Key West

23rd October 2014

There was lots of activity at a round 7 am as we entered the harbor at Key West, and were secure in our berth in no time at all.  Finally we have a berth that is located close to the city and there appears to be a lot to do in the vicinity of the ship.

                                                Looking on to the dock from our balcony

                                         Veendam alongside the wharf at Key West

Key West is the last of the occupied string of coral islands that extend off the tip of the Florida panhandle. All are connected by bridges on highway 1, and we are more than 100 miles from Miami by road. Cuba is closer. The highest point of Key West is 16 feet above sea level. The  base population is a mere 23,000 people.

There is no swell, as we are enclosed by a coral reef, so all of the beaches on the island are man made, with sand shipped in from further North.

By now the weather is getting very tropical, with higher temperatures and humidity, and in the case of today, a high likelihood of rain. There is no organized tour today and we have booked to go on the hop on hop off trolley bus, similar to the one in Boston. Key West is a small place and there are only 8 stops on the route, so we should have plenty of time to have a good look around.

                               The Streets are lined with lovely old timber buildings

And some interesting sculpture

We board the trolley bus at 9am, and quickly discover from our guide, that Key West is a party town. They have a festival for just about everything imaginable, and anything goes. The next festival starts tomorrow, and is the Annual Fantasy Fest. We see that some people are already getting into the mood.

Many stores have costume suggestions available as well as body painting, for those who don’t want to bother with a costume.

Anyway, back to the tour. The island is a very pretty place with lots and lots of lovely old buildings, beautifully maintained and with extensive tropical gardens. There is also plenty of folklore, much of it involving Ernest  Hemmingway, who was resident here for many years. He had a magnificent house next to the lighthouse, which local folklore has it, was located there so he could find his way home from the bar at night.

Key West is the Southernmost city in the USA and is at the beginning of Highway 1.

There are lots of shops on the main street, Duval Street, which extends from the Altlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 1.25 miles. Bars are also aplenty, with just over 300 bars on the island, many of which, are on Duval Street.

When we arrived, we were the only cruise ship in port at the moment, so whist the streets are busy, it is not packed. Another ship arrived late morning and by afternoon the streets were filling, and store owners working overtime to sell their wares.

                                            Another ship is now in port

To get oriented, we did a full lap on the trolley bus, getting back off near the ship where we started. This gave us a good idea of where we wanted to spend a bit more time, and we then headed off on foot, toward the coast a bit further down from our berth, where there was a Coastguard Station and an information centre, with movies, reef displays etc and some history on the keys and their development.

                                                            Coast Guard Station

From there we caught the trolley bus to the Southern most point of the USA, and nearby was a butterfly conservatory, that turned out to be worth a visit.

                                             Kathy capturing that special butterfly shot

                                                      This is how mine turned out

                             They had a few Flamingos in the Butterfly hose as well

                                             Southern most point (and wettest)

                                                             And beach nearby

Next we headed around to a large marina and restaurant area , where we stopped for lunch at The Conch Republic Bar and Restaurant. By now the weather was deteriorating and during lunch we had very heavy rain (we were inside fortunately). The fish tacos were very tasty, and David and I tried the conch done in a tempura batter (a bit chewy, but not bad), and Carole and Kathy had some oysters from the Gulf of Mexico. They had large shells without much in them, and nowhere near the flavour of our oysters back home.  The Key West beer was very good.

With full stomachs, we caught the bus back to the main street, so the girls could shop.

                                                   The World's Smallest Bar ?

                                The last shops before boarding, lined the dock area

Ship boarding was completed at 3.30pm, and despite the rain, we cast off on time at 4 pm. I had spent an hour or so beforehand, using the free shore based wireless network from our balcony. Apparently I should have been paying more attention to what was happening on shore, as David later told me there were a large number of topless women, waving frantically goodbye to the ship.