We’re camped just a quick walk from Florida Bay—in fact, if we swam directly out we’d end up on Big Pine Key for our next reservations. If only the Airstream floated. 🙂
This morning instead of walking out to see the sunrise, I rode my bike. (Banjo is a little freaked out by this place, unusually, so I didn’t subject her to extra walking.)
The scene before me as I approached the coastline was of a sunrise workshop service. The silhouettes of about 20 people stood out against the water, all facing the sunrise, all watching (well, some fishing).
The sky was not especially startling (violent, as I’ve read in a poem), but everyone was out worshiping it nevertheless.
Flat land leading to flat water, with the sun popping up the way it does, like an egg yoke you’re afraid might break with the force.
Here it is in my bike mirror as I rode away after worship service was over.
Flamingo Campground
I like this place, but it’s kind of strange. No flamingos, for example.
Here is a terrible photo of it at night, but at least you can see that each of the poles for the electric outlets at each site is lit with an orange bulb. Kind of like a landing site for UFOs.
I’m guessing these campers reserved their site just for their telescopes. I believe the Everglades is an official Dark Sky site. Or a UFO landing site, or both.
And check out this vintage Shasta, plus the Airstream behind it. There are more Airstreams here than we’ve ever seen outside a dealership.
Everyone here seems to be on their way to or from the Keys, stopping only briefly. As are we!
Both Mars and Uranus are still close I believe. I’d be asking for a peek through them ‘scopes!
Flat but beautiful down there in the Keys…
Yay Melissa! Those telescopes are set up at 90 degrees (to each other). I’d bet the big one is trained on (Jupiter + Saturn + Mercury + Venus) and the small one is looking at Mars as it hustles up on Uranus. The sunset display going on right now will shift to sunrise soon. What a great place to be for skywatching 🙂
Sometimes being up all night can be good. I had a wonderful summer looking at oh-so-close Mars. We’re in a pretty dark part of the state. I’d love to see Mercury but don’t have a good view to the West at sunset…
Okay you two, yer makin me look like a bozo for not knowing what’s going on in the sky right now and for not having found these guys while they were using the telescopes. The sky down here is indeed very dark, even now that I’m in the Keys. Maybe I ought to read up on some basic current astronomy.