Key West Week 5

Friday, March 5

Bob dropped by this morning and asked if we wanted to go with he and Lynn to the flea market at Big Pine Key. Obviously we are always open for new adventures.

And what a fun day.  We ended up purchasing several "must have" things (that we don't need).

Then off to a great lunch a "No Name Pub".  It is really off the beaten track, but with the trusty GPS, we found it.  A great treat!

We had heard several people mention the "Navigator" at Boca Chita Naval Station a few miles North of our campground.  On the way back from Big Pine Key, we dropped by it.  A beautiful setting for a restaurant/beach/party place.  We'll go back next week.

Bob and Lynn Hector from Havelock.

Sunday, March 6

The spot behind us came available today, and it is closer to the water, plus we can turn the coach around and face the water, so we moved 50 feet.  The view is pretty doggone good.

This afternoon I went on a 15 mile bike ride around the area with a group of fellow campers.  It's been a while since I've ridden that far, and my butt is sore.

A neighbor brought over some fresh fish they had caught, so tonight we invited Bob and Lynn over to have some of Clara's delicious chowder.

The wind has picked up again and it's supposed to be windy a good part of the week.  That might cut down on the swimming in the Gulf.

Monday, March 7

It was nice to wake up this morning and look out at the Gulf.  This is probably one of the best sites in the entire park - just wish we had electric hook up.  But, we've adjusted to "dry" camping rather well.  We just have to remember to keep the little Honda generator in fuel.  It's a great machine and doing it's job magnificently.  I've learned more about the motorhome electric system these past few weeks than I ever knew.

This afternoon we went downtown to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory.  We have heard some great comments about it and had been waiting for a good day to go - and today was it.  I never thought I would enjoy spending 2 hours watching butterflys, but I certainly did - and enjoyed every minute.

They claim to have over 50 butterfly species and 20 bird species in the enclosed habitat.

And the birds

After the Conservatory, we went to Blue Heaven for drinks and dinner.  A great afternoon and evening.

Clara enjoys hanging out with some of the locals

Tuesday, March 8

It is windy, but at least its not blowing on shore from the Gulf.  Supposedly, the next couple of days are going to be windy - up to 30 mph.  No swimming in the Gulf.

We met Lynn and Bob downtown for Happy Hour, trying out a couple of restaurant/bars.  A pleasant, warm day.

Wednesday, March 9

No special plans for the day.  We're just relaxing and enjoying the warm tropical breezes (which are quite strong still).

This afternoon, some guys started setting up for kite surfing (at least that's what I think it's called) on the beach in front of the motor home.  Shortly, a lot of the neighbors were sitting around watching these guys get ready and heading out on the water.  They provided an afternoons entertainment for all.

As they neared the end of the day, one young fellow comes over and asks if he can sit in the shade for a while.  Come to find out that he and his father are from Charlotte.  He's a senior in high school and his father is a retired Air Force pilot now flying for UPS.  We enjoy talking to both he and his father, plus his fathers friend, an Air Force instructor pilot.

A nice afternoon's entertainment.

This evening we had dinner at the Sunset lounge just around the corner here on base.

Thursday, March 10

We're getting very comfortable lazing around the house and not doing anything.  Today, the guys showed up again kite surfing and put on an all afternoon performance.

We had lunch at the Navigator Lounge at Boca Chita.  We had actually gone to get Clara's military ID card renewed, but found that she needs two forms of picture ID and she had only one.  We'll have the second one tomorrow, which gives us another excuse to go back to the Navigator Lounge.

Friday, March 11

This morning we went back to Boca Chita and got Clara's new military ID card.  While there, we went to the on-base marina and stopped by to see some acquaintances from Beaufort who live the winter on their sailboat here.

We stopped at the end of the runway and watched a few planes landing.  There are a lot of planes from foreign nations that come here for training.

On the way back we stopped at Hogfish Grill (which had come highly recommended) - and it was excellent.  It's on Stock Island, which is what is the commercial fishing district.

This evening, Bob and Lynn came over and we had dinner outside.  Surprisingly, we haven't done this in a while.

We'll be leaving here Tuesday morning and slowly heading North.

Key West Week 4

February 28

We're back!

After an absolutely fantastic week back in Beaufort, today we flew back to Key West.

What made the week absolutely fantastic?   Clara got a clean bill of health.  Everything is going great.  She has one rib that is still healing, but that's better than five.  It was certainly worth the trip home to find that out and to clarify that a previous CT scan provided a false indication of further problems.

While at home, we had dinner with the same group that was down here in Key West a couple weeks earlier - Les and Carol and Joe and Susan.

