Islamorada Bridge Walk

While I was hovering around Mile Marker 72 to photograph Craig Key I took advantage to take Cheyenne for a walk on the old Flagler Bridge which has been refurbished as a fishing pier on the edge of the town of Islamorada (purple island). It is a beautiful spot from which to look out across the water. This is the view south of Highway One, toward the Straits of Florida.In a north wind the Gulf side of the Highway was white with wave action, though the waters being as shallow as they are the waves aren't that big. I have no idea what the cement lumps are in the water. they look like big ship moorings but whay there I couldn't say.The bike trail is nicely landscaped. Looking east toward Islamorada.
Cheyenne surprised me. I don't think of these cement walkways as being that interesting but my Labrador finds everything fascinating. I guess anglers drop fishy bits on the ground. She was determined to walk the length of the old railroad bridge. These people were anchored and enjoying bouncing as they fished.Had it been twenty degrees warmer it would have been a glorious day. That is to say had it been less cold I would have enjoyed it more. It was still a glorious day to look at.The tide was flowing south and that combined with the breeze made the water flowing under the bridges look like a river during spring melt. How, you ask did I get that last picture..? Not by levitating. The engineers have added nifty little fishing platforms to the old bridges, places that stick out to enable people to drop lines in the water more easily. I was alone on the bridge so i could wander at will.As long as Cheyenne couldn't fall off I was free to enjoy looking around. So I did.Then I came across these weird things and I speculated they may have been some fishing apparatus. I should be a detective I'm that smart. In fact I met an angler huddling next to his van adjusting his gear and he took the time to explain to me that the nets are used for shrimping at night. Someone dropped something good and I could barely drag Cheyenne away from the spot.It used to be that there was only one city in Monroe County- Key West. Then Key Colony Beach, a city of 800 incorporated in 1957, Layton of similar size was founded in 1963, then nothing much happened for a while. In the 1990s there was a move across the Keys to incorporate to improve services and Islamorada incorporated in 1997 and Marathon followed in 1999.Here we see the bike path image- a cyclist wearing a helmet. All part of the improved services brought to us by Monroe County. This in a county where only snowbirds wear bicycle helmets, for some reason.At the end of the path Cheyenne and I took time to grope around under the seagrapes on top of the sewall. I limited myself to taking a few more pictures......while Cheyenne thrashed around in the undergrowth finding I don't care to know what. A Boy and his Dog. This was the cause of my visit, Craig Key in the foreground and the Channel Five bridge arching in the background. More rushing waters.My sure footed mountain goat of a dog. Just as well she wasn't ready to go for a swim. I'd have frozen going in after her to rescue her.