One of our last official stops today is at Bahia Honda State Park. At Sandspur beach were taking some time to re-inforce beach processes, and a relaxing swim.
Mangroves are one of the key island builder and protective species in the Keys. The black mangroves here are ripe with propagules, the seed pods that can float to spread mangroves around to colonize new areas.
On Islamorada Key sits a memorial to the victims of the Labor Day 1935 hurricane. The monument is built from spectacular samples of Key Largo limestone, some with reddish coloring from exposure. We also see aragonite-calcite rims on many corals as they’re being replaced.