We just spent a fabulous five weeks in Key West, loving every single second of it. Fun friends, fab food, delicious drinks, exciting excursions and a visit from our kids all made it extra special. I am going to do a bit of a recap so as not to bore you all with the minutia, but try to give you an overall feel for what we have been up to.
We had picked up some Stone Crab legs from the Easton Street Fish Market which we enjoyed on Observer for dinner, then off to the park to check out the last night of the Red Dirt Concert.
Then we took pedicabs (never did that before) for a Looper reunion dinner at Seven Fish restaurant - Hour Plan, Fins, Sea Scape and Observer. Great meal / great fun.
Fri 1/12 As we continued to get settled into our slip at the Galleon Marina, we found our bearings in the heart of downtown old town Key West. The Harborwalk with it's many bars and restaurants is at our front door and the top of Duval Street is just two blocks away.
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| Sunset |
Sat. 1/13 Observer hosted docktails. Because of the wind and cooler temperatures we all huddled inside. There ended up being 12 of us plus 2 dogs - great fun.
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| Docktails inside Observer |
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| and outside. |
Sun. 1/14 Jim & AC came down from Marathon on the $2 bus and we met them at the seafood festival. It was a little short on seafood but we had some stone crab that was amazing. We ran into Salemite Russ V at the festival who has a house nearby.
We walked down to the Green Parrot with Jim and AC and enjoyed the jazz band for a bit.
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| Stone crab claws - Yum! |
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| Inside the Green Parrot - funky and fun townie bar |
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| Jim, Ac, Alice and Tim |
Monday 1/15 got a call from friends who brought their boat into a marina and the bridge height was 'not as advertised' and they pulled their radar mast down. A few of us went over to help get it the rest of the way down and stored for repair. Loopers Tyre-less, Thistle, Gettin Looped and Observer met at The Boat House for Happy Hour.
Tuesday 1/16 we checked our Truman's little White House Museum - not too far from the boat. It was a really well done historical tour.
Later we met up with Vahevala and Thistle at the music venue Green Parrot.
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| The Little White House |
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| This is a screen grab that Sam took on his office computer in Boston at 5:43 pm of the live cam at the marina. Alice is jumping up and down on the pier at the top of the empty slip. Observer is two slips in the back of her. |
Later we met up with Vahevala and Thistle at the music venue Green Parrot.
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| Back to the Parrot |
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| Tim, Linda, Brian, Reenie, Alice and Greg |
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| The band |
Wednesday 1/17 Thistle organized a pot luck around the grill at Galleon. It was a bit cool and windy but a great time was had by all and the food was outstanding. There were 19 of us there. Lesley even made butter tarts; she is Canadian, so they were authentic.
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| Reenie is the ultimate party planner. On each table, she placed flowers, a solar lantern and music |
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| Everyone brought something to share. |
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| Our marina has really nice big clean gas grills |
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| Lesley's authentic Canadian butter tarts. |
Thursday 1/18 we checked out Hemingway's home on Key West. It's a private tourist attraction well worth the visit. We especially loved the 40 - 50 polydactyl (six toed) cats that are decended from Snow White, Hemingway's first polydactl cat. Snow White, born in the 1930s, was a kitten given to Hemingway by a sea captain. Sailor's think polydactyl cats are good luck. They are excellent mousers and their extra toes help keep them balanced on the decks of ships.
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| Cats everywhere - in Hemingway's studio |
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| on the dining room table |
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| hanging out in the garden - good photo of the extra toes |
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| On a shelf in the gift shop |
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| Paw prints in concrete - perfect polydactyl print in the lower right corner |
Friday1/19 Today's hi-light believe it or not was getting a haircut. It's a little tricky trying to determine where to go with all of yelp at your disposal. I decided just to 'walk in' to 'I'm just Cuttin' without an appointment. First I could not find the place and almost gave up. I decided to call and they gave me a little encouragement and some land marks. Three Barbers, three guys waiting and three guys in chairs who look like they are almost done. One of them is crying (he's 5) and really not liking all the sharp instruments near his head. . .especially when he can't see what is going on. What I come to learn is that these guys take a lot of pride in their work and take a while to get it done. I also come to find out that guys that have made appointments trump walk ins. So I waited about 1:45 and finally got a seat at the best of the three. All in all he did a great job. To do it all over again, I would have made an appointment and had lunch first. Today I had lunch at 2:50.
Saturday 1/20 Met a group of Loopers for Happy Hour at the Boat House including the Wilsons (a family of Gold Loopers) and Dan & Gena who live down here in the winter in their 5th wheel trailer and plan to start the Loop from the mid-Atlantic this spring.
Sunday 1/21 met Linda & Brian for brunch at Blue Heaven - yum.
A very large manatee swam through the marina today. We got several looks and photos of him or her. It's the clearest siting of a manatee we've seen so far.
Later we caught up with a crew of folks at Dante's Inferno (the only bar / restaurant I know with a pool) to watch the Patriots / Jaguars game. Sitting with us was Sean who was wearing a 'When and If' t shirt( an Alden schooner built for General George Patton, later owned by the Landmark School and now in Key West for the Winter - see photo on January 29). Sean is a mate aboard the When and If and btw she will be in Salem this Summer doing charter work.