Although it was nice to be home, it's great to be back where we don't have to close the windows and we can wear shorts without freezing.  The temperature yesterday morning in Beaufort was 35 degrees.   Here it is 73 with a low of 65.  Yeah!  Key West is Okay!!!

Last night we went to bed at home with the heat on.  Tonight, we'll go to bed at home with the windows open and enjoying the cool ocean breeze.  Lovin' life!

Key West on arrival

We had a smooth flight back.  The only problem was that the batteries were low on the motor home.  But a little generation will solve that problem.

We're probably going to stay here for a couple of weeks, soak up the warmth and then slowly meander back North - where we hope it's warmer than when we left.

Monday, February 29

We quickly fell into our routine - work out in the morning and do an adventure in the afternoon.

Today's adventure was a tour of the Little White House, Truman's Key West Retreat.

Slade had recommended that we go to a restaurant - Blue Heaven.  We got there too early for dinner, but they were serving Key Lime Pie.  And what a pie

We spent a pleasant afternoon just walking around.

There are a lot of statues around town.  I think this is the biggest one.

As we were walking down Duval Street, we saw Janie Jones from Carteret County coming toward us. We knew she was in town, but certainly did not expect to run into her that way.  It's pretty amazing considering the thousands of people and the various routes we could have taken.

Tuesday, March 1

I had ordered a new slide-out tray for the basement and it came today.  We spent a good part of the afternoon  installing it.  It will certainly make it more convenient to get chairs out.

Our new-found friends from Havelock, Lynn and Bob invited us to ride downtown with them for Happy Hour.  We had a great evening getting to know them better.

Wednesday, March 2

This is our third day back and it has been in the upper 70's each day.  This is what we came for.

After having installed out new slide out tray yesterday, today it was time to completely reorganize the basement.  Now I have extra room.  As with any home, we find that we accumulate stuff we don't need and the same is true in the motor home.  I'll be unloading quite a lot when we get home.

After sweating through all the work cleaning up the basement, I took to the water and had a great swim off the beach behind the motorhome.  Lovin' Life!!

A neighbor told us that the local American Legion hall is having a Lasagna dinner tonight.  Having no other special plans, we went, had a nice dinner, met some real nice people.

Thursday, March 3

Our highlight of the week!  Today we took the Park Service Ferry to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park.

We were ferried to Fort Jefferson on the Yankee Freedom

The ferry was very comfortable and certainly did not seem to have 175 people on it.

I had previously visited this remote island at the end of the chain of keys stretching South from Florida 20+ years ago by sail boat.  The occasion of that trip was with a group of friends from Asheville.  A friend of ours had moved from Asheville to Key Largo, bought a 40 foot sailboat and lived aboard.  He invited us down and we sailed from Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas in a very memorable trip.  It was my introduction to sailing, which led to many new found adventures over the years.

Today, we went in a much faster and smoother riding boat for the 68 miles out to the Fort, taking only 2 1/2 hours rather than a day and a half.

68 miles from Key West to the Dry Tortugas National Park

This fort was built over a period of years starting in 1846 by the U. S. to protect our interest in the Gulf of Mexico.  ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Jefferson_(Florida).  It seems rather archaic today to comprehend how a huge fort sitting 60 miles offshore could be of strategic value, but, as the guide explained it, it made good sense at the time.  The Dry Totugas are a small group of islands that are actually attached to the Florida Keys by reefs and small islands, making it impassible to ships of the day.  In order for any ship to get to ports in the Gulf region, they had to sail around these reefs.  Thus, the fort provided a formidable obstruction to any country intent on trying to attack any of these Southern ports.

At one point, there were nearly 2,000 people (including some officer and enlisted wives and families) living at the fort.

There was no potable water on the island, so cisterns were built into the walls.  However, they were so massive that they quickly developed cracks in them allowing sea water to contaminate the fresh water.  They eventually developed a system of boiling the water, condensing the steam and making fresh water.

Just about the whole island of Garden Key is occupied by the fort

As it turns out, the fort, although huge and fully armed was never finished and never fired a shot nor was it ever challenged.  It served as a prison during the Civil War and afterward.  Obviously, it served well in that capacity as no one could swim to the mainland.

This fort is the largest ever built by the U. S.  Fort Macon would fit inside this fort many times.

After a tour of the fort, Clara tried snorkeling a bit, but she isn't ready for that quite yet.  However, I did get to enjoy a nice long swim while viewing a few fish and coral.

On our return to Key West, I noticed an unusual use of a weed eater 

It was a very pleasant day, and we're both very tired tonight.