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Day 4: December 27, 2008 End of One |
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Before leaving Key Largo, I stopped by the Holiday Inn to look over the
African Queen. This is the actual boat that carried Hepburn and Bogart in
the 1951 movie. According to the sign, it's available for cruising. I
guess that drive shaft that Bogie straightened in the fire is holding up
pretty good.
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I also stopped to get a picture of the place where I consumed some
excellent blackened snapper last night.
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I had breakfast at the Midway...
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...and made a stop on Indian Key.
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Just south of Islamorada, windsurfers were out in force. One of the
surfers it the second picture is completely out of the water and halfway
upside down. That's easier to see here.
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A couple of pictures from the Seven Mile Bridge. The first is approaching
the big arch over Moser Channel and the second is heading down it. A
portion of he old bridge can be seen in both.
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This shows the old and new Bahia Honda bridges side by side. The original
wasn't too wide, eh? Railroad rails kept cars from plunging over the side.
I don't know that they were recycled from Flagler's original road but that
seems reasonable.
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In order to protect the resident Key Deer, the posted speed limit at Big
Pine Key is 35 MPH. With heavy traffic, today's actual speed varied from
ten to zero. The speed limit -- and a lot of other conservation efforts --
is really working. The 27 Key Deer that existed in 1957, have turned into
about 800.
The second picture is of "Fat Albert" floating over Cudjoe Key, watching for smugglers, and sending three channels of TV Marti into Cuba. |
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This guy is about half of the reason I even came to Key West. I've only
been here once, in 1997, and Michael McCloud's music was a highlight. I bought his
"Gretastits" CD and have listened to it frequently during those
eleven years. I'm actually on my second copy since I crushed that first
one adjusting my car seat. When I ordered the replacement, I also picked
up "Ain't Life Grand" and it, too, went into fairly heavy
rotation. Today I picked up his latest -- a pair of live CDs -- and
confirmed my suspicion that he was an uncredited performer on Jesse
Winchester's "Rumba Man" (It's on "Gretastits".). I
also got to hear a lot of great music.
Michael performed solo when I saw him in '97, but today he had some excellent help from "Professor" Pete Peterson and "Captain" Carl Peachey. Besides being a formidable guitarist, Carl is a sailor (Schooner Island Belle, available for charters) and a new author. I picked up his first novel, "Unnatural Selection" from the edge of the stage today. |
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Michael and friends wrapped up their afternoon of hard work at 5:00 which
was the perfect time to walk to Mallory Square to watch the sunset with
all the rest of the tourists.
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A coworker recommended I stop by the Green Parrot and I got a second and third opinion at
Schooner Wharf.
That's the bar where Michael McCloud was performing and for awhile I was
sitting between two other fellows from Ohio. The guy from Cleveland comes
down three or four times a year delivering boats and the guy from Toledo
comes down fairly often for some reason
("The ladies are lovely and drinking is
considered a sport.", M. McCloud.) Both recommended the Green
Parrot. So I had one more beer and heard a few more tunes before heading
for the car. A fun place and a pretty good band.
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OK. This is as far as I'm going.
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