We continued down the east coast to the Florida Keys for some more diving and snorkelling and stayed at a camp-site called Caluso Park on Key Largo. The Keys are joined to the mainland by causeways and bridges. The toll-road is the most picturesque way to enter the Keys, worth the couple of dollars for the spectacular views.

Because our time was so short, we only visited one of the Keys, but the impression we gained from talking to people was that they are not all that different to one another. They are a linked chain of mangrove islands with artificial beaches and harbours, mostly out of sight of the road. All that you actually see driving through the Keys is the road itself and the buildings on either side. It isn't like the Spanish Costas! The really interesting action (at least for me) is on the coral reefs a mile or two off-shore beneath the shallow coastal waters.

The whole of southern Florida is a bird-lover's paradise, with pelicans, cormorants, woodpeckers, egrets, buzzards - far more birds than I can name. This magnificent great egret was just wandering around a Keys parking-lot, hoping to find some lunch-time left-overs.