Back to the Mainland

Thursday morning, we woke up again before sunrise.  The views were beautiful, but the bugs were back.  Dave made another great breakfast of French toast and cinnamon buns and then we broke down camp.  At low tide, the water was too far out to easily get in our boats.

So we waited and enjoyed the beach for an hour or so.  As the tide came in, we started paddling back.  Dave took us a different way back and we spotted some dolphins and pelicans on the way.  We stopped at an island near the beginning of Indian Key Pass for lunch.  It would be a lot easier going back in as we would be going with the tide instead of against it.  And sure enough, we were back to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center in no time.  We unpacked the kayaks and helped Dave load everything in his van and then said good-bye to our new friends.  Sandy and I headed back towards Miami on US-41 and then went south to Homestead, checking in to the Hampton Inn.  A shower felt so great after camping and swimming in salt water the past two nights.