Robert and Lemay on A1A

By Robert Nelson

Wednesday February 8, I pick up the trailer at Dave’s but I get home after dark so I can’t load it. Thursday Feb. 9, I get home late from work so I end up loading the trailer in the dark anyway. LeMay and I stay up late packing. Friday morning, things do not fit in the truck as expected so the trailer has to be unloaded then loaded again. Has my black travel cloud already appeared?

LeMay and I leave our house at 8:30 Friday morning two hours later then planned. We took I-10 to I-75 to the Turnpike. This is the first time I have taken the Turnpike in many years and it was smooth sailing until we hit rush hour traffic in Miami. The lines were long at the tollbooths. If we had left two hours earlier as planned we would have missed this traffic. We then took a short detour to Knaus Berry Farm in Homestead to pick up some cinnamon buns. We then continued to Fiesta Key. The detour only cost us thirty minutes. We arrived at Fiesta Key at 7:00 and pitched our tent in the twilight. Total travel time was 10 hours and 30 minutes and 571 miles. Because I was towing the trailer tolls were about $40.00. Sometime in the evening Dave called to tell me that him and Liz got off the Turnpike and onto A1A and US1. Bad Move!! Dave asked if I knew any shortcuts since I grew up in South Florida. I told him to take Red Road south to Old Cutler Road and bypass the traffic. Dave followed my directions and ended up back in downtown Miami which had me miffed and Dave pissed.

Saturday morning I take LeMay on the grand tour of Miami. We got on Old Cutler Road in Homestead and went to Matheson Hammock where a younger skinnier Robert learned to windsurf. Matheson Hammock is still very beautiful even though the trees showed damage from the Hurricanes last year. We also drove trough some of the neighborhoods around Old Cutler Road since this is the prettiest residential section of South Miami. Our next stop was Vizcaya, the Old John Deering estate. The old world Italian architecture was stunning as was the view of Biscayne Bay. After lunch we went to the Rickenbacker causeway. LeMay had never been in a real city before and said “Robert, Tallahassee is really small”. It just so happened that there was a kiteboard competition by the Seaquarium. There were about 50 kites on the water and what seemed like 50 kites on shore. I only counted 25 windsurfers on the water and maybe that many on shore. Next we drove around Key Biscayne and then stopped on Virginia Key. I showed LeMay Miami Beach across the water. We then drove through the skyscrapers on Brickel Avenue. I wanted to show LeMay more of the city but it was getting dark and we had a long way to drive. I got off US1 at Red Road and went to Old Cutler Road. Red Road turns into Old Cutler Road but you would have never known that from the signs or lack of. If I was from out of town and not knowing the area I would have turned back into the city because of the misleading road sign, even though the directions I had given Dave were correct. Sunday I had planned to windsurf and canoe but the weather was cold and cloudy. It rained hard Sunday night and many tents leaked. My tent didn’t leak but I made up for this by leaving a bottom flap partially unzipped. Monday was spent drying out It was very windy but also cold and cloudy. I think the high was about 60 degrees and the low Monday night was in the 40s. This was the coldest day of the winter for the Keys. Only a few people sailed. Tuesday everyone went to Key West. Wednesday was the charter fishing trip. I caught a yellow tail snapper and a porgy. Everyone else caught more and I am sure they will be more then happy to give you the details.

Thursday morning LeMay and I were up at 5:30 to go to the Dry Tortugas. This is possibly a once in a lifetime experience and we were both looking forward to it. This was the first sunny day since Saturday. The water around the Tortugas was even prettier then the Keys. The Tortougas are thirty some miles west of Key West and are only accessible by boat or plane. We took the Fast Cat witch had two 1,200hp diesel engines and traveled at 28 knots. I know this because we were sitting up front with the captain and listening to him talking with the crew. The fort was magnificent and LeMay and I spent an hour and a half walking around it. After lunch, which was provided by the tour guides, I went snorkeling. The water was too cold for LeMay and most of the tourists. The wind had picked up to 15 to 20mph and this had the bottomed stirred up. Regardless, I was determined to swim out to the coral but I was alone and the wind and current were taking me out to sea. The five foot barracuda following me and the poor visibility convinced me to turn back.. I had really wanted to snorkel over the coral but common since overrode my determination. On the ride back we were going straight into four foot seas for two hours.

Friday was the first pleasant day at camp but I was so tired I slept until noon. A whole week in the Keys and no windsurfing. I took my board off the trailer and rigged up. It was blowing nine to ten. I sailed for about an hour and a half. I never planned but I was moving along at a steady clip. I saw a big sea turtle and a huge starfish. For what may have been the last sail at Fiesta Key this sail was very enjoyable.

Saturday I was packed up and ready to go early. I had planned to take LeMay to Sanibel Island but there was a bad accident on one of the bridges ( bad meaning six cars and at least one fatality if the stories I heard were true ) and we couldn’t even leave the campsite until 11:00. Despite this we still had time for two hours on Sanibel before sunset. However my black travel cloud made other plans. When we got off I-75 what looked like a big road on the map was a two lane road going between condos on the coast. We only had to go ten miles but were moving along at a crawl. We could see Sanibel across the bay but were making no progress. After traveling four miles in one hour I realized that we would not make it before sunset so we uturned and stooped at Lover’s Key state park. According to the travel channel this is a secluded beach. According to my eyes there are condos at each end of the beach but not in the middle so I guess you can call that seclusion. LeMay and I saw a flash at sunset. It was purple/violet but not green. It was still a beautiful sunset. LeMay and I left and arrived home at two in the morning.

The End!