We traveled from St Pete across Florida and farther south to Fort Pierce / Port Saint Lucie for our first look at the Atlantic on this trip. It’s definitely greener than the Gulf waters and the beach sand is grainier. It is warmer as we are 100 + miles farther south. After a very heavy rain during our drive to the Fort Pierce KOA we were happy to have a nice gravel based site. It is a small campground right off Rte 1 but about 10 minutes from the beaches on North & South Hutchinson Islands. We had a tornado watch one of our first nights – this weird weather seems to be following us. Wild wind that night that had us thinking about our evacuation plans more seriously. But we dodged the bullet and had several beautiful days here although they were all pretty windy.
Fort Pierce is quite historical and a sweet small seaside town. We enjoyed lunch at two very cool wharf side restaurants – The Manatee Bar & Grille and The Original Tiki Bar – great fish like calimari, grouper and Mahi Mahi tacos at both places – they were not fancy but had a cool local atmosphere. We have found we prefer these spots to more sedate places – you get a better taste of local culture & the people there are having fun & eager to meet new folks. We liked this area if it were a bit warmer and we checked out an RV Resort that might be on our list for next year’s possibilities. We took Lenny to a great dog beach – Walton Beach on South Huchinson.
We also visited the National US Navy UDT- Seals – Frogmen Museum – dedicated to telling the story behind today’s very brave & heroic US Navy Seals. It was a great take in – we highly recommend going for a visit. It was cool to see stories about some Seals we have met in our former life. For a small place they have done a terrific job and honored many who have fought & given their lives for our freedom.
We departed Fort Pierce promising to return someday and headed to the Keys! It was a great day to drive down the middle on the Florida Turnpike thus avoiding Miami and we arrived at Fiesta Key Encore RV Resort around 4pm. It had been rainy there so we were lucky to get a relatively dry pull through site. Getting situated was not without a tight squeeze down one approach but we had great assistance from the staff and fellow RVers. We ate at the Lobster Crawl Restaurant that nite in the resort – very handy – and yummy.
We have been to able several bike rides, walks with Lenny as well as visit Anne’s Beach, Marathon, Key Largo and Key West and join in a few happy hours here at the Lobster Crawl. Our site is great with sun all day when it is not raining 🌧😎. We visited friends in Key West and ate at Pepe’s Cafe – a great 100 + year old landmark joint with terrific food and service – and a chicken or two under your table. Our friends, Ari & Tony, have a lovely new home in Key West’s historic district where we enjoyed a sunny afternoon & a glass of wine. We have also checked out other RV resorts in the Keys (as this one may close for renovations) including Sigbee- the armed forces place in Key West, Blue Water RV Resort & Sunshine Key. It is at least 10 degrees warmer during the day & night here – it this would be a great January place next year. We popped into a cool artists coop place yesterday during a downpour and bought some fun & unique momentoes as well as getting some decor ideas for our new place. Artists of all kinds are drawn to the Keys – the light here is enchanting and the slower pace & life style is more conducive to flowering creativity. The water fowl and birds are ever present – complimented by the gorgeous flowering plants & shrubs with palms & tropical greenery everywhere. It is one continual garMy cameras have been very active and we hope to use the new Hero GoPro here as well. We are in the Keys until the 18th of February and this is the most relaxed we have been. I think we are making the “retired” adjustment rather well – we never know the day of the week, and we are not in a hurry – we savor each & every minute! Our new Apple Watches are cool decoration and most useful for tracking bike rides & walks, reading texts & emails rather than checking the time.
More photos to follow ……
Team Amirault's Travel Blog 