Winds of Soul

Today has been our last day in the Keys.  We knew rain was sure to stay with us as it did most of yesterday.  In the past I would be very sad… OK, I mean I’d be in my victim, swearing that I was getting ripped off on my last full day in the Keys.  Not this time however.  Instead, I took action before sun up that engaged me with whatever nature presented.  At 6:30 AM, Charlotte and I rode our bicycles up to the tip of land we are staying on to witness the sunrise from a different location.  As it turned out, we didn’t get treated to the color show that other mornings brought, instead we found the ocean sky to be dark, with all kinds of shades of blue and grey.  The water merely reflected the tone of what it saw.

Then, back at the condo, more beauty was there to greet us as the sky had already shifted to let in more light.

And so here my day had just begun and I was being shown yet another beauty of this string of islands.  Even in the stormy skies, I cannot look away from the stunning natural drama of this place.  It is mesmerizing.  I can’t remember when “foul weather” looked so good.

After breakfast Charlotte and I departed for the “Old 7 Mile Bridge Ride” that we had been told about.  It’s actually just a stones throw from our place here, so after a short drive, we were suiting up for the event.  The Old 7 Mile Bridge is a just that.  It’s actually an old railway bridge that was converted to a automobile bridge in the early 50’s.  Now, with chunks removed from it, it’s used for bicycles and pedestrians to travel out to a (now historic) Pigeon Key.  This Key has the dwellings on it that housed the railway workers from the early 1900’s that built the railway all the way to Key West.  Pigeon Key is about 1 1/2 miles out from Marathon Key and the start of the adjacent, newer 7 Mile Bridge.  It was a good ride and very enjoyable to be out in the elements.  I swam in the green/blue water and relished the wind that swept over me after.  The wind was constant and saturated me completely, drying the ocean’s salt on my skin.

The Old Seven Mile Bridge:

Then, all that dark sky you see ahead of us on the bridge caught up with us after we got back to the car and it’s been raining on and off ever since.  I began to feel sadness.  It kept coming up as we drove over to Bahia Honda State Park.  It was so rainy there, we left and headed back north.  The sadness deepened.  My fair-weather self was not happy that this was happening on our last day.  Yet it clearly was.

We decided to go back to Marathon and visit Sombrero Beach.  We had ridden our bikes down there on our very first day, but because we couldn’t think of anything else to do but go back to our condo and begin packing and cleaning up, we decided to return there in spite of the weather.

You see though, the Keys are not always what they seem.  The clouds can simply thin out in front of the sun (and nowhere else), and when that happens, magic happens.  The contrast of things become stark and very colorful.

The wind was so beautiful here that I couldn’t help but dive underneath this delicious water.  It was warm, and when I got out I could feel the air dry me and the salt together.  I felt alive and free.   For a while Charlotte and I stood leaned up against a pole of a gazebo and looked out over the beautiful sight before us.  I closed my eyes and felt.  Just felt the moment.  I could hear it.  The winds of soul were blowing strong.  Calling me.  Again.

Authors Note:
If you enjoyed some of these images, Charlotte and I will be creating a photo essay of our trip and will most likely feature it in a new blog to be released soon.