Ruth and I obviously wanted to spend spring break together. Boston is still cold in March, and Scotland is cold and wet. So we opted to meet up in Florida instead!
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Our rental car for the week, a Toyota Avalon. Pleasant enough, but the interior is a mess of conflicting colours/style and poorly fitting plastics... The real insult is the fake wood though!
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We went to South beach in Miami on the first morning, to hang out and see the sights.
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Ruth on South Beach
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Some of the hotels on the beach are huge but most have interesting design, at least somewhat in keeping with the older Art Deco hotels.
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Downtown Miami, where we went to the Museum of South Florida Life. We love the reflection of the sky in this building.
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An attempt at urban sculpture is rather overshadowed by skyscrapers and the elevated rail system.
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After our day in Miami we drove the full length of the Florida Keys, down to Key West. On our first morning there we explored Fort Zachary, a civil war fortification. We were peering out wondering if this yacht knew...
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...it had BIG guns pointed at it!
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Ruth enjoying the sun.
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An old trawler and a modern powerboat race for the port. I know which my money's on.
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When the fort was upgraded for WWII, the old guns were used to strengthen new concrete fortifications!
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Now Fort Zachary is sinking gently into the mangrove swamp in which it was built.
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These pelicans seem very strange when you're not used to them - almost prehistoric in their appearance.
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A pelican dives into the water for fish.
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Key West has the southernmost point of the continental USA, even if strictly speaking it is an island connected only by a bridge...
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A dilapidated jetty at our hotel.
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Key West is a popular destination for some of the smaller cruise ships...
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...although this one still looks pretty big from our wee dive boat!
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Some of the smaller islands are inhabited by the very rich - doesn't it look idyllic?
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Another race between old and new!
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The diving out of Key West wan't bad, but the dive center were not especially helpful. This squirrelfish is a little suspicious of me and is considering bolting into his hole.
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Descending directly beneath the dive boat.
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A 3ft barracuda eyes us up curiously. Apparently he's not in hunting mode which is why his stripes aren't very visible.
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Some fish like to rest on the reef.
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Pelicans at the harbour eye up the prizes of the big game fishermen.
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Another day another reef, this time near Marathon half way up the keys. Much more life here and better corals. An a much better dive center too!
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These worms have burrowed into a Brain Coral, leaving only their tips exposed. Can you see why they are called Christmas Tree worms?
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A lobster lurks in his hole.
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The fish at the back is a 2-3ft grouper... That's a whole lotta fish!
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I was trying to get a close up of this Moray, but I decided it wasn't worth losing a finger over...
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A ray gildes effortlessly away from us, his motion almost bird-like.
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Sponge.
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Another ray.
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The corals are in great condition and are large.
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A French Angelfish the size of a large dinner plate.
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A surprisingly interesting Orange Boring Sponge.
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Porcupinefish and their relatives are some of the strangest shaped fish I've seen, but are somehow very cute with their tiny fluttering fins, so are some of my favourites too!
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Key West Sunset. McDonalds can't resist having it's say though...
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We bought new masks when we realised our old ones were going green and manky...
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The delicate structure of a sea fan.
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Tube corals.
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Fish drift amongst the gently swaying soft corals.
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Cornetfish can be up to 2ft long, but are only the thickness of a thumb.
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Ruth takes a picture, one hand out to steady herself as she finds the perfect angle!
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This sponge looks like a volcano.
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A slightly less agressive Moray.
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We check to make sure the anchor isn't damaging the reef - looks fine to me!
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A Flamingo Shell Snail grazing.
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Another bizarrely shaped fish.
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Sheltering in an overhang. Maybe they are worried about getting sunburnt?
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The dive center,
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An egret sits on a the shore, looking out at the Seven Mile Bridge.
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It's beer-o-clock!
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This is the Key West dive boat we used earlier in the week returning from a trip.
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Sky-rats.
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Another party-boat heads out into the sunset, packed with spring-breakers!
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Ruth in the sunset.
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This would make a great dive boat I think...
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Pelicans need to be able to dive so don't have very oily feathers. As a result they get quite wet, and need to dry off in the last of the sun.
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Sloppy Joes Bar. It seemed like a wild kind of place... We didn't venture in...
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The view from the Turtle Hospital in Marathon - just beautiful.
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One of the rescued turtles who is still under constant monitoring so has a small tank to himself.
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This little guy is Scooter - he got lost in a canal and is being kept in until the weather is good enough for a boat to get him out to the sargasso weed where he should have ended up!
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A group of lifer turtles - all these guys have problems that would prevent them surviving in the wild, so they live permanently in an old swimming pool!
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The boat we dived from in Marathon, surrounded by yet more pelicans.
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Captain Hooks Dive Center, Marathon. Great people, great diving.
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A pelican peers down, looking for a snack.
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Heading back up the Keys we stopped off at some amazing little places, like this beach. Isn't it Idyllic?
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A brief foray into the sun - it's hard not to burn when you're from Scotland though!
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On our last day, we went on an Everglades tour. This otter fishing and playing was one of the first things we saw.
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The foliage can be really dense - so much so that that there is fierce competition for space. Here a strangler fig will eventually squeeze out its host.
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The low morning sun created marvellous light on this spiders web.
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Can you see the Alligator, lurging just below the surface? Only his nose and eyes are really visible.
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This heron doesn't seem to mind sharing the pool with 6 gators.
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Ruth in front of the 'gator pit. The gators actually make these depressions to retain water through the dry season (which is when we visited).
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Boardwalk through Big Cypress Preserve.
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After the nature walk, we went on a boat ride. The signs and channel markers seem to provide perches for a lot of life...
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...including this Osprey and her young.
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Entering the national park area.
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The area is called "ten thousand islands". Some have beaches like this, others are just clusters of mangrove trees.
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Ruth sitting back and enjoying the ride!
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A blue heron watches us from his perch on the mangrove roots.
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Fantastic shapes in the wake of the boat...
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...which attracts some bottlenose dolphins to come and play!
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Look at the cute little baby gator. I bet he still has quite a nip, so I'm not getting too close!
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Off the boat, we head back to gator country for an airboat ride.
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The airboats just glide over the dense plant life on the water, where a propellor would be wrecked in a few minutes.
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The alligators blend in pretty well, but our driver points out plenty of big ones.
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A lone cypress tree and some egrets.
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I'm really glad I'm not trying to walk around here - I could easily have stood on this one! I suspect he wouldn't have liked that.
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Herons blend in pretty well too - you need sharp eyes to see anything on this trip.
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Our airboat waits for its next group of tourists.
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Our last day together - then end of the holiday. We couldn't resist stopping off the interstate to spot a few last gators in the sunshine! A fantastic holiday - why is it over already???
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