Day 223, March 21, 2010
I had really wanted to walk the nature trails on Lignum Vitae on the way down but they close on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the weather was so awful we didn't stick around. (That was the time we spent on the mooring buoys at Shell Key.) So John and I left the boat in the dinghy at 9:30 and dinghied around the island to the big dock. Lignum Vitae is a Botanical State Park and is the only remaining key left untouched. Its really quite beautiful, named after the Lignum Vitae tree - "Tree of Life". They have tours at 10:00 and 2:00 Thursday to Monday and you are only allowed to use the trails with one of the Rangers as guide. We spent a very pleasant hour or so learning about the trees: the lignum vitae which has such oils it was used as a bearing lubricant in years past, the poisonwood tree - in the same family as poison oak and poison ivy but treble the strength, even in its fallen leaves, the pigeon plum which looks very similar to the poisonwood but has a fruit the raccoons like to eat, the gumbo limbo with its red flaking bark - "just like the tourists, its red and peals!", the black pine which is so dense it sinks in water, the strangling fig which can literally strangle its host tree, as well as barbed wire cactus and some other bits that went in one ear and out the other. The Ranger was a really interesting guy who obviously loved his job and his trees! There is no treatment for the mosquitoes on Lignum Vitae, so they can be very bad in the summer due to the "Solution Pits", which are depressions in the coral where stagnant water collects. He and his family "do a lot of running" during the summer!
The weather forecast wasn't so good for the evening and Monday, so we up anchored on our return to the boat and made our way to Tarpon Basin where we knew there would be shelter all around. It was a lovely afternoon. My day at the helm. We motor sailed when we could but it gets very shallow at several points so we put the sail away at times. 0.1foot beneath the keel is not very comfortable!! But it really was a gorgeous afternoon to be on the water and I couldn't help but feel how incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to be there!
We got into Tarpon Basin around 4:00 and anchored very close to where we were before. It was such a beautiful evening we sat in the cockpit with a rum and coke and read our books. Barbecued steak for supper and then I just managed to beat John at Dominoes.
The lightening and thunder started around 8:00 but the rain didn't come until we were in bed.
Then the lightening and thunder came smashing and cracking right overhead. It was hard to concentrate on our books! However, it passed without incident and the anchor held and we went to sleep!
What a great day it had been!
I had really wanted to walk the nature trails on Lignum Vitae on the way down but they close on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the weather was so awful we didn't stick around. (That was the time we spent on the mooring buoys at Shell Key.) So John and I left the boat in the dinghy at 9:30 and dinghied around the island to the big dock. Lignum Vitae is a Botanical State Park and is the only remaining key left untouched. Its really quite beautiful, named after the Lignum Vitae tree - "Tree of Life". They have tours at 10:00 and 2:00 Thursday to Monday and you are only allowed to use the trails with one of the Rangers as guide. We spent a very pleasant hour or so learning about the trees: the lignum vitae which has such oils it was used as a bearing lubricant in years past, the poisonwood tree - in the same family as poison oak and poison ivy but treble the strength, even in its fallen leaves, the pigeon plum which looks very similar to the poisonwood but has a fruit the raccoons like to eat, the gumbo limbo with its red flaking bark - "just like the tourists, its red and peals!", the black pine which is so dense it sinks in water, the strangling fig which can literally strangle its host tree, as well as barbed wire cactus and some other bits that went in one ear and out the other. The Ranger was a really interesting guy who obviously loved his job and his trees! There is no treatment for the mosquitoes on Lignum Vitae, so they can be very bad in the summer due to the "Solution Pits", which are depressions in the coral where stagnant water collects. He and his family "do a lot of running" during the summer!
The weather forecast wasn't so good for the evening and Monday, so we up anchored on our return to the boat and made our way to Tarpon Basin where we knew there would be shelter all around. It was a lovely afternoon. My day at the helm. We motor sailed when we could but it gets very shallow at several points so we put the sail away at times. 0.1foot beneath the keel is not very comfortable!! But it really was a gorgeous afternoon to be on the water and I couldn't help but feel how incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to be there!
We got into Tarpon Basin around 4:00 and anchored very close to where we were before. It was such a beautiful evening we sat in the cockpit with a rum and coke and read our books. Barbecued steak for supper and then I just managed to beat John at Dominoes.
The lightening and thunder started around 8:00 but the rain didn't come until we were in bed.
Then the lightening and thunder came smashing and cracking right overhead. It was hard to concentrate on our books! However, it passed without incident and the anchor held and we went to sleep!
What a great day it had been!
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