A Tourist Day in Key West

Day 18: March 17, 2013

Today was a tourist-type day.  We arose fairly late and enjoyed blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  I went to the Garrison Bite City Marina and settled up for the night spent and paid for an additional night.  The folks were accommodating, explaining that they were involved in a major dock reconstruction project and that is the reason that we were routed to the slip in the back of what the locals call “houseboat row.”  It’s an OK location but a bit noisy due the presence of US 1, the main road to the Keys, passing within 50 feet of our boat. Lots of car, truck, and motorcycle traffic. 

Mall in Old Original Building near Aquarium

We did our usual morning chores including typing yesterday’s blog notes and ate our typical Spam/PBJ lunch before calling a cab and heading for the action areas of Key West.  The market for rental vehicles is booming here and the cabbie complained about the lack of skill that most of the folks who rent them have.  One of the most common is rental motor scooters.  We saw hundreds zooming round the streets with both guys and girls driving them and many with passengers.  These folks have few clothes on and no protective head gear.  They become even more exciting to watch as the evening progresses. 

Our first stop on our tourist journey was at the saltwater aquarium.  They have beautiful displays of living coral, tropical fish, rays, sharks, and turtles.  It is a small but well developed display of marine life of the area.  From there we wandered around the various shops near Mallory Square.  The square is the hub of the evening activity (well, maybe the bars would be more appropriately described as the hub).  There is a small memorial there park that has a beautiful statue of the “Wreckers.”  These daring folks were the folks who ventured out onto the reefs to rescue passengers and crew of ships that ran aground back in the 1800’s.  They  became very wealthy from the recovered cargos that they acquired.  The park also has numerous busts of folks who played a significant role in the history of Key West.

Mel Fisher Maritime Museum

From the park, we toured the Mel Fischer Maritime Museum.  Fisher was the treasure hunter who discovered a sunken Spanish galleon, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, that was heavily laden with gold and silver.  The ships manifest said that it had on board 33 tons of silver.  The total value of the find was $200,000,000 in silver, gold and jewels.  The museum had many really interesting artifacts that.  The State of Florida and then the US Government took their findings but in a Supreme Court decision, the treasures were returned to Fisher because the find was determined to be located in international waters and outside the jurisdiction of the both Florida and the US.



Key West Rooster



As we walked around the Old Town area, we were surprised by the number of brightly colored roosters that were roaming the streets.  They are protected by law and have the run of the whole town.  We heard one woman say that in the early days, cock fighting was a common sport in Key West and when the sport was outlawed, the roosters were just turned loose and they are now a permanent fixture.  We later heard that at one time, the city hired a “rooster eliminator” but, after a significant time, he had barely made a dent in the population and the program was scraped.

Harry Truman Little White House

We next went to the Harry Truman Little Whitehouse.  Our tour guide was an older gentleman, may be a year older than me, who had grown up in Key West and had many interesting and personal stories of Truman.  The building was the original home of the commander of the naval base that was active in the Second World War and well into the Cold War era.  According to the guide, the house still contains 90% of the original furnishings that were there when Harry lived there. Eleven US Presidents have stayed there. It was a great tour and I highly recommend a visit.

From the Little Whitehouse, we went searching for a restaurant recommended by our tour guide, however, after 30 minutes of walking we were unable to locate it and finally settled on the Schooner Wharf Bar.  It was a primitive place with gravel floors, palm leaf covered Chickee, a bar, stage and a cooking area.  The waiter suggested a fish taco and I followed his lead.  Janine had a fish sandwich.  Mine was great, hers was rated good. 

Unicyclist throwing his hat to his head

After dinner we walked along the wharf and admired  the numerous tour schooners, catamarans, and power cruisers that were packing with tourists who wanted to have the ultimate experience of a Key West sunset from a boat.  We made our way to Mallory Square where  there were thousands of people milling around waiting for the sun to drip to the horizon.  The area was lined with venders selling paintings, tee-shirts, jewelry, etc.  Also there were a number of street performers doing their thing.  We enjoyed watching a young fellow on a very tall unicycle who juggled fire batons, knives, and did tricks with his derby. 



Dog taking up a collection for the banjo player



The next entertainer was our favorite.  It consisted of a three member team.  The lead was an old guy (I would say a hippy type) playing a 5 string banjo (all be it not very well), his lady companion who was playing the spoons and looking pretty, and their golden retriever dog who would go up to members of the audience who would offer him paper bills (mostly $1.00) and then take them and drop them in a bucket.  We decided that the dog was by far more talented than the other members of the team and it was amazing how many of US offered him money.

Talented Street Intertainers

The final entertainers that we watched were a couple of guys who were skilled jugglers and acrobats and very entertaining.  We probably watched these guys for a half an hour.

The long awaited sunset as seen from Key West

At the end of their show, the crowd dispersed, probably to Duval Street for the remainder of the evening’s entertainment.  We, however, called our friendly cabby, whom we had met before, and headed back to the boat.  He was entertaining in a different way this time.  I think he was significantly intoxicated!  But, he got us home. We went to bed at our usual 9:00 hour.  We were tired.