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| Blue Heaven is always a popular brunch spot |
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| Live music as seen from out table |
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| Notice the barnacles on his back. The dockmaster told us that he must have just arrived at the marina as he hadn't had time to scrape them off using the underside of the docks |
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| The pool at Dante's Inferno. |
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| Swordfish fountain in the middle of the pool |
From the 22-25, Tim flew home to attend to some meetings and work. Alice and Millie held down the fort. They did a lot of exploring Key West with Millie basically leading the way each day on a two hour walk. In the evening, Alice would get together with other loopers for happy hour or dinner.
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| Roosters and chickens are everywhere in Key West. Millie was curious, but guarded. |
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| One walk led us to the Southernmost Point in the US |
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| The Key West Lighthouse |
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| One of Millie's favorite places. This was about a 2 mile walk in the heat from the boat, but so worth it for a swim |
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| Dog Beach |
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| Some of the architecture we would pass on our walks |
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| Loved the second floor railing |
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| This house had a for sale sign out front. I looked it up. Uninhabitable, but the asking price was 1.495 million and it was 'sale pending' |
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| Another manatee seen in the marina while Tim was gone. Look at the scars from being hit by boats. |
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| A boat neighbor fed the manatees fresh water which is illegal as it encourages them to approach boats which could hurt them |
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| He is awfully cute, though |
Thurs. 1/25 Alice joined the Wilson's and other Loopers in cleaning up a section of the Big Coppitt Key, about 10 miles from Key West. They filled 75 large industrial trash bags and cleared other debris that would not fit in the trash bags.
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| 75 trash bags |
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| One of the smaller piles of debris in foreground |
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| The clean up crew |
Friday 1/26 had a Looper reunion / brunch with Hour Plan (who came down from Marathon again on the $2 bus) and Resolute at Firefly. It was fun to catch up with everyone.
Saturday 1-27 there was an art / craft show which we checked out. Alice bought 2 pairs of funky boots.
Anne- Terese, Sam and Henry arrived for the week. We rented them a condo at the Truman Annex. First stop Happy Hour @ The Boat House.
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| Art / craft fair |
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| The pool at Truman Annex was right out the kid's front door |
Sunday 1/28 After breakfast at La Creperie, we tried our hand at an Escape Room and solved the puzzle (escaped) within the allotted hour time slot with 30 seconds to spare. It was a pirate ship theme. Lots of fun!
We picked up Millie and headed over to Dante's Inferno tried to enjoy a little Florida sunshine. Between the heavy winds and then drizzle it was a bit challenging.
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| Windy! Check out Alice's hair |
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| Looking down on the pool |
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| Anne - Terese |
Mon 1/29 we took the kids 5 miles North on Observer to Stock Island. The marina let us tie up NC so we could have lunch. We had a great meal at the Perry Hotel 'Salty Oyster'.
After dinner we went to La Te Da for a cabaret show by Christopher Peterson of female entertainment icons - big fun!
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| Passed some shrimp boats on our way |
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| These shrimp boats were docked in the harbor |
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| The 'When and If" This Alden designed schooner commissioned by Patton to sail around the world with his wife, "when and if" he returned from war. Even though he survived the war, Patton was killed in a car accident in Germany in 1945 and never got to fulfill his dream |
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| The stage |
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| Marilyn Monroe |
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| Reba Mcintyre |
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| Reba took off Tim's glasses and gave each frame a big smooch |
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| Joan Rivers |
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| Bette Midler |
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| Cher |
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| Liza Minelli |
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| In between costume changes |
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| Tonight's full moon taken from Observer when we returned from La Te Da |
Tues. 1/30 we wanted to simulate dinner on the boat for our family so we cooked burgers on board.
Weds 1/31 took advantage of a beautiful Florida day and hung out at the by the pool at our Marina.
The evening entertainment was a haunted walking Ghost tour. The five of us were the only ones in the tour. We heard some fascinating tales but did not witness any supernatural phenomena.
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| Robert the doll had haunted this house for over a century |
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| The only frightening thing about this photo is Sam's reflection on the right! |
Thurs. 2/01 hil-lights of our day included the beach at the State Park (a short walk or bike from the kids apartment), pool @ our marina and we celebrated Henry's birthday at Santiagos Bodega. We had a great round table for the 5 of us on the porch - where we enjoyed some great tapas.
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| The birthday boy |
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| AT and Sam |
Friday 2/02 We all took a seaplane to the Ft. Jefferson / Dry Toutugas. It is a National park in a protected marina habitat 70 miles west of Key West. The plane holds 10 and flys just 500 feet off the water to the views are spectacular. The whole trip start to finish is 4 hours and that leaves about 2 1/2 hours on the island to snorkel (ended up being too cool that day) and touring the Fort. They started building the Fort in 1846 and continued for 30 years. The fort covers 11 acres of the 16 acre island. We were able to tour just about everywhere but the living quarters of the park personnel. The other bonus was the daily ferry had left for the day so we had few few explorers on the island with us. We had our last dinner with the kids at a favorite restaurant from last year's visit - Off the Hook Grill - just as good as last year.
