Smathers Beach

There were surprises on the dock this morning.  A $10 million dollar ship, Lady Gayle Marie, was gone when I went to the bathroom at 6:40 am.  Gone without a trace or sound.  We wanted to meet the owners and get a tour, but that was not to be.  The best sleeper on Aunt Aggie got up around 9:00, so we were a leisurely lot.  After breakfast the word spread that a couple was washing their dog in one of the luggage carts.  What a great idea!  The cart is deep, and their pup could not escape.

Around 10:30 we went to Smathers Beach.  Everything went our way:  The beach is just a couple of miles away, easy to find.  There was free on the road parking near the restroom and the food truck.  The weather was sunny.  We had a great time:  walking, sunning, reading, wading, and watching the other beach goers.

During one walk we saw a film company setting up,  four police cars on the road surrounding a suspicious boat, and a wedding party taking photos, as well as all the usual beach activities:  burying your child in sand;  building castles; balancing on paddle boards.

George and Trisha waiting for their hot dog and french fry lunch.  Just $5 for the combo!

We're back on Aunt Aggie now at 4:00 pm, taking showers and preparing for the evening.  Soon we will head to Mallory Square for sunset and celebration.

We have company!

Caronell Gibbs, Judy Wood, and Trisha Moorman came to visit yesterday right at happy hour.  We showed them the marina and played some bocce ball and had a delicious yellow tail snapper for dinner.  Today we went to Key West and walked around, touring.  They had a list of top 10 shops to visit, and that gave some shape to our touring.  We went to Key West Island Books, Kermit's Key Lime Pie, Peppers of Key West and Kino Sandals.  We ate lunch at the wharf, watching sailboats take to the water and listening to live music.  I had the best entree, the Cuban sandwich.

Here is a sign we passed:

It says, "On this site in 1897 nothing happened." 

 We marveled at this banyan tree:

It's fun to have visitors share the boat and the town.  The weather has been cooler and cloudier than last week; however, it's still partly sunny and 70 degrees at 5:00 pm, so we are feeling content.
Tomorrow we are going to the beach and to Mallory Square for the sunset celebration.

Ernest Hemingway's House

The Hemingway house is charming.  It is a mix of ordinary and quirky.  The house was built by Asa Tift in 1851.  Hemingway bought it when he was just 31 years old.  The house is 16 feet above sea level and has 18 inch thick walls, so it has never been flooded or damaged by hurricanes.  The rooms are all big and square with high ceilings.  There are floor to ceiling windows which let in light and air.  The kitchen looks just like your grandmother's kitchen:  square with white appliances set around the walls.

There are several quirky parts.  There is a swimming pool that Pauline, his fourth wife and the wife who lived here, had built while Ernest was in Europe.  There is a urinal that Ernest brought home after the pool construction.  (He was not happy about Pauline's spending his"last penny" on the pool.) She added tile to the urinal and turned it  into  a water trough for the cats.

This sits near the pool.

The most quirky part of the house is the many cats that roam through it.  They look well cared for, and our guide called them by name and gave out treats.  

This sign greets visitors.

This curtain detail is seen from the outside.

This kitty jumped up onto the bed and was given treats there.

 Here you see the guide with a bunch that look alike.

We saw Hemingway's small study, which was upstairs in a separate building, attached by an elevated walkway to the rest of the house.  He used a Royal typewriter, just like I used in college.  

There was plenty of natural light, a small table and chair with the typewriter and a lounge chair to the left, which is out of my photo.  Just the essentials for the writer.  George was inspired to read A Farewell to Arms by our visit.   

Sailors are here.

Today is our first cloudy and misty day.  We want the sun to break through because we have visitors coming tomorrow from Atlanta. They have suffered with cold and grey, and we want them to rejoice in the sun and breeze that is Key West.

Today we cleaned out their room.  We keep lots of things in there, stuff we don't use everyday:  shopping bags, computer bags, gift bags, soft cooler, blankets, and gifts for Asa, our new grandbaby.  Today we acquired a storage box out on the dock and moved all of those items off the boat.  Yahoo!  You wouldn't believe how clean and ready our guest room is now.  Clean sheets, dusted walls, newly bought coat hangers - it's all ready.  I also did laundry with everyone else at the marina.  Why was this the day everyone decided to haul a bag of dirty clothes over to the laundry room?  I waited for a washer til after lunch; however, by 3:00 pm it was all done, and the room was empty.

We walked over to buy fish from a fisherman located behind a bar.  We were told to walk through the Rusty Anchor, and the seller would be behind the bar.  So we walked in, saw the exit sign on the back wall, and walked out.  We were greeted by a young man with a Spanish (?) accent and boxes of beautiful yellow tail snapper.  He pulled one out and asked if we wanted it filleted or whole.  We asked him to fillet it, and he did it in zippy fashion.  First, we took his photo.

I'm sorry he has his hand over the fish's eye, but one photo was all we could request.

A striking part of being at this marina is the number of real sailors.  They own their boats, and they are off on adventures.  This is their jumping off point.  We are meeting so many fascinating people.  We meet them as they walk by our boat or on the shuttle to Publix.  First, we met grandparents who live in Portland, Maine.  They left Maine in July and arrived at Key West two weeks ago.  Now their twin four year old grandchildren are here too.  The parents are on a sail from Miami to here.  

