Arriving Key Largo - First Impressions

Packing up to "move our studio" to Key Largo, was it's own adventure. The docking station that the computer will sit on in the underwater station and from which we intend to do our video encoding was a little of an unknown. The tests before departure had proven the system to be a bit fragile and touchy, and we didn't want to risk any possible damage in transport. Bill spent considerable time and effort finding fillers to complement the large case we were able to borrow from the video group. It was fortunate that we took the precautions as we watched the "care" (not!) with which the case was handled.

Bill and I arrived Key Largo after several false turns as we tried to understand an unnamed turnpike: it was simply referred to at THE turnpike. We did arrive and spent the evening discovering that all hotels do not have grounded outlets (something we needed to use our computers) nor phone lines that allowed dial-out to the Internet. Our very gracious host worked with us to solve the two problems, so we hope there will be no interruption in our communication - though it will be challenging!

This morning we spent out time getting to know the Marine Resources Development Foundation (MRDF), a five-acre center that will host the Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station during the Challenge Mission. It is located in Key Largo Florida on the Largo Sound, and is an attractive tropical marine environment. I was impressed with the greenery, but it wasn't long before Florida provided with the reason for the lush plant growth: a huge tropical storm! It felt like the sky was falling, and we just decided that we were in for a pretty wet time.

Ginette, of the MRDF gave us a terrific walk-around tour, and then suggested that we might want to join Chris in the boat that would was scheduled to tow the station from John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park where it would be off loaded and put into the water. Stay tuned for a full photo version of this fun and wet adventure!