It became very windy and we spent one day on the boat just because we didn’t want to get soaked in the dinghy again. We wanted to go to the Dry Tortugas which are 70 miles west of Key West through open water, so we decided to wait for the wind (and waves) to die down. We spent a couple of days wandering around the shops and bars, looking for places to have happy hour.
Dave really got into the Cuban culture. The great thing about this photo is that there was a group of guys in the background instructing Dave on how to pose!
We met a woman who suggested walking through the Truman Annex so we did that. It is an upscale neighborhood with palm trees and white picket fences. Very well manicured, very hushed. President Truman retired in a home named the Little White House, Kennedy stayed there during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and several other Presidents have used it as a vacation home. That led us to the Florida Ecological Society (?)which was free to visit and contains a wealth of information about Florida‘s marine environment, great for us. From talking to the people working there apparently hardly anyone visits it, which is a shame. We got there just before closing and decided to come back another day.
We went back to the Green Parrott to see a band, and maybe meet up with Sympatico. This time the place looked like a cruise ship just let out, a bit disappointing. No sailors ghosts in there that time. Unfortunately we didn’t see Sympatico there, although the place was so crowded they might have shown up and we missed them. We went to Mallory Square and watched the sunset festival.
Saw Pat Daily at Sloppy Joes (recommended by Dave and Bridget as well as Sympatico).
Wandered through the Maritime Memorial.
This was really beautiful tribute to the pioneers who founded Key West.
On Sunday we decided to go back to the Ecological Society, but of course it was closed. It is near the Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park, however, so we decided to go there instead.
Construction for the Fort began in 1845 and it was primarily used during the Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World Wars I and II. It was also used during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
We had an enjoyable walk around the park for a few hours.
It was a little before happy hour when we got back to the dinghy On the way back to the boat we stopped to get bait and wound up hanging out with the bait shop guys for a while. The was wind dying down and we planned to head to the Dry Tortugas on Tuesday. One of the bait shop guys had been there many times, even worked as a diver setting the pilings there.
Monday we took the dinghy to another part of Key West to stock up on groceries. It was an all day event, but successful thanks to a guy we met at the city dinghy dock. We saw someone who looked like a cruiser leaving as we were pulling in and decided to ask if this was the closest we could get to the grocery store. The kind gentleman recommended a different store to us that turned out to be a bargain, and also gave us the combination to the gate at the dinghy dock, a lock that we didn’t realize was there. If it weren’t for him we would have had one heck of a time getting groceries.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment