Jessica’s Christmas gift to us was three days in Key West. Thank you, Jessica!!! We headed south on January 3rd and arrived in enough time to check into our hotel, and walk around the heart of the downtown area. It was again a frigid, cloudy, blustery day but we were dressed for it and strolled to the waterfront area of Mallory Square. Similar to the Baltimore Harbor Place it is paved entirely in decorative brick and street performers mark out a territory and draw people in to watch their show. The more they draw in the greater the potential for mucho monetary offerings at its completion.
Welcome sign at Mallory Square.
We were sucked in by the humor of a tall, lanky, raspy voiced unicyclist with a pierced earring in one lobe. One had to wonder if his voice was naturally that way or if it was a result of the days he spent attracting audiences to his act. While calling to the passersby to come close, he was creating a huge semi-circle on the pavement with a fluid from what appeared to be a patio grill lighter fluid bottle. Chris was wondering if it would be lit as a part of his show until he assured the gathering crowd, by putting a flame to it, that it was only water. With audience in place, he humored us while balancing on top of a free-standing ladder and eventually atop his unicycle where he proceeded to catch, with his foot, a bowler style hat he’d pushed off his shaved head as his finale. We tossed him a greenback reward and were immediately sucked into another show, beginning right next to him, featuring dog tricks. This performer wasn’t as entertaining and one poor dog was so cold she was visibly shivering. Jessica had brought Max with her and they were standing quietly amongst the audience, when one of the performer’s dogs began barking at him. Poor Max wasn’t doing anything to provoke her and Jessica was so embarrassed that she pulled him away from the show and wandered over to check out the jewelry at the nearby vendor tables. We think the “bitch” was overcome by Max’s manliness.
Jay holding the street performer’s ladder as he jumps to his unicycle.
Released from the spell of the street performers we wandered around and encountered an older gentleman with one of those musical rigs that have just about every instrument you can think of hanging off of him. You know, the ones that have a big round drum with cymbals on top, a horn with a big, black rubber bulb on the end and a harmonica hanging around his neck, you name it he’s got it kind of musical menagerie. He’d finished his show so we didn’t get to see him in action, but it was the last thing Chris expected to see as she thought the “craft” had died out long ago. It just goes to show you that you should expect the unexpected at Key West.
This guy can play most anything. We just don’t know how many he can play at one time.
With dark closing in we made our way to the town center area to see its offerings and formulated a plan for what we wanted to do the next day. Then we found a nice, warm, cozy Thai restaurant.
We could hardly get that far south and not have a picture taken at the Southernmost Point buoy. Our first stop the next day was exactly that. We couldn’t believe the line of a score of people waiting for their opportunity to “capture the photo”.
Chris, Jessica and Max at the Southernmost point buoy.
Next stop was the Mel Fisher Museum which housed the bounteous treasure from the Atocha, a 17th century Spanish galleon that sank, during a hurricane, about 50 miles off the coast of Key West. When it sank, on September 6, 1622 it was burgeoning with gold and silver bars, dozens of feet of heavy, gold chain, thousands of silver doubloons and countless gemstones totaling a fortune in excess of $450 million today. These riches had been harvested in Central America and were on their way to the coffers of Philip IV in Spain. Read more about Mel Fisher at this link.
Chris and Jay at the Mel Fisher Museum.
A display of gold chains and an ornate gold necklace recovered from the wreck.
True to form, Jay and Chris took their time and read all the information in the exhibit from the story of the conception of the search, the discovery of the mother lode, information about the artifacts found, which reflect life during that time, to the court case Fisher fought to defend his ownership of the treasure. There is a secure Plexiglas display which allows you to lift a gold bar and experience its texture and heft. It is surprising how dense and heavy it is. The gold, silver and doubloons have been crafted into fine jewelry and are sold in the museum’s gift shop – for a hefty price. Divers continue to retrieve treasure from the site even today. In the museum it was easy to imagine being a part of such an adventure. It is a good feeling to know that even the largest and most far out dreams can be fulfilled.
We’d love to have the value of these beauties in our bank account.
Silver bells – oh no, it’s bars.
A walking tour ate up the rest of our day and we learned about the founding fathers of the Conch Republic, as Key West was once known, the location of the actress Kelly McGillis’ restaurant, and found a unique fixer-upper for a mere $4 million that was nowhere near the waterfront. Walking off the main drag was pleasant as we didn’t have to dodge the unending stream of tourists occupying the downtown district and the icy wind was blocked by the assortment of 18th and 19th century homes.
A real cheap fixer-upper.
A true Conch Republican hood ornament.
Route 1 Mile 0. It all starts or ends here.
No visit to Key West is complete without a meal at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, where we dined that night. Jessica was surprised and pleased to get carded before being served and the food was quite good. On one wall a large screen continuously played videos of Jimmy in concerts where attendees are still very much into the “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” mentality. But, of course, that’s how he got so popular.
Jimmy Buffet – the original Parrot Head.
We made one stop on the drive home at the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key. This was the home of Flipper in the 1960s and where his grandchildren still reside. A small, covered causeway extends out into the Gulf, about 200’, and is bordered on each side by watery pens that house the dolphins. Floating platforms in the pens allow the researchers, trainers and paying patrons to interact with them on a variety of levels depending on the package for which they paid. You could let one glide under your hands for $25, spend 20 minutes swimming in the water with them for $189 or spend a whole day with a trainer for a mere $650!! All of these opportunities were in addition to the basic entrance fee.
A family copping a feel at the Dolphin Research Center.
Although sunny, this particular day was cold and the wind was blowing at least 15 mph. Standing on the causeway was a brisk experience which necessitated us employing all sweaters, jackets and windbreakers we’d packed. We warmed up a couple of times by attending two different talks in a small, concrete block building where we learned about baby dolphins and general behavior. The rest of our afternoon stay encompassed watching several shows where the beaked whales caught and tossed back rings and balls, stood on their tails and leapt 20’ out of the water. It was surprising how many people braved the frosty temperatures to be in the water with these critters. Granted they had donned full or partial wetsuits and maybe the water was actually warmer than the air, but it is likely they paid for it in goose bumps on their way back to the changing room.
As much as we would have liked to extend our stay in Miami, we were kicked out of the RV Park the following day on January 6th. We knew it was coming as when we originally made our reservations they had no space available after that date, but we liked the Park and seeing Jessica and would like to have stayed longer - although we certainly wouldn’t miss the Miami traffic.
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