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| Anne-Terese was the copilot on the way over |
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| Key West from the air |
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| We were all given headphones so we could hear the pilot point out interesting things along the way |
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| like this sunken schooner with the mast above water |
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| The planes reflection in the mirror as we landed at Fort Jefferson |
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| Close up of a falcon who turned to look at me when I called out to him |
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| From inside the fort |
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| Looking out |
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| Cannon on the roof |
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| Another shot of a cannon on the roof |
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| Looking out at the moat from the inside |
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| Another view of the moat from on top of the fort |
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| Hen, Anne-Terese, Sam and Alice |
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| The family |
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| Hurricane victim |
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| Seaplane returning to pick us up |
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| Fort Jefferson from the air as we head back to Key West |
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| Another picture of the plane in the mirror |
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| This photo is of Galleon Marina taken from the plane. Observer is in the first cluster of boats in the upper right. |
Saturday 2/03 we said good bye to Sam, AT and Henry as they set off for the airport. We had a great time with all of them and were sad to see them leave. They might have been a bit sadder heading back to Salem / Danvers amidst the winter conditions. Loopers Reenie and Greg organized another pot luck at the marina grill at dinner. There was another great turn out and lots of fun.
Sunday 2/04 Today's mission was figuring out where to watch the Super Bowl. We ended up being very close to the boat - on the deck / water side of the hotel / Marina tiki bar. It turned out to be a very scenic spot to watch the Game. Unfortunately not a very lucky one:(
Mon 2/05 Greg off Thistle had a big birthday this week. Reenie invited a # of friends / Loopers to his birthday dinner / celebration starting with cocktails at First Flight and then dinner @ Isle Cook Key West. This is a really unique venue in Key West. Part retail store (cooking stuff), part events including our Chef's dinner. We sat around a giant kitchen island facing the chef who took us through a very hi- level explanation of the fabulous 4 course meal we were served. Delicious and lots of fun. It was my of the most memorable activities of our Loop. If you get to Key West we'd encourage you to check out this very unique dining option.
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| Plane crashing through the ceiling at First Flight |
Tues. 2/06 We took the Perry Hotel van over to Stock Island for lunch, picked up a replacement bike for Alice nearby.
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| Alice's new ride. She can finally keep up with Tim! |
Weds. 2/07 Someone in the group suggested hosting the start of a Looper boat crawl today. It started on Tyre-less continued to Mother Ocean and concluded on Don't Think Twice. There were quite a gang of us and as always very fun to check out other Looper boats.
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| Canadian Beaver cocktail concocted by the crew of Tyre-less (everything tastes better with bacon)! |
Thurs 2/08 Alice and some of the girls attended jewelry making class / the guys left on their own attended a Red Dirt Concert (it's subset of country music).
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| Reenie hard at work |
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| Leslie wearing the lei Reenie had flown in from Hawaii for her |
Fri. 2/09 Sunset Key is an island just off Key West with very upscale housing. The island restaurant Latitudes is the place to go for that special dinner at sunset. We jumped on the ferry and enjoyed a really nice meal overlooking the bay odd The island and yes we enjoyed a spectacular sunset. Post dinner we took Millie for a stroll along the wharf so she could get some 'social time'
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| Stone crab again! |
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| Our view as the sun began to set |
Saturdays 2/10 hi-lights included checking out the roof top deck at the marina hotel to enjoy yet another KW sunset.
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| Observer as seen from the roof top |
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| Sun just beginning to set |
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| Just about to dip below the horizon |
Sunday 2/11 Friends from Salem Wayne & Mary invited us for lunch at their Key West home. It is so nice to be in someone's home away from the boat and a restaurant and enjoy great food and company in such a comfortable setting - thank you.
Tim's Mom 'Sheila' had a special birthday today. We were sorry we missed celebrating with her in person. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!
Monday 2/12 low key day; we cooked chicken on the marina grill and of course watched some Olympic coverage.
Tues. 2/13 champagne Tuesday with Hour Plan & Fins who are in Key West for a few days to visit.
Then we tried to jump start Fat Tuesday in Key West starting at the Boat House Happy Hour
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| Tim wearing voo doo beads loaned to him from AC |
Wednesday 2/14 - Allen & family from my co. back home stopped in for a visit and boat tour; always great to see them. We went over to see the 'KW cat dude show' just before sunset at Mallory Square. The handler was a bit more entertaining than his cats in a bizarre way.
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| Cat Man Do and one of his cats |
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| First time on a pedi cab |
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| Seven fish outside Seven Fish |
Thursday 2/15 Had the Good bye breakfast with the visiting Gold Loopers - same crew as last night plus the Wilson family (Gold Loopers that have been spending a couple of months in Key West). We went to Blue Heaven. It's hard to diet in Key West;) Later in the day we rode our bikes to the other side of the island with Greg and Reenie and had a nice dinner though sunset at 'Salute! On the Beach'. Great meal with fabulous company.
Friday 2/16
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| Ahh...Island life! |
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