd run over to Looe and anchor up on the backside of the reef in some calmer water. We spent a couple of hours diving and snorkeling at Looe Key. I was having some problems with my main camera so I hopped in to snorkel and take some photos with the Olympus 850SW after my dive. It was much calmer on the backside of the reef and everyone enjoyed swimming, diving and snorkeling in the 79 degree water.
Even with the calmer water we still had a few on the boat that were necessarily thrilled with being out in open water, so we made the run back and anchored near the bridge to let a few of the more adventurous ones see some of the sites around the old bridge.
With the day getting late and a handful of sunburned teens on the boat we finally cruised on in and fired up the grill for some cheeseburgers in paradise. There were smiles all around, and I don't think anybody was able to stay up after 9:00 PM.
It was a nice trip, and a real pleasure to see a bunch of teens put down their cell phones, iPods and other electronic devices for a few days to experience the beautiful scenery the Florida Keys has to offer.
A day or so before we were scheduled to drive down we find out due to some paperwork/insurance issues we were not going to be able take the boats down. I make a quick call to Mya at Big Pine Boat Rentals and reserve a couple of rental boats to take us out to the reef on Sunday. Mya graciously lets us take the boats out late Saturday afternoon so we make a quick run to a patch reef to wash the road off.
Sunday morning I wake up early to take a few quick shots of the sunrise before heading to Innerspace Dive Center on Big Pine to rent a couple of tanks for the day's activities.
A couple of the teens wanted to do a little spearfishing and we had a few new snorkelers on the boat so we made the first run out to American Shoals Light to let the new snorkelers swim around the lighthouse a bit. The wind was steadily increasing and once anchored up some of the riders on the boat started feeling a little ill so I figured we'd run over to Looe and anchor up on the backside of the reef in some calmer water. We spent a couple of hours diving and snorkeling at Looe Key. I was having some problems with my main camera so I hopped in to snorkel and take some photos with the Olympus 850SW after my dive. It was much calmer on the backside of the reef and everyone enjoyed swimming, diving and snorkeling in the 79 degree water.
Even with the calmer water we still had a few on the boat that were necessarily thrilled with being out in open water, so we made the run back and anchored near the bridge to let a few of the more adventurous ones see some of the sites around the old bridge.
With the day getting late and a handful of sunburned teens on the boat we finally cruised on in and fired up the grill for some cheeseburgers in paradise. There were smiles all around, and I don't think anybody was able to stay up after 9:00 PM.
It was a nice trip, and a real pleasure to see a bunch of teens put down their cell phones, iPods and other electronic devices for a few days to experience the beautiful scenery the Florida Keys has to offer.
