The Florida Keys | Lee Smith Photography

Spanish Harbor Key – Bahia Honda Bridge

Photo by Lee Smith

Heavy clouds on a Saturday morning – we were hoping for a break, but not this day. Image taken from Spanish Harbor Key of the Bahia Honda Bridge in the background with petrified coral/mangrove roots in the foreground.

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The Mangrove Islands of Key Largo

Photos by Lee Smith

Cruising the channels off Key Largo, Florida is like traveling back into time. the lush mangroves cover the coral islands and created wildlife areas while offering calm waters to boaters. The Mangrove roots offer protection to smaller fish creating a strong part of the ocean ecosystem.

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Key Largo Mangrove Island - 0842 - 7D 2012 — Key Largo Mangrove Island – 0842 – 7D 2012

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Mangrove Shoreline – Key Largo, FL

photo by Lee Smith

Exploring the small island off the coast of Key Largo offers the best time to enjoy oneself with nature

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Mangrove Shoreline - Key Largo, FL - 7D - 2012 - 0848 — Mangrove Shoreline – Key Largo, FL – 7D – 2012 – 0848

Concrete Barge aground off Key Largo

photo by Lee Smith

You see some strange things when you are visiting and not from an area, like this concrete barge that was run aground in shallow water off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. The water clarity is good for a high traffic boat channel – it’s right off the channel. People kayak and snorkel around the barge to find tropical fish, invertebrates and an occasional lobster. It’s about 10ft deep but this barge clearly sticks out of the water.

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Key Largo Concrete Barge - 0884 — Key Largo Concrete Barge – 0884

Carysfort Reef Lighthouse – Key Largo

Photo by Lee Smith

When you drive a few miles out to sea and find a structure like a lighthouse – I always wonder how the heck they built that thing. It is unmanned, but still functions being the oldest existing screw-pile lighthouse still in service in the United States – located off the coast of Key Largo, Florida

For more information about the Caryfort Reef Lighthouse

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A Lone Mangrove – Key Largo, FL

Photo by Lee Smith

I walked in the shallows around a mangrove covered island off Key largo, Florida and found this lone Mangrove growing away from the island. (Photo taken in 2012)