Day 217 – at Marina Del Mar, Key Largo, FL - February 8, 2012

Today is day three of overcast skies with intermittent rain showers.  The good thing is that the wind is much diminished from the past few days.  We are anxious to check out places to snorkel, so in between showers we hopped in the dinghy and headed toward Largo Sound and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is the first undersea park in the U.S. and encompasses approximately 70 nautical square miles.  The parks upland areas offer visitors a unique view of mangrove swamps and tropical hammocks, but it is the coral reefs and their marine life that attract the most visitors.

With the dinghy loaded with the camera and our snorkel equipment we headed out of our channel toward what we believe is the entrance to the park.  We immediately encounter floating signs directing us around a “non-motor” area.  The detour around the “non-motor” area took us quite far off shore, but the wind and waves are calm, so we continue.  We finally make it into South Sound Creek, but realize that with the added detour we don’t have enough fuel to make it all the way to Largo Sound and then into the main part of the park.  So we take some pictures and then head back to Boreas.  We calculated that we traveled over seven miles in the dinghy.  That’s a pretty long trip for a nine foot long dinghy that doesn’t get up on plane.

Based on the boats we saw entering the park, I’m sure we could take Boreas.  However, not knowing what kind of water depths we will encounter once we get into the park is a bit unsettling.  Our charts don’t give us much information on this area.  We are exploring other options on how to experience this park in the best and safest manner.

            Miles: 0           Bridges: 0        Locks: 0

the marvelous mangrove trees in South Sound Creek

mangrove roots

more mangrove trees