2015-11-9 Key West:

When I sailed away from Key West on the cruise with my daughter,sister, and sister in law last Dec., I saw what looked like a promising snorkel beach within walking distance from the port, so I decided that's where we should go this time when Ken and I were in Key West.The Eurodam was even docked closer to the beach then when I was on the other cruise.  This time we docked in the Naval base instead of the downtown dock.  There were free shuttles running people to town since no walking around in the base was permitted.  The shuttle left us off just outside the gates to the base and we walked about 15-20 minutes (rather slowly since I was taking pictures) to the beach at Ft. Zachary Park.

 Ken always leaving me in his dust.

 It was a beautiful day!

 The concession guy mentioned the snorkeling probably wouldn't be very good because of the direction of the surf and sand being churned up.  But I had to try it anyway!

 I went to the rocks by the shore on the left and swam very close to the rocks.  There were a lot of fish there, but it wasn't very clear.

 It did start clearing up some as time went on.

 I came out for a bit.

 Then Ken and I both headed back in---he didn't bother earlier.   It was clearing up nicely, so I suggested we swim to the rocky areas away from the beach.

 looking back towards the beach from the outer rocks.

 a fish I've not seen before!

 another one I've not seen often.  i suspect it's related to the one above.

 assortment of fish.

 a spotted chub.

 a parrotfish or wrasse

 The little guy looks like one of the ones a couple pictures up, but this one was acting like a cleaner fish.

 After a couple more hours in the water, Ken and I were floating in the water and chatting when I felt a sudden sharp pain all over my left forearm!  I immediately thought jelly fish?---then---am I allergic to them since I'm allergic to bee stings?   Wish I had taken a picture of the jelly fish now, but I was concerned about getting back to shore in case I went into anaphylactic shock.  Immediately my arm welted up.  There happened to be someone else on shore who had also been stung and she was pouring white vinegar on it that she got from the concession stand.  So I went to the concession stand and she fixed me up, too.  Apparently she had 3 other people come to her with stings and right after me they put up the purple flag meaning sea pests were present.  The pain really didn't last too long, but the itching that started by the next morning was pretty intense---for over a week.  But at least I didn't go into anaphylactic shock.

 Since we'd been at the beach for about 4 hours by then, we decided to head back to the shuttle and run into town.

walking along the by the base.

  I had forgotten to bring any contact solution so we figured we'd go to the cvs near the shuttle stop.  I also forgot to bring a sweater for the very air conditioned rooms on the cruise ship, so I "had" to buy a souvenir Key West zip up sweat shirt, too.   I enjoyed riding on the free shuttle and seeing a bit of Key West.  It really is a neat little town. 

Along our walk to CVS.

 There were a series of these signs by a restaurant.  I thought they were really cool signs.

 more along our walk.

 Even a wall of mosaic art.  This is just a small part of the picture.

Back on the ship, I waited for sail away and sunset.
Shortly after sail away we were passing Ft. Zachary beach where we had snorkeled.  Snorkeling by the rock walls and outcroppings were really quite good, despite the  jellyfish encounter.

 back to the ocean

 It wasn't long until sunset---with day light savings time ending a week ago it's now dark by a little after 5.

 Right as sun was setting, a pod of dolphins decided to join us for awhile.  They were fun to watch.

Made a great ending to a pretty great first day---aside from the jellyfish encounter.