Key West
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 8 May 2012 22:17
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Our First Bimble in Key
West
Beez in Man of War
Harbour
First job was to find the City Marina
Dinghy dock, next the ‘log in’ place, then where the shops are and lastly where
the touristy bits are. Twenty five minutes (about a mile and a half) in Baby
Beez took us from way off to the left of the picture to the blue arrow. We asked directions and walked to the dock masters Office (red arrow). Later we found the Bight Marina dinghy dock (yellow arrow), parking here is
within walking distance of the centre of Key West
(area all around the white arrow). The town is famed for “Conches”, writers,
artists, retirees and a large gay community, all living in restored
Bahamian-influenced Victorian homes. A melting pot of Caribbean, Latin and
American influences, home for many years to Ernest Hemmingway who put the town
on the map.
Armed with information and maps we
took a cab to the Federal Court House for Bear to log
us in. The airport-type security found we were carrying a lap top so I sat and
waited outside. Bear appeared half an hour later having waited behind a couple
of yachts in from Cuba – handing over their fruit and veg and arranging for boat
inspection. From here we are just a couple of blocks away from Duval Street,
time to be tourists for a few hours until we move Beez.
Opposite was a great
shop
We wandered down Duval Street and had a drink in Sloppy Joe’s (own blog) and
late lunch in a quiet Pirate Bar where they did a great mud
slide
We
gathered loads of local information and bought bus tickets and Little White
House passes from the lovely Leslie
Key West is fine with us, they like bugs and
trikes
Some beautiful homes, the last flower on this tree before all the leaves come out and the mile walk
back to Baby Beez
The local police protect and serve Paradise
Chickens wander everywhere, no Kentucky
Fried in Key West and these chaps are protected, if you hurt or kill one it is
an automatic $500 fine – their job is to eat insects. When there is a big
downpour the whole area gets sprayed from the air to prevent mosquitos, no
arguments from us. We saw this spider who wears a
jacket to look tough, but really he is only a tiny chap.
We got
back to Baby Beez and spuddled around. The protected lagoon is behind a fifty foot power line
(too short for Beez to go under to the small City Marina dock) but shows the
local presence of the wise owl and his osprey allocation.
We stopped to
watch two crabs ‘cuddling’ beside a beer
bottle.
The floating city
next to the dinghy dock-
a real mix.
This home had its own
guard on the balcony
This one is fully mobile
with a paddle wheel at the back
The one on the left is a
very jaunty angle
Back in the anchorage I said calling a
boat Reef Chef was not a great name – that’ll be Reef
Chief was the droll reply
We had to move
just around the corner, it took over an hour against an amazing
current
ALL IN ALL A BUSY
DAY
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