Day 5: Sugar Loaf Key to Marathon: Endangered Sea Turtles

January 9, 2014

Trying to take advantage of as much of the short daylight hours as possible, we set the alarm for 6 (though it is still dark at that time). It took 20-30 minutes to get me moving, though, which kind of defeated the gesture. Light sprinkles of rain made packing the tent a little uneasy but then we transferred the whole rest of our operation to a table in the open plan laundry area of the bath house. This gave us a chance to finish packing in the dry, but it also positioned us in public space.

Naturally this attracted several interested fellow campers so we spent some time answering UQs. We also learned something about the folks who were speaking to us, a worthwhile and important part of the trip. For example, we learned that the "cleaning lady" was a fellow camper taking advantage of a work/camp program at the KOA. Participants are expected to contribute 40 hours weekly, and receive minimum wage plus a free parking spot. That spot is worth $6000 per month in high season. Unbelievable.

A second new acquaintance was a physics teacher, and we had a grand time talking about string theory, CERN, sources of online science lectures.

It was great, but we only escaped the KOA at 8:30.

Our physicist camper friend, Alan Gravitt

We were now in a section of the keys where the bike path development had resulted in some really nice, if short, stretches of freshly paved route, away from the road. For brief stretches we passed through mangrove swamp and felt like it was a guided tour. We popped out at Summerland Key and spotted a post office. We could tell we were not in Seattle or Miami any more, since trying to buy $29 of stamps with a $50 threw the postmistress for a loop. At least she said this would ruin the outlet``s morning as there would be no change for any other customers. At great personal risk, I fought my way back across the street and returned with a credit card.

Back at the bikes, I found Dodie answering UQs for a man who had also crossed the highway, out of curiosity about us. As before, we too found out something: this was a grandpa of Molly Frack, a US Olympian in gymnastics. Did I mention that he seemed proud of her!

We reached Big Pine Key and the preserve of the Key Deer. Apparently they are just two feet tall, and some other bloggers have mentioned spotting some. There is a Key Deer visitor center, but the sign for it did not mention how far, so we gave it a pass. In any car culture, no one would bother with a distance indication if it were just 3-5 miles down the road. But 5 miles is 8 km, 16 return, or about 1/4 of our daily range these days!

Next up was the famous Bahia Honda State Park. At the entrance we suddenly ran into three other pairs of touring cyclists. Two just waved, causing me some consternation, but Dodie asserted not everyone, including us, should use up valuable cycling time. The third pair, on a tandem, was down from Fort Lauderdale for a brief spin. However two years earlier they had crossed the Southern Tier East to West at this time of year, and said it was OK. That was good to hear. Not so good was their information that Bahia Honda is booked up way in advance, so hiker bikers need not apply.The lack of hiker biker arrangements at Florida state parks really sucks.

The Seven Mile Bridge is probably seven miles long, but we forgot to measure it exactly. Based on the mile markers, it may be a little short. It felt long, though, because we were sandwiched between the white line of the shoulder and a solid concrete wall on the water side, and the heavy traffic included lots of big trucks. There was not too much to look at, except pelicans, which admittedly are interesting. Dodie's mind hopped over to Gilligan's Island, and she wondered if the "three hour tour" of the Minnow was out of anyplace near here.

The Fat Albert blimp, watches over drug trafficking and illegal immigration. it's radar can see 230 miles. it is said to be one the chopping block due to budget cutbacks.

The Florida hike bike trail not at its best

Pelicans. These may be the most common birds in these parts

There are 42 bridges in the Keys. Many are paralleled by former, decrepit ones like this

Bahia Honda State Park was of little use to us. They even wanted a day use fee to have us enter on the bikes for lunch.

On the other end of the bridge is the linear "town" of Marathon. With evening coming in a couple of hours, Dodie consulted the GPS about camping. When it denied knowing of anything nearby, it found itself back on her hate list. Before we could fully test if that was a fair assessment or not, we arrived at the Marathon Turtle Hospital. (Dodie wants me to add in that the GPS' camping denial happened 500 metres from Knights Key RV park!)

The Turtle Hospital is a terribly interesting thing. First off, it is located at a former motel property, which had been purchased by Richie Moretti, an Orlando businessman who became taken with the Keys. He moved here and did a lot of fishing, living on his boat for 18 years. The motel had a salt water pond on the property, and Moretti began collecting various aquatic life in it. It slipped into becoming sort of a local educational resource. Soon Moretti received an injured turtle, beginning a chain of developments which led to a full fledged turtle hospital, at fist financed by the motel and now a self financing charity. The motel rooms are still used for staff housing and for storage.

The Keys support five of the seven species of sea turtles in the world. The main ones seen here are the Green and the Loggerhead. The green is a vegetarian that grazes on grass beds, and is the one that was heavily exploited here for meat. The Loggerhead is a carnivore and has the most gorgeous "tortoiseshell" back, making it a target as well. all seven species are endangered, and strict laws govern mucking with them.

However, the turtles face nasty array of threats here. Boat hits is a big one. Then there is monofiliament, rope, and net entanglement, intestinal impaction from eating floating debris like plastic bags , and a viral produced fibropapilloma tumour. The tumours affect up to half the population.

A turtle struck by a boat propeller not only gets an external wound, but gets lung damage. This causes air to leak into muscle underneath the shell, putting pressure on organs and in time causing a bulge in the shell and increased buoyancy. The buoyancy prevents the turtle from feeding at depth, so it is more likely to ingest surface garbage.

The turtle center treats the full range of turtle problems, and is proud of its modern equipment. This includes a laser for removing and cauterizing tumors, a respirator, x ray equipment, etc. It has grown into a very serious operation.

We took the two hour tour and learned really a lot.It was costly but worth It. One of the costs was that at tour's end it was almost dark, ending any debate about where or if the camping might be. we dived into a motel.Down the street a Mexican restaurant provided a Cuban dish of stewed pork, fried plantain, rice and beans. It was very authentic and good. Unfortunately I forgot the camera.

The turtles were our first close encounter with local wildlife, and were a real high. A sad note, though, was a seven year old girl who was among the people getting the tour, and who had a fatal neurological disease. From diagnosis to the end of life will only be about two years, and she is half way there. We are glad she got to see the turtles too, but my oh my, it is terribly sad.

Watch for photos and captions coming soon.

This is the number one thing in Marathon. World class, actually.

The turtle lecture - animated and informative

Now illegal, this is the gorgeous shell used for jewellery

Turtle physio. They worked the jaws back and forth for some weeks and got the turtle eating

This illustrates the relative sizes of the five local turtle species

The very ill girl get to touch one of the turtles

Iguana on the dock nearby the turtle center. This is an invasive species

Baby turtles belong out in the sargasso. many are swept off track yearly and are rescued

Bubble Butt has a bad case of gas under the shell from a propeller hit

The motel that forms the core of the center's buildings

Turtles with gas under the shell are fitted with weights. However the weights fall off, so the turtles can not be returned to the wild

Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 100 km (62 miles)

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