I traveled to the Florida Keys in order to film the Lyrid Meteor Shower. Unfortunately. The moon was waxing towards full and was up during the peak viewing hours for the meteor shower; however, that didn’t stop me from capturing some awesome star trails after moon set.
Landing in Miami, I grabbed a rental car and headed down Florida Highway 1 to my main base of operation on Big Pine Key. Big Pine Key is 2/3 of the way down the Florida archipelago. Big Pine Key is a quiet island far enough away from the city lights of Miami and Key West to have some really dark night skies. The island is a nature lover’s paradise with an aquatic preserve and mangrove forest in the Coupon Bight bay off the Atlantic side of the island. Big Pine Key is home to a unique and adorable species of deer called Key Deer. Key Deer are miniaturized deer with no natural fear of people. The deer wander the beaches and beg people for snacks and treats.
The affects of 2017’s hurricane Irma are still visible with twisted trees, downed signs, and leveled buildings dotting the highway 1 drive. The very friendly innkeepers at the Barnacle Bed & Breakfast, where I stayed on Big Pine Key, showed me the damaged houses near their beach side home and hotel. They were one of the few properties largely undamaged and still in operation. I am hopeful that the Key’s economy and rebuilding efforts continue.
One of the best elements of this trip was the convenience of comfort of my filming locations. As an astrophotographer, I tend to spend a lot of lonely hours driving to remote locations away from all people and facilities only to then spend more hours on location waiting for my long exposure shots to finish up. On this trip, my hotel was remote enough that I could setup shots from the hotel’s beach front and relax in the warm Key’s climate. I captured an awesome star trail shot from under the palm trees next to my hotel room. The first night I was on location, a thunder storm brewed and surged over the bay of Florida in the general direction of Havana, allowing me to capture some intense weather action.
Other filming locations on this trip include Bahia Honda Key, which neighbors Big Pine Key. Bahia Honda is noted for being a dark star park and for having the old highway 1 and key rail bridge still intact. I captured some great star shots and daytime beach shots from this peaceful island. Finally, I took a day time jaunt to Key West for some brunch and walked the famous Duval street. I’m definitely planning on hitting up Key West as a vacation destination in the future.