The next day we decided to tackle the Eastern branch of our crossroads and visited Biscayne National Park. As I have previously mentioned, the majority of this park is under the ocean. Thus, the only way that you can explore and indeed do anything more than visit the gift shop, is if you take a glass bottom boat or snorkel trip out on the reefs. I had never taken a glass bottom boat ride before and was slightly intruded by the idea. Katie on the other hand had taken one before and was completely against it. She stressed that you see the same things as snorkeling except without all the fun and excitement of being in the water with everything. Seeing her point, we decided to save the glass bottom boat ride for when we were old and senile and began to make reservations for a snorkel trip. The night before, using our hotel internet, we had read reviews about the place that the National Parks service uses for this task and all signs pointed toward the negative end of the spectrum. Not that the tour or the guides themselves were bad, just that they were unreliable when making reservations. Upon discovering this, we decided to arrive at the booking office first thing in the morning to ensure a spot of the first available trip. Because of insufficient numbers, the first trip available was to take off at noon, leaving us with the whole morning to do as we please. Since there was nothing in this park that offered us any entertainment above ground, we again headed down the Western branch of our crossroads toward the ever entertaining Anhinga Trail, a mere 15 miles away. Again we explored the trail, this time sans the camera, taking in the animals at our leisure. We grabbed a quick lunch before getting back to Biscayne for our trip. After a long boat ride, we dropped off about half the people on the boat at a nearby island then we headed out to the reef with the rest of the snorkelers. Once in the water we swam over to the reefs and were amazed by what we saw. Though nothing will compare to the snorkeling we did in the Red Sea in Egypt, this was still an amazing sight. Unlike in Egypt, the coral was the main attraction here, not the fish. There were massive fans and dozens of other structures which I don't know the names for all flowing in rhythm with the waves of the water. Indeed, it was a very windy day and the waves were strong and constant. As long as you could bear their force topside, the underwater treasure was a just reward. Even though the coral and its structures were the newest and most exciting thing at first, as the saying goes, there are plenty of fish in the sea. Many of them were species that we recognized from the Red Sea and still others there were that were completely new and different to us. Katie and I were reluctant to leave this beautiful underwater world and thus, we were the last ones on the boat. Once we were back on land, we showered up using some freshwater then got in the van and tried to figure out what to do next. Since we had all night to waste we thought of the obvious choice, a brewery. After consulting the Brewers News that we picked up at Terrapin I decided on a place just north of Miami called The Funky Buddha. I was simply attracted by the name and did not take into consideration what the name implied about the food or the people. When we arrived, we realized we had overlooked the fact that it was Sunday night and there was a music show. The place was packed. We had no hope of grabbing a table as everyone was jammed in, standing room only, so instead of dealing with the crowds we headed down the road and found a small pizza place. On our way back to the highway, planning to make our way back south to, we passed giant funland center equipped with a mini-golf course and full arcade, not to mention tons of other activities to keep anyone entertained for hours. Not yet ready for bed, we decided to spend the next couple hours here until we were both tired or kicked out by the closing bell, which both happened in the end. We headed back to the town of Homestead, "Gateway to the Keys" where we decided to take advantage of Walmart's renowned hospitality regarding weary travelers. With the van parked in what we thought was an inconspicuous spot, we climbed into CJ for the night after using Walmart's fine facilities to tidy up before bed. Getting into our normal nightly routine, Katie began to read while I started to bring out my computer to type a bit. Within 5 minutes after crawling inside, Katie noticed a security car, lights on, stopping inexplicably close to our car. We both played it cool for a moment, ducking down and hoping that CJ's tinted windows would conceal us enough to satisfy the guards curiosity. Alas, they did not, and without hesitation the guard knocked on our window and stepped back to his car. Seeing no point in denying it, I opened the side window, reached out of the car, and opened the sliding door from the outside. This has been the process of exiting the van ever since the beginning of our trip since the inside handle is broken. I boldly approached the security guard and questioned loudly "yea???" as if he was in the wrong for disturbing my sleep. Seemingly somewhat flustered by accusative tone, he sheepishly uttered "hable Espanol?" Again in a half cocky, half irritated tone I responded simply "No..." At which he began to stutter, searching his mind for the English words "follow me" which he managed to spit out before hopping in his car and driving off. It took me a minute to comprehend what he said and also to move our stuff from the drivers seat so that I could actually drive the van. (At night we move everything from the back of the van into the front so we can comfortably sleep). The security guard led us to the other end of the parking lot, to a small section where numerous RV's and campers had already set up shop for the night. Understanding the security guards intentions, we filed in amongst our vagabonding brethren and staked our plot of land for the night.
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