Key West is a very interesting town. There is an Old Town area which has historic wooden clapboard houses from the Victorian era, with beautiful gardens-lots of palms. Then there is a very touristy area with heaps of restaurants, bars, clothing and nick-knack shops- a bit like Byron Bay. It was historically an outpost for pirates, sailors and the stepping off port for the Caribbean. We walked for miles to get a good feel of the place- stopped at the Hardware chandlery of course, and a computer café where we were successful in getting our data out of the cloud. I found a hoody for $5. The weather has been much cooler than I expected and particularly at sea and in the evenings on the boat so I need to wrap up. Tomorrow we will hire bicycles - $10 for the day and try to see more of the island. I am searching for a rashie and board shorts as our first stop when we leave here is the Dry Tortugas- which is a coral key about 40 miles away where there is excellent snorkeling.There is also Fort Jefferson, one of the best preserved fortifications in north america - built n the 1800's. The Dry Tortugas ( Spanish for turtle) is a national park looked after by rangers. The reason we are going there is to get a better wind direction for our run down to Cuba.
Next Day: We hired two bicycles- beach cruisers, and rode out to the big shopping centre, got a few things like solar garden lights $3 each from Kmart which are great to put up on the front of the boat when at anchor. On the way back we stopped for lunch at a lovely floating Thai restaurant for Tom Yum, pad Thai and a couple of Singha beers.
Sunset cruise in a beautiful schooner- champagne & snacks for $60
Today, I shopped till I dropped as its my last chance to get some good quality American clothes (linen shirts). I also got 2 rash shirts for $12 each and a pair of boardies.
Our last night in KW tonight and it may be large as the skipper wants to see some live music and I'd like to try some 'conch' seafood which is from the conch shell.- its the famous food around here as well as the key lime pie which they sell everywhere. One place I saw serves a piece of pie dipped in white chocolate and served on a stick!
My next post will be from Cuba!! It may take a week to get there with a couple of stops and weather conditions always determining when we sail . We should have the sat phone operational tonight and hopefully the winlink connection which will allow you to track us on Yotreps. Adios amigos xx
My next post will be from Cuba!! It may take a week to get there with a couple of stops and weather conditions always determining when we sail . We should have the sat phone operational tonight and hopefully the winlink connection which will allow you to track us on Yotreps. Adios amigos xx
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