Up at 9:00AM. I made coffee. Then cooked a ham and cheese scrambled omelet. I told Patricia that the best way to see Key West is by bike. Patricia and I decided to rent two bikes from Sunshine rental. Sunshine Rental is directly across the street from the Marina at Garrison Byte. The only bikes they had available were old yellow baloon tire bikes! The kind I used to ride to deliver newspapers in the 1960’s. Only one word could possibly describe these rental bikes and that one word is ugly. I am sure that Patricia was embarrassed to ride it but she went along for the ride. It turns out the only special feature of these bikes was the fact that they have two baskets. One in front of the handle bars and one in back behind the seat and above the rear fender. I only noticed this when two college girls passed us and one said, “look their bikes have two baskets and ours only has one“. The cost to rent a bike for a day here is Key West is $12 plus tax. Once the paperwork was complete and Patricia and I signed a waiver releasing the company of any liability for us not wearing helmets, we mounted up and headed back to the boat to provision our bikes for the forthcoming bike tour.
Provisions for this trip can be defined as 6 cold beers. I loaded the cooler with ice and the Corona’s plus lime slices. I placed the cooler in the rear basket of my bike and we headed toward the Historic Seaport section of Key West..
Our first stop was the public wharf. Site of the boat show the previous weekend. We stopped along the seawall and had our first Corona. Refreshed, we continued on to Fort Zachory Taylor. An old cival war era fort with crazy modern art sculptures along the beach.
We then peddled to the southern most spot in the USA for a photo opportunity. There is a marker that denotes the spot. It is painted with red and black stripes and has a sign that says Cuba 90 miles. We got in line behind a guy from Ireland and his wife from England. Their 4 year old daughter was born in Spain. There were about 15 folks ahead of us in the line. Everyone visiting he southern most spot in the USA must have a photo taken standing next to the marker. So when your turn arrives, your photo is taken by the persons standing in-line behind you. His causes conversation and is great fun.
Third stop included a Corona. Patricia sat on the sea wall and talked to her boyfriend Tim. I took her photo. She told Tim to smile as he was included in the photo. Some college guys from Georgia had stopped at the same spot. They had started drinking long before Patricia and me. They saw me photograph Patricia and asked me to take their photo. I said OK. However they were not content sitting on the sea wall for a photo like Patricia, they had to show off. They balanced their bikes on the sea wall. Once they had the bikes on the sea wall, they had a bit of trouble mounting them. But as luck would have it they were successful. Then they regained their confidence and started popping wheelies on the 12 inch ledge.
At 1:00PM after two beers our stomachs cried out for food. So we jumped on our yellow rental bikes and peddled the one block to Anna’s. Anna’s Cuban Deli of the mom and pop variety. Patricia and I shared a Cuban sandwich. After lunch the sky began clearing. Patricia wanted to go sunning and swimming. WE headed back to the boat for swim wear.
We peddled to the old water front section of Key West to a very nice place called Dante’s. Dante’s is a bar at Conch Harbor Marina that has a bar and a swimming pool. The pool is for boaters that use the Conch Harbor Marina and customers of the bar. A very nice place. You can sit around the pool and get sun tanned and drunk at the same time.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Sunday February 28, 2010
Decided that the best way to get to the airport to meet Patricia was to take the green bus. It was scheduled to pass by the marina at 1:05PM. Plenty of time to get me to the airport on time to meet my daughter. I arrived at the bus stop 5 minutes early. I looked to the east and saw the bus at the corner of Palmer and Roosevelt. Surprisingly it was on time. I stood up and exited the bus shelter. The *&&*#@# bus driver looked at me and kept driving past the bus stop. He did not stop and pick me up. I was really angry. More than angry. I wanted a ride to the Airport and now I would have to spend $7 or walk to get there on time. I decided to save the $7 and walk. I was a 45 minute walk to the airport from the bus stop. It would have been a 30 minute walk from the boat had I realized the goofy bus driver would not pick me up. Patricia Arrives at 1:45PM. Met her at the Key West Airport. The airport is very small so it is really easy to find the arriving person that you are looking to meet.