Next, we met a young woman telling about a scary trip to Key West with 40 mph winds last week.  Her mother stood quietly beside her.  I was so curious about the mother.  What did she think?  Did she enjoy sailing with this young couple?  They are leaving here for the Bahamas tomorrow.  

Today we met a couple older than we (!) who are part of the Blue Planet Odyssey led by Jimmy Cornell.  Five sailboats from that group left here on Saturday.  They are headed to Panama and around the world.  Today this couple was on our shuttle because their crew abandoned them after six months of planning.  They are here, looking for new crew with ocean sailing experience.  They want to go to Panama, through the canal and then on to Tahiti, which they expect to be a 50 day passage.  But they have to hire crew first. The entire fleet of 14 boats will meet in Tahiti.  They said they were advised not to hire a couple.  They recently were told that couples have a 95% chance of leaving the ship before the voyage is complete.  Otherwise, we would so be on that trip.  :)

Key West Cemetery

Today we did some chores around the boat and then headed downtown at 1:00 pm.  Our goal was to visit the historic above ground cemetery and return at 4:30 without spending money.  Can we do it?  Do we have to stop at bars and dessert spots when we are downtown?

The Key West Cemetery was destroyed by a hurricane in 1846, and this one was opened in 1847.  We took a self-guided tour around the sunny acres.  This reminded me a good bit of touring Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. The time of founding is similar.  The garden feel is similar.   Here there is a Catholic section and a Jewish section.  In Atlanta there is also a section for poor and for blacks.  There were some key differences though that made us know we were in Key West.

When we saw the first iguana on the graves, we were surprised.  There were gangs of them though.  Green and black, orange and grey, large and small.  They were sunning on the gravestones.

Here's another iguana.

White ibis pecked at the ground around one section.  

Los Martires de Cuba is a monument honoring the Cubans who died attempting to free Cuba from Spanish rule during the Ten Years War, 1868 - 1878.

The U.S.S. Maine Monument honors those who lost their lives when the Maine was blown up in Havana Harbor in 1898.  This disaster led the US to declare war on Spain.

It is interesting to see how closely the history of Key West is bound to Cuba.  Just think.  Soon boaters may be planning trips to Cuba instead of to the Bahamas after stopping in Key West.  The distance to Cuba is the same as the distance we traveled coming Wednesday from Little Shark River to here.  

After walking around the cemetery, we still had some time.  It is hot here.  We were walking back to the wharf and passed a shady garden.  What building was this?  The library!  We went inside and enjoyed reading magazines in the air conditioning for an hour before going back for our ride to the marina.  Mission accomplished.  

White Picket Fences

So many topics to cover here in Key West.  We went downtown this afternoon and toured Hemingway's home and found two restaurants we had read about - Blue Heaven and Bliss.  Both are on Petronia Street.  Blue Heaven is famous for its atmosphere and brunch.  Bliss looks like a great fish spot.

As we walk, we notice so many white fences with fanciful designs.  There are also many plain picket fences.  I like the visual unity of the fences.

Pineapple


Conch Shells



This octopus is cut out lower on the conch shell fence.

What is this?  A keyhole design?

As you can tell, we are charmed by Key West.  Another fun thing happening here is that Aunt Aggie is the first boat on our dock, closest to the walkway.  You know how in restaurants they always park the Mercedes out front and hide our Honda?  Well, for some reason Aunt Aggie is in slip C2.  We have people walking by all day.  When we are outside, they say hello and chat.  They ask if we are from Atlanta since they see that on the stern.  We have met people from Charlotte and several who have an Atlanta connection.  A positive for our town is that several sons and daughters of boaters are living there.  We seem to be attracting young people.  Happy Monday!

Key West Sunset

We went to Mallory Square yesterday.  It was just as I had hoped:  a large bricked area right on the ocean with lots of performers working the crowd.  I had wanted a juggler and a fire-eater, and there they were! There was a guy making balloon hats, someone autographing conch shells, a caricaturist, and someone using a whip to cut cigarettes in half.  (I didn't get the fun part of that.)  The person we watched the most was the escape artist.  He was tied into a straight jacket and then bound with two chains.  He worked very hard to play on our sympathies and get our help:  "Count with me! One, two, three!  Don't leave.  I know he has a bigger crowd.  You can go see him later.  He'll be here all night."  I did feel sorry for the guy.  He looked so unhealthy and was so thin and was working really hard, just for tips.  So I made George stay and watch the whole show and give a tip.

Then we walked over to the connected Westin patio to be in the best spot for the sunset.  There were many boats in the harbor, taking folks on sunset cruises.  It was lovely.  We see more sailboats here than in most areas.  There was good wind, and sails were unfurled.  Earlier we had met a family who lives on a 90 year old wooden schooner, the Hindu, and takes sunset cruises.  The boat was beautifully restored.  Their 12 year old boy was the huckster, selling tickets and talking with amazing confidence to strangers about their boat.  The mom and dad were both attractive 40 year olds.  I am curious about their life.

The best part of the experience was being outside on a lovely, soft night with thousands of people, waiting for the sun to set. The crowd built over two hours.  I felt as if we appreciated the sun.  We were sun worshippers.  After the sun set, the show was over.

This is the Hindu. (I think.) They have a distinctive flag, which is cut off here. 

The sky was brighter than this.  The sails were white in real time.

Final shot of the sun.  There were clouds at the horizon, but the red smile popped out at the last moment.