Markham County Park, Sunrise, Florida
A new command I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. ~ John 13:34-35
We took off very early this morning, hoping to beat rush hour traffic. We didn’t. Even at 6:30am the roads were packed with cars! We were driving south to spend the day at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo, kayaking and possibly snorkeling. An hour drive, took an hour and a half in horrific traffic conditions with people weaving in and out and bumper to bumper. Eventually, we discovered part of the problem was a terrible accident. So sad!
I included some maps (because I didn’t have a lot to do yesterday 😊 ) so you can see where we’ll be spending the next couple of days – – and why it takes so long to get there.
John Pennekamp was established in 1964 and was the first undersea park in the U.S. It encompasses about 70 nautical square miles. While the mangrove swamps and tropical hammocks in the park’s upland areas offer visitors a unique experience, it is the coral reefs and their associated marine life that bring most visitors to the park. They also have a 30,000 gallon saltwater aquarium and nature videos in their theater. The park is named for the late John D. Pennekamp (1897-1978), a Miami newspaper editor, whose efforts contributed to the establishments of Everglades National Park and the preservation of what would become John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.
Sounds like an exciting place to visit doesn’t it!?!
The Park opened at 8am, but the visitor center didn’t open until 9. We walked around a bit to get the lay of the land. . .
. . . but we didn’t feel like waiting around for a half hour, so Blaine asked a boat tour guy who was sitting around about getting a water trail map, and he gave us one to borrow.
The water was so warm and nice, we didn’t even wear our water shoes today!
It was a gorgeous day and we discovered some new and exciting things! It never ceases to amaze us how many things God put on this earth for us to enjoy! And we spent the better part of 1 ½ hours doing just that!
They reminded us of queen anne’s lace, and we first discovered them as we were preparing to put the kayak into the water.
Here’s some additional information I found on ocean.si.edu:
Mangroves are survivors. With their roots submerged in water, mangrove trees thrive in hot, muddy, salty conditions that would quickly kill most plants. How do they do it? Through a series of impressive adaptations—including a filtration system that keeps out much of the salt and a complex root system that holds the mangrove upright in the shifting sediments where land and water meet. Not only do mangroves manage to survive in challenging conditions, the mangrove ecosystem also supports an incredible diversity of creatures—including some species unique to mangrove forests. And, as scientists are discovering, mangrove swamps are extremely important to our own well-being and to the health of the planet. The question is: Will mangroves be able to survive the impact of human activities?
A mangrove is a woody tree or shrub that lives along sheltered coastlines within the tropic or subtropic latitudes. In fact, the various species of mangroves aren’t necessarily closely related to one another, but they do share the unique capability of growing within reach of the tides in salty soil. Some mangrove species live so close to the shoreline that they are flooded with salt water every day as the tide comes in and submerges their roots. All mangroves have the ability to live in salty, oxygen-poor soil.
Aren’t they amazing?!?!?
These jellyfish are just one more example of God’s creativity! Here’s what I found out about them on islandjanemagazine.com:
Here in the Florida Keys we have many kinds of jellyfish. Most will sting if you come in contact with them, but there is one certain kind of jellyfish that doesn’t have a huge potency but is very abundant in the shallows. This is the upside down jellyfish, properly known as a Cassiopeia. These gelatinous critters like to hang out towards the sea floor in shallow calm bays and channels. Most of us have seen them along the bottom of the canals and throughout the Florida Bay. The Cassiopeia is a brown and greenish color that looks like a flower or snowflake on the bottom. Sometimes you can see them pulsing on the surface where they will look more like a frilly mushroom.
On many of my tours we spot these jellyfish on the bottom and it never fails the customers always gets a scared face when I mention they are jellyfish. “Will they sting?” Is always met with uncomfortable looks from the customers. The answer is that it is not typical. The upside down jellyfish’s stinging cells are produced in a mucus that is released into the water when disturbed from the bottom. As long as you do not disturb them too much they will not release the toxin filled mucus. Even if they do release the toxic mucus, it’s not so toxic. The sting is very mild and most people don’t even feel it.
There is always the second question, “Why are they upside down?” The Cassiopeia is a photosynthetic animal like coral that has zooxanthellae in their tentacles. Zooxanthellae is an algae that is symbiotic to the corals and jellyfish that absorb sunlight and photosynthesize it into energy for the animals. With the zooxanthellae in the Cassiopeia’s tentacles, the jellyfish will sit upside down on the bottom in shallow, calm areas allowing the symbiotic algae to absorb sunlight. They are not always upside down though. If there is a strong current or a boat that gets too close to cause a current the jellyfish will float to the surface and pulse around to find a new home that has less current and more sunlight.
A really cool thing about this jellyfish is its name and where it originates. Cassiopeia is a constellation as well as a Greek goddess. She was known to be very proud of her beauty and claimed to be more beautiful and better than all the sea nymphs. This upset the sea nymphs and they complained to the sea God, Poseidon who in turn cursed her to be left upside down for the rest of her life, making her not so pretty anymore. Therefore the upside down jellyfish gets its name from the upside down Greek goddess.
Hundreds of them!
By the time we returned, the visitor center was open and we’d thought to get information on snorkeling, but there really wasn’t any information in the visitor center. Just an aquarium and a movie. So we sat in the air conditioning and enjoyed them both.
We’d originally thought to kayak out to the coral reef (3 miles) and snorkel from our own boat, but it was just too far and too breezy today. Instead, we looked into a snorkel tour. It wasn’t long before we decided this just wasn’t something we wanted to do. There were hordes of people waiting in line to buy tickets, which were a minimum of $30 a piece. When I texted Blaine’s sister who lives not far from here and asked if she’d done the tour, she said they have their own boat and snorkel equipment, they have no need to pay someone. And then she said they’d take us when we come visit in a couple of weeks. So that made our decision for us! Thanks Eric and Sandy!
We’d also planned on stopping somewhere for dinner on our way home, but the sun and heat and tense long distance driving sucked that joy right out of us.
Instead, we dined on homemade meatball subs and a couple of leftovers, while we watched Hoppy dance around our campsite.