Patricia arrived in Key West wearing a designer top, blue jeans and 4 inch platform shoes! I jumped up to greet her as she entered the passenger arrival area. She had to bend down to give me a peck on the cheek greeting kiss. Those shoes made her taller than me.
We jumped into a cab and headed to the boat to drop off her clothes. Once Patricia has stowed her clothes which took less than 5 minutes she said that she was hungry and wanted to see the island. I made her a tuna fish salad sandwich as I gave her an overview of the place.
We walked into town. Our first stop was the Schooner Wharf Bar. We walked up stairs to get a drink. To our surprise, Brian and Abby our across the street neighbors from Brighton were there. They asked us to join them as they celebrated their victory in the Wreckers Race.
The Wreckers Race is a sailboat race commemorating the adventures of the Wreckers. These were men in the late 17th and 18th centuries that lived here in Key West. At the signal of a distressed ship, they would jump into their boats and sail out to assist ships that had run up on the many reefs in this area of the world. Back in the old days storms would blow ships off course and onto reefs. When this happened, the local Wreckers would race out to the distressed ship. They would save the passengers if they arrived early enough and the storms were mild. Often times all of the passengers would be drowned by the time they arrived. Wreckers would always save the cargo. Maritime Law at the time allowed wreckers the right to claim the cargo of wrecked vessels and then once the cargo was saved, it could be sold for a huge profit as their acquisition cost was small. Asa Tift was the first millionaire in Florida. He was a wrecker. In fact the first millionaires in Florida were all wreckers. There were so many ship wrecks here in the early 17th century that shipping companies paid for the construction and maintenance of light houses to guide ships away from dangerous shallow water reefs. I have heard stories that the wealthy wreckers once the light houses were built would bribe the lighthouse keepers to extinguish their lights to purposefully cause ships to run aground. So much of the wreckers wealth was ill begotten.
Patricia arrived in Key West wearing a designer top, blue jeans and 4 inch platform shoes! I jumped up to greet her as she entered the passenger arrival area. She had to bend down to give me a peck on the cheek greeting kiss. Those shoes made her taller than me.
We jumped into a cab and headed to the boat to drop off her clothes. Once Patricia has stowed her clothes which took less than 5 minutes she said that she was hungry and wanted to see the island. I made her a tuna fish salad sandwich as I gave her an overview of the place.
We walked into town. Our first stop was the Schooner Wharf Bar. We walked up stairs to get a drink. To our surprise, Brian and Abby our across the street neighbors from Brighton were there. They asked us to join them as they celebrated their victory in the Wreckers Race.
The Wreckers Race is a sailboat race commemorating the adventures of the Wreckers. These were men in the late 17th and 18th centuries that lived here in Key West. At the signal of a distressed ship, they would jump into their boats and sail out to assist ships that had run up on the many reefs in this area of the world. Back in the old days storms would blow ships off course and onto reefs. When this happened, the local Wreckers would race out to the distressed ship. They would save the passengers if they arrived early enough and the storms were mild. Often times all of the passengers would be drowned by the time they arrived. Wreckers would always save the cargo. Maritime Law at the time allowed wreckers the right to claim the cargo of wrecked vessels and then once the cargo was saved, it could be sold for a huge profit as their acquisition cost was small. Asa Tift was the first millionaire in Florida. He was a wrecker. In fact the first millionaires in Florida were all wreckers. There were so many ship wrecks here in the early 17th century that shipping companies paid for the construction and maintenance of light houses to guide ships away from dangerous shallow water reefs. I have heard stories that the wealthy wreckers once the light houses were built would bribe the lighthouse keepers to extinguish their lights to purposefully cause ships to run aground. So much of the wreckers wealth was ill begotten.
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