Ocean Breeze: Great Loop Date 03.22.2011: Lignumvitae is A Mouthful...

Day #222 (Tuesday): 3270.0 total miles (46.9 miles)
Port #76: Lignumvitae Key State Park; Shell Key, FL

(Our route today is the bright red line...the chart makers added a few extra blue lines to make this confusing!)

OB's anxious crew finally got a break in the weather. We left Boot Key Harbor by way of the Gulf of Mexico. Our destination was Shell Key and Lignumvitae State Park. We stopped at Lower Matacumbe Key enroute to take on more diesel. Todd researched prices on the web and found an excellent price at a small marina on the Atlantic side. The Atlantic was quiet enough that we continued on up until we could pass between Lower Matacumbe and Upper Matacumbe Keys.

Lignumvitae State Park has 4 moorings free to use. The wind had picked up and my concern was the strength of the mooring. These were much like those we'd used in Ft. Myers Beach however the pennants were not as heavy a line. Since the wind was blowing us away from the island, I decided should we break free, we'd just end up grounded out in the middle of nowhere. If that happened, we'd figure out what to do about it then!

As we floated around on the free mooring ball offered to boaters at this state park, I was intregued by the name that kept popping up when I looked at anything about Shell Key. So I decided to look up the latin word 'Lignumvitae'. Lignum Vitae means 'wood of life'.

The lignumvitae trees were the ones with the lighter colored leaves...at least near as I could guess. The trees on the waterline with their roots sucking up the saltwater were mangroves.

Lignumvitae Key appears on a 1760 Spanish chart as Cayo de la Leña. This is roughly the English equivalent to log, timber or firewood. In 1763, the British had their turn and named it Jenkinson Island after the lord of the Admiralty, Charles Jenkinson. It is generally assumed that it acquired its present name due to the quantity of the lignumvitae trees found on the island. There is even the story of how Columbus took the venereal disease syphilis back to Europe and the lignumvitae tree was taken back to prepare a brew to cure the disease. It is said that if prepared correctly, it will arrest the symptoms for a short time, but is not a cure.
The guaiacum sanctum is native to South Florida. It is also known as holy wood, palo santo and greenheart. The wood is highly valued for its strength and durability. Why did I go into this long disertation about the trees on Shell Key? One use was for the propeller shaft bearings in submarines. In it's day, this was one important tree!

The island itself had a lot of history too and I would have liked going ashore to see what was there. A wealthy chemist from Miami, William John Matheson, bought the island in 1919. He built a small home, with a windmill to supply power and a cistern to capture fresh rainwater. The renovated building is now the visitor center for the park. There are 25 walking paths but it is uninhabited except when small camping groups are brought to the island during the summer months. I bet there are a lot of ghost stories told in the deep dark of the night.