The air temperature and the water temperature in the Keys hasn’t been that conducive to snorkeling, so we decided to go on a glass-bottom boat tour at John Pennenkamp Coral Reef State Park. Though the photos don’t capture it all that well and aren’t very good — shooting through glare-prone glass from a moving vessel at moving, rather small fish — the tour turned out to be very much worth it.

Here’s a few selected shots, though we didn’t manage to capture even a bare fraction of the diversity and abundance of life there. This time, all the photos are by quoderat:

The reef we visited was about 4-5 miles off the coast. To get there, the boat traveled through a labyrinth of mangroves. Viewing through the glass on the boat is in many ways easier than snorkeling. Fewer distractions and concerns. Wider field of vision. But it doesn’t feel as immediate, which I missed.

On the way to our next accommodations, we spotted a Bugatti Veyron, the first time we’ve ever seen one in person.

Taken from the Old Bahia Honda Bridge looking back at the southwest tip of Bahia Honda Key.

We were both feeling lazy today. We chose to go to the hiking trail at nearby Curry Hammock State Park. After a short walk along the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage State Trail, it winds for a mile and a half through hardwood hammock and some mangroves, with two bay-side overlooks (key and crab by zanna).

Quoderat photographed a kind of spider we’ve not seen before, looks like a Silver Argiope.

Great southern white butterfly (by zanna)

We’ve made it into the Keys now. This area is probably my favorite part of Florida socially as it’s much more laid-back and just relaxed. The entire atmosphere is different — less charged, less frenetic — even as touristy as it is. Today was a travel day and we had all of our belongings in the vehicle. Since we didn’t want to stop anywhere for that long, we visited the small aquarium and displays of reef wildlife at John Pennenkamp Coral Reef State Park.

We saw some anemones. (Photo by zanna.)

And this yellowhead jawfish. (Photo by quoderat.)

And these, uh, tentacly things from a Japanese manga…whatever they are. Marine biologists we are not. (Photo by quoderat.)

Zanna found this shed cicada exoskeleton and took a photo of it. As shed exoskeleton photos go, it’s top notch.

Then we made a brief stop at Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park, where Key Largo limestone or keystone — limestone that is chock full of coral fossils — was quarried until the 1960s. Some examples of large cut blocks can still be seen in the park. (Photo by zanna.)

As we made it to the very-colorful exterior of our hotel room, a polka-dot wasp moth greeted us at the door. (Photo by quoderat.)

Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park could use better signage; we missed it on the first drive by, thanks also to an unhelpful location from Google Maps. It resides “on land bought up in 1982 after the financial demise of Port Bougainville, a project which would have included 15 hotels and over 2000 condos.” (wiki) Its entrance has a large archway fitting for a housing development, and visitors walk on pavement that is beginning to crumble and other bits of construction from that earlier intended use. Some interesting history of Key Largo, including the changing of hands and various land use, is recounted here.

The stones used here are made from keystone, a limestone thick with fossilized corals. (photo by quoderat)

Several signs, and more importantly tags on the actual trees, identify notable species along the trail. The tropical hammock here is very dense, with the trees often arching over even the two car-widths paths.

Trunk of a blolly tree (by quoderat)

Wild coffee (by zanna)

Where the tidal waters reach, the hammock turns to mangroves. We were there during high tide, and the outer loop of the trail was submerged. Quoderat found a millipede near here. (photo by zanna)

We saw a couple of grebes and many fish in an excavated channel in the middle of the loop trail. (by quoderat)

On our way back, we watched while a white ibis wrangled and snapped at and eventually ate a huge, wriggling and very unappetizing looking (to us) centipede. (by quoderat)