My trips to South Florida & Key west.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Recently I took several extended trips to South Florida & Key West.  Some are just palms, others are just nice photos I took and they almost all happen to have palms in them.    I'll do this in 5 or so photos per post when I can, and give an overview for each post.  So, with that, here they are. 

 

This first set is from my key west visit.  It was a 4 day 3 night visit with lots packed in it.  The photos I post here are only the tip of the ice berg.   There are many many many more and many videos as well.   Quite a few have not even made it to YouTube yet.  They will.  

We left on 8/29 and drive down from Fort Lauderdale.  Fantastic weather and great day for that amazing drive.  If you have not been I highly suggest that when you do go, you do the drive.  It's stunning.   This was at the same time Hermine was skirting just south of Florida and move up just west of the keys.   The entire trip featured mostly beautiful but highly changeable  weather.  Constant winds of 25-35, with many times the first two days of periods of 45-50mph winds.  Very rough seas fire being protected by a reef. Blowing sand in places and lots of thunder and lightning especially at night. Most storms stayed offshore though and there was little rain for most of the trip.   Plenty of sun in between which made it very very warm if not hot at times.   Very much tropical weather. 

First I'll start with the small "botanic garden" about one black from the very nice resort we stayed in on Fleming Street.  The garden is part of the property Monroe County Public Library, Key West branch near the corner of Fleming and William streets.  

I will try to post the label marker for each tree first, then the tree next.  Many however were not labeled and there were a lot of label poles just sitting around needing to be appropriately placed.  It's a nice but very small little garden that's fairly packed.   It did however allear that it was in need of some TLC.    The last photo in the group did t have a label.  

 

 

[Las Palmas Norte]

Very nice palms and great representatives of each genus and species.

Cheers, Barrie.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

On the morning of 8/30, (I believe that's when Hermine strengthened even further) I woke up at 5:30 am to catch a key west sunrise.   I walked from old town key west, all the way over to Higgs Beach and Pier. (Known as the white street fishing pier)  winds were sustained around 35MPH and frequently gusting over 50MPH, and the sea was very angry even inside the outlying reef. 6 foot waves were crashing asinet the rocks and sea wall with lots of overwash and spray, flooding parts of beaches and some streets. Beyond in the distance out over the water you could see very large waves crashing into the much more shallow edge of the reef area.   Fortunately Hermine was far enough away at this point to allow for what would turn out to be a spectacular tropical sunrise.  The resulting photos are below.  The final photo is one of the few actual beaches on key west where you can enjoy the sand and walk right into the water.  This was looking away from the sunrise and towards the west southwest 

 

 

[Walt]

I was fortunate enough to have been stationed in Key West as my last duty station while serving in the U.S. Navy. I was there (my ship tied up mostly) from June of 1970 to July 1971. I very much enjoyed my time living down there. Even though it was commercialized then, it was far less so than today. I liked the charm and style of architecture of many of the homes there and the tropical landscapes. We used to get the navy base maintenance men (crews that trimmed the coconut palms) to give us coconuts. Alas, the historical naval base is long gone, having shut down in March of 1973.

My wife and I made visit to Key West in June of 1985. We both went into the old naval base and walked all around, the old buildings boarded up and in disrepair. It was like a ghost town. I was sorry to see it. In later years the base was sold to developers, and condos were constructed. Cruise ships now dock where my ship used to berth. Time marches on -- unfortunately, in many ways.

 

[PalmTreeDude]

18 hours ago, Walt said:

I was fortunate enough to have been stationed in Key West as my last duty station while serving in the U.S. Navy. I was there (my ship tied up mostly) from June of 1970 to July 1971. I very much enjoyed my time living down there. Even though it was commercialized then, it was far less so than today. I liked the charm and style of architecture of many of the homes there and the tropical landscapes. We used to get the navy base maintenance men (crews that trimmed the coconut palms) to give us coconuts. Alas, the historical naval base is long gone, having shut down in March of 1973.

My wife and I made visit to Key West in June of 1985. We both went into the old naval base and walked all around, the old buildings boarded up and in disrepair. It was like a ghost town. I was sorry to see it. In later years the base was sold to developers, and condos were constructed. Cruise ships now dock where my ship used to berth. Time marches on -- unfortunately, in many ways.

 

Awesome that you got to be there in service! Thank you for your service! It sucks that the base is not used for naval purposes anymore. 

[Walt]

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2016‎ ‎3‎:‎46‎:‎31‎, PalmTreeDude said:

Awesome that you got to be there in service! Thank you for your service! It sucks that the base is not used for naval purposes anymore. 

Norfolk, Virginia, was my first duty station in 1967-68. I was interested in palms back then, but there were no palms in Norfolk. I used to go to Virginia Beach and I never saw a palm then. I don't think the town started planting Sabal palmettos there until the 1980s sometime. I remember reading an article about them planting Sabal palmettos around some of the beach hotels. All I ever saw in VB were some nice yuccas, I think the Spanish dagger.

My next duty station was Charleston, S.C. Lots of Sabal palmettos and Butia, but I could count on one hand W. robusta, CID, windmill, etc. growing down by the water front.

In the spring of 1970 we got word that my ship was going to be home ported to Key West, Florida (from Charleston). I, and most of my shipmates were excited and delighted. We could hardly wait to get underway. I really liked it down there. I used to go to Sloppy Joe's and many other bars. It was in Sloppy Joe's that a conk (local) told me the movie "Beyond the 12 Mile Reef" was filmed there, at least some of the movie.

We had an older guy on my ship that was in Key West (on our sister ship) when the movie "Operation Petticoat" was filmed in Key West (at the navy base) in 1959. That is the movie with the pink submarine, in case you ever saw the movie.

[Cocoa Beach Jason]

On 12/1/2016, 12:52:01, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

On the morning of 8/30, (I believe that's when Hermine strengthened even further) I woke up at 5:30 am to catch a key west sunrise.   I walked from old town key west, all the way over to Higgs Beach and Pier. (Known as the white street fishing pier)  winds were sustained around 35MPH and frequently gusting over 50MPH, and the sea was very angry even inside the outlying reef. 6 foot waves were crashing asinet the rocks and sea wall with lots of overwash and spray, flooding parts of beaches and some streets. Beyond in the distance out over the water you could see very large waves crashing into the much more shallow edge of the reef area.   Fortunately Hermine was far enough away at this point to allow for what would turn out to be a spectacular tropical sunrise.  The resulting photos are below.  The final photo is one of the few actual beaches on key west where you can enjoy the sand and walk right into the water.  This was looking away from the sunrise and towards the west southwest 

 

 

Did you see any rideable surf? I have heard rumors of rare surfable waves on outer reefs in some storm events. I won't believe it until someone shows me. I want to believe. 

Edited December 9, 2016 by Cocoa Beach Jason