Kayaking in Big Pine Key

We were greeted Friday morning by a couple of iguanas on our dock. We had some fun watching them climb the trellis in the back yard, then jump into the canal and swim over to the mangroves. Afterward, we loaded up the kayaks and headed to Big Pine Key. Big Pine is known for its Key deer, and while there were down to only about 25-50 key deer left in the 1950s, there are about 600-700 here today. And we saw plenty of them roaming the streets! They are quite small, about the size of a medium to large dog and only found in the keys. After driving through a neighborhood, we found a nice place to launch the kayaks, in hopes of catching some mangrove snapper. The water was quite shallow and clear so it was easy to see all of the life as we paddled. We saw barracuda, a nurse shark, a variety of fish, sting rays, coral, and a small sea turtle resting along the bottom right next to my kayak! We did come across plenty of mangrove snapper, but bait was scarce so we only managed to catch 1 keeper. We then explored the Blue Hole, a man made freshwater pond that was dug out for road construction in the 1930s and 1940s. Interesting to see freshwater species when surrounded by so much salt water. Afterward, we headed to No Name Key to an old pub called No Name Pub which I had read a lot of good reviews about. We had a couple beers and some fish dip (which was delicious) and conch chowder. It was a cute little old place. Big Pine key and No Name key are definitely quieter than Marathon. Then, we headed back to Marathon, making a stop at Publix to replenish some of our supplies.

Our morning visitor!

Key deer!

Looking for a handout outside of No Name Pub

Go Gators!