TFA: A Safari in Florida

When you think of Florida, what do you think of? South Beach? The Keys? Alligators maybe?

How about monkeys?

I wouldn’t think so either, but as it turns out, there was a nice little community of them living down the way from where the Weatherbird was first docked.

When we arrived in Fort Lauderdale from Norfolk, we spent or first six weeks at the Dania Cut shipping yard. While we were there, we met the wonderful crew of the Sirenuse, a luxury yacht docked next to us.

After being invited over to their boat for a tour and drinks, both crews decided to continue the evening by going to dinner. We traded various stories, but the one that drew the most attention had nothing to do with the sea.

The first mate of the Sirenuse asked, “So, has anyone seen the monkeys yet?”

We all looked at each other and asked laughingly, “What?”

According to the first mate, there was a community of monkeys living right outside the gate of the docks we were at. They apparently had been left there because they escaped from a Hollywood set that filmed there years before.

After hearing the explanation, we all blew it off as bull and continued the evening.

The next morning, my curiosity (or naivety) got the best of me. I decided that after breakfast I would secretly sneak away from the boat and see for myself if the monkey story was legit. I didn’t want too many people to know because who in their right mind would go looking for monkeys in Florida?

As I was walking off the boat, the first mate of the Sirenuse was on deck of his boat. He saw me walking off the Weatherbird with a banana in my hand.

He said, “Do you have a camera?”

“On my phone, yeah.”

“Well,” he said, “be sure to take lots of pictures because no one will believe you if you see them.”

Laughing, I said, “Ok, but I’m just hoping I don’t look like a fool, waving a banana in the air trying to snag a picture of a monkey.”

With that, I started out of the docks, past the gates and walked down a lone road flanked by trees. Walking to the corner that was the center of discussion, I had my head down looking at some missed calls I had on my phone. When I arrived, I looked up and out of the corner of my eye, I saw an animal sitting on a tree stump. I looked over and to my amazement, there was a monkey staring right at me.

Unprepared, I put my phone back in my pocket and peeled the banana I had. I tossed the banana in the little guy’s direction. Curious with what I just did, he jumps around for a bit, but then decides to examine what I threw his way. After he deems it safe, he begins to eat the banana. While he’s doing this, I get out my phone and take as many pictures as possible before he runs off. Amazingly, he never does.

With this newly acquired evidence, I go back to the boat and proclaim that the story is true. Everyone immediately decides to go see for themselves. On this second trip however, the full monkey community made themselves known (mainly because we were all carrying bananas and apples I think).

Ironically during my entire stay in Florida, I would never see an alligator, but I guess I’ll take the wild encounters of a semi-trained, escaped Hollywood monkey instead.