Key West Express

Visiting Key West was something we wanted to do during our Loop adventure. Deciding whether or not to take our boat there was a decision we gave much thought to. In the end, we elected not to cruise Second Wave to Key West for the sake of the time involved (it would take 3 weeks off of our ICW path of the Great Loop).

We've made the same decision about the Bahamas. During this time of year, the prevailing winds are from the northerly direction. Crossing the Gulf Stream on the east side of Florida means having to wait for the winds to clock around to the south in order to have a smooth crossing of about 55 miles to West End on Grand Bahama. Boats sometimes wait in West Palm, FL for weeks for this wind shift to occur. We don't want to wait that long. We'd rather spend that time in Canada during the summer months ahead.

So we chose another option to visit Key West - the Key West Express. This power catamaran leaves from Fort Myers Beach daily and cruises at 40 MPH directly into the marina at Key West Bight. And it gets there in 4 hours ($125 per person).

Here we are with our friends Curtis and Michaeleen from the boat Texas2Step boarding the boat in Key West back to Fort Myers. We didn't know it at the time, but the weather in the Gulf later that evening would turn nasty. A strong storm front blew in from the west and created some large seas on the beam for the last two hours of the trip (and a tornado warning). The crew of the Key West Express went down the isles passing out the paper bags several time - and some passengers put them to use........repeatedly.

There were many hurricanes in 2017 and Key West was a victim. As we came into the marina at the Bight at Key West, evidence of the storms was still washed up along the breakwater. Most of what is visible in these photos are boat parts. Boats were washed up along the jetties and literally broken apart and scattered along the rocks outside of the marina. Our guess is that they were derelict boats abandoned at anchor outside the marina and just left there by there owners. Or, of course, they could easily have been someone's pride and joy lost in such an unfortunate event.

After we came ashore we went looking for lunch and found a great little Italian place called Onlywood tucked away just off of Duval Street. The weather was perfect so we ate outside.

And the pizza was outstanding! And the beer was cold (no pictures because the glasses were never still enough).

In the photo below we saw many homes of this style (several available for rent). We walked around a few of the neighborhoods that surround the area. As is the case in many areas of the country, the architecture in Key West also has its own style. We've also heard it referred to as "Old Florida" and it definitely has its own vibe.

The photo below is looking down one part of Duval Street.

Another Key West bungalow.

The picture below is not your typical Key West bungalow. Its the former home of Ernest Hemingway during the 1930's and early 40's. Its now a museum and available for tours so that's what we did.

Hemingway was, among many other things, also a big fisherman. He owned a boat named Pilar. A model of the boat is pictured below.

A photograph of Pilar as she looked in the 1930's.

In this typewritten note above dated 9/27/34, he boasts about Pilar. "Comfortable to live onboard, big galley, five big beds, damned roomy and a wonderful fishing machine."

In the letter above dated 3/24/34, Hemingway laments his current financial situation and explains to Arnie, "I want to buy a boat that costs $7,000 and have only $3500.......But have been within a grand of enough to buy it with twice and both times the money has peed away."

And in this last letter dated 5/25/34 written roughly two weeks after taking possession of Pilar he describes her as a "Wheeler, 38 footer, cut down to my design.....Can turn on its own tail burns less than three gals an hour trolling and four at cruising speed with the big engine."

Oh, and yes, there were a lot of displays and descriptions of his books and other writings. But none of us were much interested in that stuff.

We were, however, pretty intrigued about these cats with six toes! At present, there are over 50 cats that live at the house and about half of them have six toes. These are descendants of the six-toed cat given to Hemingway by a ship's captain named Snow White. It is widely believed that Hemingway left the house to these cats in his will. But, like many other rumors about Hemingway (most spread by Hemingway himself), this is not true.

Went to the Southernmost point in the USA.

On one of the corners of Duval Street in the heart of Key West is Sloppy Joe's. The original Sloppy Joe's was a regular hangout of Hemingway. And, yes, it is the home of the original Sloppy Joe sandwich.

And on this Tuesday afternoon (just like every other day of the week), it was packed. There is live music every day and every night. Apparently nobody in Key West works for a living.

Captain Curtis waits at the bar for his beer(s).

Of course we had the Sloppy Joe! It was good, but honestly, we thought that a Manwich would be a pretty close second. However, none of us could remember the last time we actually had a Manwich.

Ran into a couple of the Key West roosters outside of this coffee shop. Rosters roam freely on the streets here everywhere.

We went to Mallory Square, famous for its street performers and the incredible sunsets.

Apparently some people take their psychic very seriously.

Sunset from Mallory Square is pretty incredible and very photogenic with Brent's IPhone.

Its also fun to take a picture of people taking pictures of the same sunset you just took a picture of.

We've got to get us one of these little things above!

These street performers were pretty amazing and very daring.

It was nice to wind down the day in the Presidential Suite at the Marriott Beachside. And no, we didn't take the towels.

The next day we were out sightseeing again. The photo below is taken in front of the Natural History Museum. The statue below should look familiar for several reasons. We posted a photo of a similar one taken in front of the marina in Sarasota a few weeks ago.

We ran into a couple of guys from San Antonio.

We also had the chance to visit the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum. I'm not much into museums in general, but this was pretty cool.

In July of 1985, Mel Fisher and his team found the wreck of the Atocha. She was a Spanish treasure galleon that sank of the coast of the Florida Keys in 1622. He had spent the previous 16 years searching for this ship.