Key Largo - We visit Pennekamp State Park

 

Pennekamp was a beautiful park

Work was proceeding on Fleetwing so we thought of doing some sightseeing. Pennekamp State Park was nearby so we spent the day hiking around and talking to boaters moored there. It’s a state park, not a national park so our Golden Passport did not apply, we paid the $9 to get in for the day. 

This guy was not enjoying the new temperatures! Huddled, we was. 

We saw some large boats tied up to the docks, bigger boats than we thought could come in the shallow channel. We will have to rethink our hesitancy on shallow waters on the way in. It’s appears that boats with a draft of less than 5 ft will have no problem, at least to the dock. I don’t know about the mooring field.

The mooring field had a few boats - I wonder what the depths were?

The wind was howling but we were protected in amongst the mangroves. Hoolie went wild with all the smells and sights of other dogs. We took a few of the trails, short paths of less than 1/2 mile through the woods on an elevated ramp or on pebbled walkways. The state has taken good care of the place. 

There were some big boats at the dock there - 5.5 feet at high tide on the way in?

For dinner we tried a Cuban restaurant founded by new Americans as of 1985 from Cuba. The Cuban sandwiches were truly authentic! The restaurant was Fernandez the Bull and appears to be going strong. We would highly recommend the place. 

We are hoping for Fleetwing to splash on Tuesday but it is not certain due to the cold weather. It affects the drying time for the fiberglass repairs so we won’t know the status until Monday morning. Even if Fleetwing does refloat on Tuesday, we can’t leave until the winds subside, possibly on Friday, still a long wait.