Key West

We left Marco Island shortly after daybreak heading to an anchorage in Little Shark River, about 70 miles away.  We decided to run in the Gulf as opposed to following the old ICW part of the way.  Seas were less than 2’ and as we got closer to shore became flat and only picked up in the afternoon for about an hour, again less than 2’.  All in all a nice run.  We were the second boat in the anchorage and picked a spot and the anchor grabbed right away.  The problem was by the time we let out scope we had less than 4’ of water below the keel and tide would drop over 2’ overnight.  We decided to move to another spot.  Big mistake, it took us three more try’s to get a good hold.  As it turned out there were a total of 10 boats in the anchorage and one boat anchored in our first spot and was just fine.  Oh well.

Sunset at Little Shark River

We left a bit earlier Wednesday as we had 80 miles to Key West, all open ocean.  The seas the entire way were flat!  All we had to do was watch for the ever popular crab pots.  As we approached the harbor at Key West a Carnival cruise ship was backing out, amongst all the other boat traffic.  This is a very busy area with all sorts of boats and jet ski’s everywhere.  We found our way to Conch Marina and were secured before 4 pm.

We gave the boat a good cleaning as we couldn’t do much at the anchorage the night before and then headed to Mallory Square for the sunset.   It was a spectacle, lots of street performers, jugglers on unicycles, escape artists, trained dogs and cats, even a preacher of sorts. There were also artists selling there homemade items. The sunset was great as well as the people watching.  We then walked down Duval street and stopped for a drink at the Hogs Breath Saloon.  We both had read the guide book on the way down that had a listing of the better places to eat, unfortunately we couldn’t remember any of them.  The place we choose for dinner was very crowded but only so/so with a very poor waitress.  On our walk back to the boat we stopped in a store selling treasures from some of the sunken ships in the area.  

Cruise ship leaving as we were entering Key West, very big!

Sight seeing boat as entering the harbor.

Mallory Park sunset celebration

Mallory Park sunset

One of the many sights on Duvial Street

On Thursday The other John & Mary from Mary Frances and also from Mackinaw City came by.  John is retired National Guard and is able to stay at the Naval base marina for a very reasonable rate.  They have been here since mid December.  We last saw them in Hudson just after the crossing.  They had a car and gave us a private “Conch Train Tour” of all the sights in downtown Key West.  We had lunch at Sloppy Joes, a hangout of Hemmingway’s and as we walked around we were given bits of history on what we were seeing. They were both very informative.

They then took us to a Navy base that has some old fortifications from the first World War.  The area is so contaminated that they keep it fenced off and have a small heard of goats that live there and keep the grass short.  There were also a quite a few fairly large lizards living in the area.  There was a home made semi submersible boat 53 feet long weighing 12.5 tons that was sized off the west coast of Costa Rica by the Coast Guard cutter Steadfast in November 2006 carrying 4.1 tons of cocaine.  It’s crew of four were taken into custody to face prosecution in the US.  The vessel was towed into port  by the Costa Rican Coast Guard and later transported to the US as evidence.

We then went to the Navy base where they were staying which was about 7 or 8 mile East of downtown on the Atlantic side.  It was very nice, they are berthed right next to a small bar in an area with a swimming beach, picnic tables and grills.  We bought them a beer for a whopping tab of $8.35 and sat outside enjoying the sunshine watching the F16 and F18’s take off and land.  There are definitely some nice perks being retired military.  It’s the very least we can do for all those who devote so much of there lives protecting our country. 

Sights from Key West

One of the many rosters found wandering everywhere, along with my Captain

Navel ship docked across from us in Key West

One of the very many bars in Key West

A well fed lizard

Goats were well fed as well, only organic vegtables.

Captured drug smuggling boat.

Southernmost Point in the USA

Man of sponges

It was then back in the car and took a different route in to town stopping at the Coast Guard Base along the way.  Which turns out is right across from where we are docked.  John & Mary then came aboard and we sat up top had a drink and enjoyed the surroundings.  It was so very nice of them to show us around.   Thank You both, we really appreciated it and we hope to run into you again on our travels back to Mackinaw City.

After they left we went back to walk around the downtown some more and had dinner at a place they recommended, Caroline’s.  It was much better than the night before.  Thanks again, guys.

Originally we had planned to only stay two nights here in Key West but after our tour we realized that there were a couple of museums we wanted to see.  Friday morning we were awakened at 4:45am by a dinghy’s outboard motor.  John got up and checked and there was a diver at the sailboat in back of us.  When he went to checked and see if our slip was available for another day (which it was) there was another diver and he asked what was going on.  It is race week and the sail boats don’t have bottom paint so they have the bottoms cleaned before each race.  

After breakfast we headed back to town to visit the Custom House and the Truman White House.  Both were very interesting and informative. We learned about the building of the railroad from St. Augustine all the way to Key West.  After visiting the Truman White House we also toured the Key West lighthouse and climbed the 88 stairs for a great view of the island.

Customs House at Key West

Key West Light House

As we were walking back through town John from Mary Frances called and invited us to dinner at the Marina Club at their marina.  We had a nice dinner and enjoyed another chance to visit with them both.  We hope to see them again once we get to Key Largo.

So long for  now from sunny Key West.
Mary and John