Our Private Island

Coconut Key
24 44.45 N 081 14.30 W

How rich do you have to be to own your own private island? We're hardly rich, but for today we have Coconut Key all to ourselves. It's a little island, a few hundred meters across. It's populated by lots of varieties of birds and surrounded by shallow waters ripe for exploring by snorkel. That's what we're going to do right now.

Now we're back. Partially successful. Jenny and I rowed in to the island. We came into the shallows by the shore and found a beautiful white sand patch. Perfect place to start snorkeling. But wait, what is that??? A five foot shark came along looking for a snack. He turned toward us and almost rammed the boat. That freaked Jenny out. After that she had no interest in swimming or snorkeling. :)

We had fun anyhow. We circunavigated the island by oar. There really are lots of birds here. Besides the pesky cormorants, we saw vultures, and egrets, lots of cranes, terns, and a big stork. The stork looked scruffy like he was molting and he didn't fly away.

Back on Tarwathie, I went for a swim. The water felt a bit cold at first but I soon adapted. It was nice.

Tomorrow we'll try again for the snorkeling and swimming. Tonight we're enjoying a litle feast that Libby made in Jenny's honor. Chicken and rice and spinach salad with freshly baked sweet potato pie for desert. Yummy.