Ferry trip to Pigeon Key
Boat Ride on Sunset Delight
Depart: 2:30
Return: 3:30
Distance: 6.5 nm
At docktails yesterday we learned from Jim and Mandy on Shell Belle that a group of loopers planned to take the ferry today to visit Pigeon Key. This island is only reachable by boat, and Clark and I were interested to see what the island had to offer, so we decided to join the group. I invited Faith from Third Degree to come with us.
Before we set out this morning for Pigeon Key, we wanted to get to the farmer's market to stock up on juicy tomatoes. Sandy on L'Attitude Adjustment kindly offered to drive Faith and me there to do our shopping since she planned to go there anyway. While we drove to the farmer's stand, Clark waited at the Pigeon Key Visitor's Center for the ticket booth to open, so he could grab the three of us tickets for the ferry.
Timing worked out well with that arrangement. We got back to the marina with enough time to stow our produce before heading over to the dock to board the Pigeon Key ferry.
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| Historian on left, Ferry Captain on right. |
We had a pretty full ferry for the trip over.
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| Clark, Ev - Sunset Delight Faith - Third Degree Jim, AC - Hour Plan Jim, Mandy - Shell Belle |
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| Ferry crew in pink shirt Lynn and Phil Rains - Finns on right |
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| Evelyn and Faith wearing our "I Love Pigeon Key" sticker / tickets |
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| Jim / AC and Jim / Mandy |
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| Clark talked to the ferry crew for most of the trip to the island. |
We enjoyed a very short ferry ride to the island. The weather fully cooperated with our plans providing sun and no high winds or rain. When we stepped onto the island, the tour guide set out chairs for us to gather around for the history of Pigeon Key.
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| Getting ready for our history lesson |
The first thing Faith noticed and brought to my attention was the fact that the island is petite. The whole island can be seen standing anywhere on the island.
The tour guide began his presentation on Pigeon Key by telling us about the current use of the island and then providing details on the island's history. Today the island is used as a Marine Science Education Camp for students 8th grade and up. The students live on the island for one week while they study marine science. Groups of students have come from all over the U.S. as well as from foreign countries. A group from England recently visited and the tour guide said he very much enjoyed listening to teenagers with British accents.
Pigeon Key was named by Spanish explorers in the 1500s about the same time Ponce de Leon found and named Las Tortugas. The Spanish named the island - Paloma - the Spanish word for pigeon. I saw no pigeons during my visit to the island.
The island was a construction camp during the construction of the railroad that connected the Florida Keys to the mainland. It was one of 82 camps paid for by Henry Flagler out of his own money. He had the railroad built to facilitate moving ships' cargo arriving at the port of Key West by train into the U.S. mainland.
The Florida Keys Extension program as it was called lasted from January 1908 until January 1912. During that time of construction between 300 and 400 men (and only men) lived on the island in bunk houses and tents. They worked 6 days per week for $1.50 a day. Compared to the $1.50 per week paid elsewhere at that time, the pay was great! Their compensation included room and board.
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| Picture of Pigeon Key Construction Camp c. 1908 Shows cook house on far left with smoke stacks and Bunk Houses and Tents on far right |
The tour guide explained that the bridge the crew built across the Keys is considered to be the 8th Engineering Wonder of the World and compares to the Panama Canal in complexity. The foundation of the bridge consisted of 337 deck plate pairs weighing 19 tons per deck plate. Considering the tools and technology of the early 1900s, this feat is truly amazing.
The island has no fresh water. Water had to be brought into the Keys for the workers. They tried bringing it in by ship as well as by rail.
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| Model showing water tanks on a flatbed railroad car bringing water to the Florida Keys |
While on the island, we toured the cook house, a bunk house, the dining hall, and the assistant bridge tender's cottage.
