The first point of interest from Marathon to Key West is Pigeon Key. We had biked over the old railway bridge earlier. Now we see the other side by bus from the new bridge.
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| Cruiser coming through old seven mile bridge from gulf bay north |
When you pass under the bridges going south, you are entering the Atlantic Ocean side of the islands.
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| Old rail bridge with keys in background. |
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The salvagers
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The bus dropped us off at the north end of Duval Street. This area known as Mallory Square, is were people end their day to watch the street performers and take in the beautiful sunsets over the water. Mallory square park has dedicated this statue to the salvagers who saved the lives of people who were ship wrecked and recovered precious cargo from the reefs.
As we strolled down the street it became apparent they have a little "situation" with wild chickens. Roosters and chickens cackling on every block. Under the bushes were hens with chicks peeping, trying to avoid from being seen. Cubans brought the cocks to Key West for fighting. When it became illegal, the locals released them in fear of getting fined or jailed. Now they are found throughout the city, and several keys.
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Roosters and chickens run rampant
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For lunch we chose the Hogs Breath Saloon. Their motto "It's better to have bad breath than no breath at all."
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St Paul's Church
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The stained glass windows are insured by Lloyd's of London.
We passed by Hemingway's home a Spanish colonial style two story with a covered veranda. The grounds are lush gardens guarded by 40-50 polydactyl cats. Descendants of the first cat gifted to Hemingway.
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| Southern most Beach |
Here we are at the southern most beach on Key West.
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| South Beach Atlantic side |
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| They pose so nice, gotta love em |
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| Fat Albert |
Since we wanted to return to Marathon before
dark, we caught the 4 o'clock bus. On the way back we noticed this odd
balloon high in the sky. A tethered blimp shape radar helium balloon
monitors all vessels comings and goings in the waters.Whatever mischief or
funny cellophane packages are found on boats will be seized and confiscated by
our friendly U S Coast Guard.
Our second visit for the day was to meet Jason and Dawn from Grafton Marina, our home port. They came in on a Disney cruise ship for a family vacation, We hopped on the early bus and first stop was The Little White House.
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| The Little Whitehouse |
President Truman had spent 144 days here during
his time in office. Several recent presidents have spent time here
including Clinton and Bush.
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| Cindy Larry Jason and Dawn |
We
met at Fat Tuesdays for a quick drink or two to plan our short visit. We
decided to eat lunch at Dante's on the old fisherman's wharf.
Here is where I had my first taste of stone crab claws. YUM
We
enjoyed our lunch and walked back towards the cruise ship pier. We passed
by this dinghy dock buzzing with activity.
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| Dinghy dock |
This is by far the busiest dinghy dock we have
seen at Key West or anywhere else for that matter.
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| Curry Mansion |
Built by one of Key West's millionaires. The house cook was said to have made the first key lime pie here.
Everyone visiting Key West has to have their
picture taken by the Mile 0 sign.
We said our good byes at the ships pier to Dawn
and Jason and wished each other safe seas. We will see them back home in
fall at Grafton Harbor.
Our
last visit to Key West was with our boat.
We
not only wanted to visit Key West ourselves, but we wanted the boat to have
been there also. We left Marathon at 11:00 in the morning on Tuesday and
traveled about 25 miles to Newfound Harbor and dropped anchor. We
traveled on the Atlantic side and dodged crab pots all the way. We spent
a comfortable night on the hook. In the morning we left the anchorage at
around 10:00 and headed for Key West.
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| Passing under both bridges at
Marathon |
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| This section of bridge was blown up in the
"True Lies" movie |
Cindy's
Observations: We have now biked on, bused over and motored under this
bridge.
Cindy's Observations: After anchoring a small fishing boat came to meet us. They saw we were from port St Louis and said they used to live in Maryland Heights, MO and now own a house here.
We
arrived at A&B marina on the Bay side of Key West at around 1:30. We
took our time only traveling at about 7 MPH and arrived at 1:30. We have
learned that when paying for a slip, it is best to arrive early and depart late
to maximize the available time. We stayed 2 nights and left late (12:30)
on Thursday The trip back to Newfound Harbor was not as pleasant as our trip over. We
were again on the Atlantic side of the Keys. We had 3 ft or more seas
hitting us on the starboard bow, just enough to make the boat wallow through
the water. Once we made it into the harbor it was protected enough to
make for another quiet night at anchor.
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| A and B Marina office where we spent
2 nights |
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| Wharf foliage |
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| A & B Marina |
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| Fellow Loopers from home |
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| Manatee nibbling on algae by wharf |
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| Grilled shrimp salad and fresh catch of the day
at Turtle Cove. |
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| First sunset at Key West Mallory Square |
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Same sunset taken from cruise ship pier later
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| Marina entrance at night |
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| Schooner Wharf breakfast |
"Gemini Dream" had sent a food pic of this breakfast, so I had to try the same. Coleen was right. Crab eggs Benedict with fried potatoes and fresh fruit. Fallowed by a mango mimosa. Perfect way to start the day and end a great visit to Key West.
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| Kapok Tree |
Seed pods were used as stuffing in life jackets and mattresses
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| Monkey pistol tree |
Most deadly tree, it will stab, explode and poison you. Every 5 years the ripened seed pods explode out to 100 ft when hitting the ground.
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| Chickens enjoy the Keys as much as the tourists |
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| Courtyard at residence |
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| Key West lighthouse |
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| Hotel and garden |
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Another cute bird
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Larry enjoys watching these large clumsy birds soar so gracefully.
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| We made it! As far south as we can go |
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| Cuba 90 miles behind us |
The
next day we left the anchorage and went back out into Hawk Channel (Atlantic
side again) and were met this time with 1-2 ft seas right on our beam (side).
That was not comfortable at all. The boat constantly rolled from
side to side and it was hard to stand up without getting bounced around the
boat. I decided to divert through a pass at Bahia Honda State Park and go
over to the Bay (Gulf) side. Boy was it a lot better. There was hardly
a ripple in the water and we came home very slow. We had the tidal
current against us but we didn't mind, it was calm, clear water.
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| Bahia Honda State Park |
We got back to Harbor Cay Club in the afternoon
and were met by other slip holders and they helped us tie up. Overall a
great trip and was worth the time and money spent. Now we can say
"Bucket List" has been to the most southern point in the U.S. also.
Fun facts about the Florida Keys
Key West is also known as the Conch Republic.
There are 42 bridges that connect the islands of the Florida Keys.
There are more than 800 Florida Keys.
The word "key" comes from the Spanish word, "cayo" which means little island. On the navigation charts it is spelled "cay", but pronounced "key".
Key Largo, the longest key, is 33 miles long.
