High noon in Islamorada.
The day we are leaving Miami we are awakened to the news report of an active police chase. There was a carjacking not terribly far from where we were staying and it turns out the suspect was already wearing a house arrest type ankle bracelet. (? WTF?) He jumped into the Miami river not far from Marlin’s Park and eventually was shot and killed. The weather is dreary with the promise of rain showers for our drive down the Keys. It can only improve from here, right?
We did spend a nice day in the Frost Museum of Science located in downtown Miami. It was loaded with many interactive exhibits, houses an aquarium that covers 3 floors and has a full planetarium. An all inclusive ticket gets you into everything and since Damian had never been to a planetarium before it was well worth it. There are also some great views from the museum’s rooftop.
Port of Miami
exhibit on movement
The lower aquarium
When I booked this trip I envisioned palm trees swaying, a convertible, meandering down the Overseas Highway, blue skies, beaches and sunbathing. It has rained every day, cloud cover has predominated and all the beaches and state parks are closed due to the damage from Hurricane Irma.
We stop in Key Largo and at a storefront engage a local in conversation. She tells us that Largo and Key West fared pretty well. They are both up and running although there continues to be lack of services like cable. We mentioned the debris we saw in the Miami area and she kind of chuckles and says, “There’s a lot of debris in the Lower Keys. They took a hit.” She’s the one who informs us that every beach and park in all of the Keys is closed from the damage. She assures us that Key West is in full swing with the bars, shops and restaurants fully operational. We escape a torrential downpour by ducking into a World Wide Sportsmen Shop in Islamorada and decide that we better buy some heavy duty ponchos. Things aren’t looking up yet.
Huge walls of debris line the Overland Hwy in the Lower Keys.
The rain lets up long enough to enable us to locate the Keys Fisheries Market and Marina were we stop for a delicious lunch of a local favorite, hogfish. We did not get stuck in the mess on the roads leading out of Miami thanks to my Wayze app, we missed the monsoon by visiting the sporting goods store and we had a wonderful lunch on the water. Things may be looking up.
A grilled hogfish sandwich. Simple pleasure.
We divert to the Turtle Hospital in Marathon where we book a tour for when we are returning to the Overland Highway heading back to Ft. Lauderdale.
The destruction in the Lower Keys makes anything we’ve seen so far seem inconsequential. The Red Cross still has a tent city up, Fema also has their station and the piles of debris construct a 12′ wall along part of the highway. It is shear devastation and very sad to see. We progress somberly toward Key West. Perhaps things aren’t looking up again. I guess we’ll see.
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