December 2024

Christmas in the Keys

We stayed in South Carolina for the first week of December.  We had an awning installed on the van at Unaka Gear Co. in Spartanburg, SC, and Josh installed a new bug screen on our sliding passenger door.  While in SC we stayed at some of the state parks.  We were impressed with Poinsett State Park and Lake Wateree State Park.  They're clean, have great walking trails, and were comfortable.  Before heading into Florida were stayed one night at Debellation Brewing Company in Richmond Hill, GA.   The brewery had a spicy garlic pickle golden ale that was surprisingly tasty!

Our friends Nat and Walt graciously hosted us at their home in Fernandina Beach, FL for a week.  We were able to focus on van maintenance and received all of the packages we had forwarded to their house.   One evening we walked around St. Augustine and saw the Night of Lights.  Another evening we enjoyed our first drone show at Amelia Island. 

For ten days we explored the Florida Keys.  Josh had downloaded a guided tour from the app GuideAlong which helped educate and inform us about the area.  It was really interesting learning about the history of the Keys and the suggested attractions.  For instance, we had no idea that Al Capone had a rum running boat named Islamorada (after the Key), and that the boat is currently being used as a passenger ship in Panama.  The guide also recommended stopping at Blond Giraffe Key Lime Pie Factory.  Not only is there an assortment of key lime pies to purchase, but they also have limeade and a nice garden out back. 

The first few days we stayed at Key Largo Kampground  & Marina, where we saw our first manatee!  We also used our new inflatable Bote kayaks to paddle around the mangroves.  It was our first experience with no-see-ums as well - tiny, biting flies that are so small they can crawl through bug screens!  Their bites remain itchy for several days afterwards too.  We haven't felt that itchy and uncomfortable since we've had chicken pox as kids. 

The middle part of our stay was spent at Jolly Rover RV Resort in Marathon, FL.  This is about halfway down the Keys, and is a great location to explore in either direction.   We booked a tour of the Turtle Hospital and learned a lot about the rehabilitation and rescue services of sea turtles.  We also had a great time seeing Bahia Honda State Park and taking Lucky to swim at Coco Plum Beach.   When we arrived in Florida we  quickly learned that Florida does not allow dogs at most public beaches, so we try to let her make the most of it by roaming free at dog friendly ones.

The morning of December 23rd we headed to the Dry Tortugas aboard the Yankee Freedom catamaran.  The only way to get to the Dry Tortugas National Park is by seaplane or boat.  This was one of the most impressive national parks we've visited due to its sheer isolation (it's 70 miles off the coast of Key West, FL) and size (there are over 16 million bricks used to build Fort Jefferson, it has almost 2,000 arches, and it covers 16 acres).  The boat ride was 2.5 hours out and back, so half of the day was spent on the boat.  We were allowed a few hours to explore Fort Jefferson, which was really neat and beautiful.      

We celebrated Christmas in Key West, FL, the furthest southern point in the US.  We stayed at Boyd's Key West Campground, which was well kept and had very friendly staff.  However, campgrounds are small and tightly packed together.  Christmas Day we inflated our kayaks and went out to see the boats marked as "derelict."  It was neat yet creepy.  It was also disheartening as it seemed wasteful to have boats decaying in the water.  We're sure some of them were due to Hurricane Helene but others seemed to have been wasting away long before the hurricane hit. 

The end of the month brought us to two national parks - Biscayne and Everglades.  We hadn't planned ahead so all of the boat tours of Biscayne were fully booked.  It was neat to walk around the visitor's center though.  Josh downloaded another GuideAlong for the Everglades, and an entire day was dedicated to seeing the different trails and ecosystems of the national park.  We learned that the Everglades is the only area in the world where both alligators and crocodiles coexist.  After spending the day at the Everglades, we camped at Monument Lake Campground at Big Cypress National Preserve.  The next morning we saw several alligators in the lake and sunning themselves on the bank.  We departed the campground and stopped at the Oasis Visitor Center where we saw a lot more alligators. 

New Year's Eve was spent in St Petersburg, FL.  We visited the Dali Museum and walked down Central Ave to see some murals.  St Petersburg Pier was worth seeing as we spotted dolphins in the distance.  A simple but enjoyable dinner was had at Gulfport Brewery + Eatery in Gulfport, FL.  We really liked Gulfport as it seemed charming and welcoming.  We did stay up to midnight to ring in the new year and reflected on all we've accomplished this year: we moved out of our short term rental, put everything into a storage unit, moved into the van, got married in Greece, traveled through 27 states, explored 12 national parks, and visited 4 Canadian national parks!