Sugarloaf Boulevard looks like an endless highway even though it's only a few miles to US One to the north. And with the well developed mangroves to left and right it also looks like a forest road though it's actually surrounded by flooding mud flats.
The ocean is never far away in the Lower Keys and with a small amount of exploration one can usually find a water view from some vantage point or another, even in the heavily wooded tracts.
Indeed American Shoal lighthouse, visible on the horizon on a windy afternoon marks the outer edge of the coral reef to the south of Hawk's Channel. The water between here and there averages something less than twenty feet deep. It's not far away either, perhaps 15 minutes by boat, obviously depending on the speed of the vessel.
It's the tranquil juxtaposition of sea and land that makes the Keys so interesting to me. Every view I pause to enjoy mixes land and water in ways that are rarely seen. When I lived on the West Coast the crashing of waves on a rocky headland was always the object of celebration, the swirling of tide pools and the violence of surf on the central California coast was considered the height of natural beauty. I like flat waters, small islands and a coastline that blends the two.
Sugarloaf Boulevard looks like an endless highway even though it's only a few miles to US One to the north. And with the well developed mangroves to left and right it also looks like a forest road though it's actually surrounded by flooding mud flats. 
No comments:
Post a Comment