This fella was hanging around the dock today. He was not phased by our presence at all.
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Just another manatee Monday
3 MarManatees LOVE fresh water from garden hoses. Technically it’s illegal to interact with manatees like this as it makes them too “comfy” with humans. For the record, we weren’t watering them and, quite frankly, everyone does it down here anyway. We blame nature for making them so cute.
Keys Wild Bird Sanctuary
1 MarToday we visited the Wild Bird Sanctuary where they rescue and rehabilitate injured birds (fkwbc.org). The girls had a great time, and especially loved the pelicans.
It's a big gulf
Flip the jay
Strangler Fig
Sea slug mystery
10 FebPeyton found this cool creature near the boat ramp at our marina. We can’t quite identify it from our reef books, but it looks like some kind of sea slug or sea hare. Any marine experts want to weigh in? Love its undulating motion!
Image
Well hello there!
4 Feb
An afternoon visitor. Reminds Andy of a poem his dad used to recite:
A wonderful bird is the pelican
His bill will hold more than his belican,
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week
But I’m damned if I see how the helican!
Dixon Lanier Merritt
Swimming pigs at Big Majors Cay
29 Dec
We sailed down to visit the famous pigs near Staniel Cay, and they did not disappoint! We even got to play with several piglets. They are so adorable!
Piglets trying to help us raise dinghy anchor
This is my favorite! The pigs were chasing Peyton down for grapes, and the look on her face is both horrified and thrilled.
Poor Bob
16 DecGuess Bob the puffer fish should have read Peyton’s story and puffed sooner, faster, and bigger.
But seriously, we thought this was kinda cool. The circle of life on a reef. When we came upon this scene, the bigger fish (some kind of needlefish…perhaps a houndfish?), was fighting and splashing to deflate and swallow Bob. Bob was all puffed up trying to be too big to swallow.
He put up a valiant fight…but eventually became lunch.
Snorkling at Deadman’s Reef
23 NovThanks to the power of rental cars we were able to get out and explore a bit. We drove up to Paradise Cove where Deadman’s Reef lies just offshore. We swam out and explored both the shallows and the deeper reefs until Peyton got cold and tired. Schools of yellowfin snappers swam with us for most of the afternoon, and we kept wishing we’d brought them some kind of snack. We didn’t see any turtles or rays (much to the girl’s chagrin), but Robin did see a nurse shark. The girls have a snorkling fish and reef guide, and are becoming quite the walking encyclopedias when it comes to fish types. Unfortunately, this is the only photo of our day, as Andy forgot the underwater camera. He has, of course, been properly scolded and won’t be so forgetful again!
Deadman’s Reef is the line of black rocks
Anniversary dinner
22 NovWe went out tonight to play tourist and have an anniversary dinner (married 19 years on Nov 19th). Our host suggested Pier One at the entrance to Freeport Harbor. The girls voted down all other suggestions when they heard that they feed bull and lemon sharks.
We had a nice evening and got to see quite a few big sharks.
Fun with fish
15 Nov
The tropical fish (sergeant majors mostly) love bready things. The girls love putting bready things on their feet and letting the fish nibble it off.
What better way to spend the afternoon?
