News from the Shuttle

It's a beautiful Thursday in Key West.  We took the 10:00 am shuttle downtown and walked along Caroline, Duvall and Petronia Streets with Katherine and Eddie.  Key West felt surprisingly large a few weeks ago.  Now we can get around quickly and know where stores and restaurants are, and the town seems small - just right.  Whenever we are looking for something, the way there seems slow and long.  On the way home the trip is much quicker.  What is that phenomenon?

Eddie has bought several cool tee shirts around town.  I bought two more light-hearted books by Florida authors:  Dave Barry and Jimmy Buffett.  George is reading his second Hemingway novel, downloaded for free on the iPad.  We also bought another key lime pie from Kermit's shoppe.  This time I will cut smaller slices, so everyone will enjoy the pie but not be sickened by the overload of sweet and sour.

We had lunch at Santiago's Bodega, a tapas restaurant that Eddie and Katherine discovered nine years ago on a cruise here.  It is hidden at the end of Petronia Street, past the famous Blue Heaven.  We are satiated with fish and shrimp, so eating small bites of pork, mushrooms, stuffed dates, and bruschetta was a good move.

As we walk on Caroline Street, I admire the architecture and think about which houses I would like to buy.  Although there are many grand mansions, I prefer the tiny houses with colorful porches.  When we return to Atlanta, I want a small house with sunny land for a garden.  I want a porch.  Here are my two favorite houses from today's walk:

Just enough porch to sit and watch the world.  Tidy brick work shows off the plants.

I love this entrance.  Everything is cheery and colorful.

At 1:30 Bob came back to pick us up on the shuttle.  We drove to the Publix to gather shoppers.  I knew everyone on the shuttle, so we picked up not just people but also news.  The couple who will circumnavigate the globe with the Blue Planet Odyssey was there.  We got a report on their search for crew.  They have interviewed a sailor from Detroit and have another guy from the Netherlands coming to meet them.  It looks as if they will get a new crew and be ready for a March departure.

A sailor two boats from us shared good information on harbors and anchorages east of here and in Biscayne Bay.  She was full of clear details, and I asked George to take notes.  

Our friend Vicki told about their plans to leave next Monday and move to Boot Key Harbor, which is crowded with people waiting for good weather to go to the Bahamas.  She gave information about anchoring there, outside the mooring field.  For some reason the conversation turned to protection, and Vicki reported that she has two cans of hornet spray on board. She can spray an intruder from 20 feet away in the eyes and disable him for 4 hours, plenty of time to escape or get help. We were impressed.  If a person is on your boat without permission, they are fair game. We learned so much that George said we should just ride the shuttle and ask questions even if we don't want to go anywhere.