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| Marine Research Building Originally the dining hall (a portion of the wood floors are original) |
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| Dive Suit "over 60 years old" on display in old dining hall |
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| Bunk house entrance (our guide Erik) |
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| Exploring the bunk house Now used by visiting students |
While touring the dining hall, we saw a few pictures on the wall including a picture of "Fred". Fred is an Australian Pine that is so strong, it even survived Hurricane Irma. Every Christmas Fred is decorated. Since Australian Pine is an invasive species of evergreen that allows nothing else to thrive in its presence, the tour guide said he wished Fred had disappeared during Irma.
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| "Fred" - an Australian Pine growing on bridge |
With the completion of construction of the bridge, Pigeon Key became a maintenance facility site. Married couples, some with children, came to live on the island. Crews took two full years to paint the 7-mile bridge. When they completed the job, they went back to the beginning and started again. The guide called it "job security".
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| Advertisement: Riding the train gave the impression of an "ocean journey by train" |
As cars became more common place, entrepreneurs realized that travel by train to the Keys needed to be replaced by car travel. Thus, in the 1930s, the railroad bridge was converted into a two-lane highway by adding a 22' wide road structure on top of the existing railroad bridge. On July 4, 1938, the yellow ribbon was cut and the highway opened to traffic.
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| Blue-painted area - railroad bridge Section overhanging from above - two lane highway built on top |
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| Picture showing Pigeon Key in its prime in the 1950s. Cars appear in the photos. Today the island is only accessible by boat. |
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| Ramp from highway to Pigeon Key closed |
We got a "bird's eye view" of the bridge from Pigeon Key.
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| 7-Mile Bridge |
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| Old / Closed Bridge on Left New Bridge on Right |
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| Slightly zoomed-in view of old bridge |
Besides having an interest in history, our tour guide had a knowledge of local flora and fauna. He pointed out some items of interest.
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| Gumbo Limbo Tree - aka "Tourist Tree" because the limbs are red and peeling |
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| American Kestrel - smallest hawk in the world This one has lived on Pigeon Key for around 20 years and almost always perches in the same tree. |
When the new, fixed bridge opened, the Moser Channel swing bridge was removed, taken 5 miles out in the ocean, and carefully lowered into 90 feet of water to become a successful reef attracting coral and fish.
We had a full two hours to explore the island before the ferry returned for us at 12:15. Due to the size of the island, we did not need that much time. By 11:30 people started to gather back at the chairs enjoying the breeze and waiting for the ferry to arrive and return us to Faro Blanco. On the trip back we saw several dolphin, the ferry captain pointed out a turtle in the water, and we say a Magnificent Frigatebird - the ones with the 7-foot wingspan.
Back at the Faro Blanco marina, we went our separate ways. Some folks went to the Bucktooth Rooster restaurant for lunch. Clark and I ate on our boat and then took Sunset Delight out for a run. When we returned an hour later, we came into dock bow in and dropped our anchor on the dock.
Clark wanted to take the twists out of the anchor chain. After we laid the chain and line out on the dock, however, his work plan expanded. Initially we thought it would make sense to mark our line at 25' lengths like we did the anchor line on Sea Moss. However, after he started doing that, we decided that what we really needed to do is reverse the anchor line.
The portion of the line nearest the anchor is showing wear and tear. The portion at the bottom of the anchor locker looks almost unused. Instead of pulling the anchor line back in and dropping it in the locker, we pulled it up on the bow of the boat. Clark will reverse the line and splice it to join it to the anchor chain. Once the line is reversed and secured, we can mark out the lengths as planned.
At 5:00 we enjoyed docktails until 6:00 when we walked over to see Faith and Jim on Third Degree and meet their friends Terri and Greg currently staying on their boat in Boot Key. By the time we got back to our boat it was 7:30, and we still needed to figure out dinner.
I got Clark to cook dinner tonight. He cooked rice, steak, and reheated broccoli with a little instruction from me to assist him. After dinner I decided to update the blog while the day was still fresh in my mind.
Tonight's sunset picture appropriately shows the Pigeon Key Ferry at dock in the Faro Blanco Marina.
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| Pigeon Key Ferry docked at sunset |
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