Latitudes With Attitude, Chapter 7
Thursday, June 22 Galleon Marina, Key West
Hard to believe I’m a full day behind in my journal. We’ve just finished breakfast and are almost ready to leave Key West. Our trip is more than half over. Today we start heading back toward Marathon.
The last day has been very enjoyable, albeit expensive for the crew. Mike told me last night that several of the guys found the prices in Key West to be very high, resulting in their desire to lounge around in air conditioning at the Galleon Resort rather than explore.
Nevertheless, they did go around town, the highlights apparently being lunch at Margaritaville, a snack at Wendy’s and dinner at the Hard Rock Café. They each spent $12 for a ticket to the pirate museum and enjoyed it.
Faith and I went to the pirate museum with Capt. Charlie and Phyllis. It was interesting to read about the real pirates versus the fictional ones from Robert Louis Stevenson to Pirates of the Caribbean’s Jack Sparrow. I learned most of the real pirates had relatively short careers as brigands and most of them met Death at the end of a noose.
The museum’s artifacts were very cool, too, from 17th century weaponry to medical equipment. Many of the pieces came from a town called Port Royal, which I believe was in Jamaica, a town of saloons and brothels that was largely destroyed by an earthquake. Charlie said most of the buildings slid into the sea, where divers can still visit the ruins today.
After lunch with Charlie and Phyllis at the Hog’s Breath, Faith and I found a jewelry store where I purchased a little treasure for Kathie. We then walked through the old Key West naval base, past Harry Truman’s southern White House and toward the southernmost point in the continental United States. As we walked, the skies opened up in a deluge, forcing us to seek shelter with an Irish bicyclist and a local man under the awning of a funeral home. When the storm finished, we had to walk through huge puddles of storm runoff to get to the southernmost point marker.
Faith and I had dinner at a Caribbean restaurant where we enjoyed grilled fish, black beans, plaintains and several glasses of ice water, very refreshing after a hot day of walking.
Our crew did a great job staying together yesterday, meeting up with Faith and me at Mallory Square just after 7 p.m. We all watched several of the vaudeville acts, the best of which was a pair of young jugglers, who later told Spaz they were only fourteen years old. Another act featured a man in a straightjacket, tied in about 50 feet of chains and multiple locks and hung upside down by his feet. In a matter of minutes, he extricated himself to a round of applause.
The award for the most talkative performer goes to the sword swallower, who kept his audience baited for a good 20-30 minutes before finally plunging the sword into his mouth.
Yet another act—without a doubt the most bizarre—was a Frenchman who had cats jumping through hoops. In itself, that doesn’t sound too odd, but his behavior included talking for minutes on end to a stool, laughing eerily, bugged-out eyes, and mixing English and French in no apparent pattern. Quite the weirdo.
Once we returned to Wyvern, most of the crew went swimming at the Galleon’s pool, then played cards until it was time to retire. I was tired, so I went to bed about 11:30 p.m.
This morning I awoke early—typical for me—and walked the town for nearly two hours. I visited Starbucks for my daily fix of caffeine, then continued walking, eventually making my way back to the old seaport and the Galleon Marina. Hardly anyone was on the streets, save for the occasional walker or jogger, trash crews, merchants sweeping their sidewalks and food service delivery people. As late as 8 a.m. on a Thurs. morning, the streets of Key West were quiet. People here are perpetually on island time!
By the time I returned to Wyvern, I’m sure I walked at least 3-4 miles on top of an estimated 6-7 miles yesterday. Coupled with the activity of swimming and snorkeling, I feel I’m getting a good bit of exercise this week. Let’s hope the scales show an improvement when I get home, as I have been plateaued near 230 lbs. for far too long.
The captain has just come below deck to get some lemonade mix and said I’m missing the sights (we’re motoring out of the harbor), so I’m going to close this chapter.
Hard to believe I’m a full day behind in my journal. We’ve just finished breakfast and are almost ready to leave Key West. Our trip is more than half over. Today we start heading back toward Marathon.
The last day has been very enjoyable, albeit expensive for the crew. Mike told me last night that several of the guys found the prices in Key West to be very high, resulting in their desire to lounge around in air conditioning at the Galleon Resort rather than explore.
Nevertheless, they did go around town, the highlights apparently being lunch at Margaritaville, a snack at Wendy’s and dinner at the Hard Rock Café. They each spent $12 for a ticket to the pirate museum and enjoyed it.
Faith and I went to the pirate museum with Capt. Charlie and Phyllis. It was interesting to read about the real pirates versus the fictional ones from Robert Louis Stevenson to Pirates of the Caribbean’s Jack Sparrow. I learned most of the real pirates had relatively short careers as brigands and most of them met Death at the end of a noose.
The museum’s artifacts were very cool, too, from 17th century weaponry to medical equipment. Many of the pieces came from a town called Port Royal, which I believe was in Jamaica, a town of saloons and brothels that was largely destroyed by an earthquake. Charlie said most of the buildings slid into the sea, where divers can still visit the ruins today.
After lunch with Charlie and Phyllis at the Hog’s Breath, Faith and I found a jewelry store where I purchased a little treasure for Kathie. We then walked through the old Key West naval base, past Harry Truman’s southern White House and toward the southernmost point in the continental United States. As we walked, the skies opened up in a deluge, forcing us to seek shelter with an Irish bicyclist and a local man under the awning of a funeral home. When the storm finished, we had to walk through huge puddles of storm runoff to get to the southernmost point marker.
Faith and I had dinner at a Caribbean restaurant where we enjoyed grilled fish, black beans, plaintains and several glasses of ice water, very refreshing after a hot day of walking.
Our crew did a great job staying together yesterday, meeting up with Faith and me at Mallory Square just after 7 p.m. We all watched several of the vaudeville acts, the best of which was a pair of young jugglers, who later told Spaz they were only fourteen years old. Another act featured a man in a straightjacket, tied in about 50 feet of chains and multiple locks and hung upside down by his feet. In a matter of minutes, he extricated himself to a round of applause.
The award for the most talkative performer goes to the sword swallower, who kept his audience baited for a good 20-30 minutes before finally plunging the sword into his mouth.
Yet another act—without a doubt the most bizarre—was a Frenchman who had cats jumping through hoops. In itself, that doesn’t sound too odd, but his behavior included talking for minutes on end to a stool, laughing eerily, bugged-out eyes, and mixing English and French in no apparent pattern. Quite the weirdo.
Once we returned to Wyvern, most of the crew went swimming at the Galleon’s pool, then played cards until it was time to retire. I was tired, so I went to bed about 11:30 p.m.
This morning I awoke early—typical for me—and walked the town for nearly two hours. I visited Starbucks for my daily fix of caffeine, then continued walking, eventually making my way back to the old seaport and the Galleon Marina. Hardly anyone was on the streets, save for the occasional walker or jogger, trash crews, merchants sweeping their sidewalks and food service delivery people. As late as 8 a.m. on a Thurs. morning, the streets of Key West were quiet. People here are perpetually on island time!
By the time I returned to Wyvern, I’m sure I walked at least 3-4 miles on top of an estimated 6-7 miles yesterday. Coupled with the activity of swimming and snorkeling, I feel I’m getting a good bit of exercise this week. Let’s hope the scales show an improvement when I get home, as I have been plateaued near 230 lbs. for far too long.
The captain has just come below deck to get some lemonade mix and said I’m missing the sights (we’re motoring out of the harbor), so I’m going to close this chapter.
posted by Joe Wollet at 8:45 AM
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