12/4/2012 I’m Never Going In the Water Again!

Water’s back on all over the campground.  Leak was found and fixed today.  All is right with our world.

As I told the other day Arlene and I went to the Visitor’s Center.  This was my first trip there even though we’ve been here nearly three weeks.

The first thing you see when you walk in is the tribute to John Pennekamp.  So who is this man that a state park is named for?  He was a force in the newspaper field and a conservationist.

He worked his way up to the editor of the Cincinnati Post and in 1925 moved to the Miami Herald.  He worked there for the next 50 years as news editor, managing editor, and a daily columnist.

One of the things Pennekamp was passionate about was conservation.  He spent much of his free time to environmental causes in Florida.  He was instrumental in saving the Everglades from over development and establishing the Everglades National Park in 1947.
In 1960, Pennekamp was largely responsible for getting the Florida Board of Park and Historic Memorial to create a 75 mile offshore sea park here in Key Largo that was ultimately named the John D. Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

So now you know.

There were some beautiful tanks set up.





Now this was the first fish that we came across and the reason for the title of this post!





These next shots are of the 30,000 gallon aquarium.









Some more of the smaller tanks.





This little fish was timid!



It would come out a little bit and then slip right back down again in its hole.



It finally came all the way out, but not for long.



We then went into the small theater to watch a film called The Incredible Coral Reef.  It was very interesting and incredibly beautiful.

And that….was our trip to the Visitors Center.