Thursday, December 12, Silver Spirit arrived at Key West soon after sunrise. Michael and I were able to use our cell phones to catch up on e-mail while we were approaching the port. I mentioned in a much earlier post that the ship's Internet was all but unusable; the situation had not improved and we were not using the ship's system much. Each time we entered U.S. waters we turned on our cell phones to use the cell system to check mail and download maps and such.
I had not been to Key West or any of the other Florida Keys so I was looking forward to seeing the strange characters and partying tourists. Mallory Square where the ship docked and Duval Street are the heart of Key West tourist land . Whitehead Street a block west of Duval has many historic houses and is much quieter and more relaxed. Michael and I took two long walks around the city and took in most of the sights. We took an early morning walk before the streets got crowded and another walk in the afternoon when the bars and restaurants were in full swing. Mostly we avoided the bars and restaurants and looked at the historic sights.
Key West got the nickname "The Conch Republic" as something of a publicity stunt in 1982. U.S. Immigration officials had established a checkpoint where U.S. highway 1 joins the mainland. They were stopping all vehicles to search for drugs and illegal immigrants. This disrupted travel to the Florida Keys for locals and tourists alike. The mayor and city council of Key West declared the Keys independent of the United States on the grounds that they were being treated like a foreign country by the government. Key West started issuing passports, not really seriously, and a publicity campaign for the Conch Republic took off. I was told that some people actually tried to use these fake passports as actual travel documents. The results were not good. The Conch Republic though, has been a great marketing idea.
As the Silver Spirit pulled away from the pier a few minutes before sunset, Michael and I watched the crowds gather at Mallory Square as they do each evening to celebrate sundown. The partying was getting underway in earnest. We enjoyed cocktails on our veranda as Key West receded in the distance. Our celebration of sunset was much more subdued.
The following morning we left Silver Spirit at Ft Lauderdale. We had lunch and a wonderful walk on Ft Lauderdale beach with our friends Mike and Kathy who had made it to Florida a few days before we did. We said one last goodby to Heinz and Ellen at the airport before an uneventful flight home to Denver. We had a wonderful warm weather vacation while Colorado suffered the season's first really cold spell. It was great to see so many old friends. The cruise turned out to be far better than we expected.
I had not been to Key West or any of the other Florida Keys so I was looking forward to seeing the strange characters and partying tourists. Mallory Square where the ship docked and Duval Street are the heart of Key West tourist land . Whitehead Street a block west of Duval has many historic houses and is much quieter and more relaxed. Michael and I took two long walks around the city and took in most of the sights. We took an early morning walk before the streets got crowded and another walk in the afternoon when the bars and restaurants were in full swing. Mostly we avoided the bars and restaurants and looked at the historic sights.
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| Approaching Mallory Square Pier before 8:00 AM |
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| Walking From the Pier to Front Street |
Key West got the nickname "The Conch Republic" as something of a publicity stunt in 1982. U.S. Immigration officials had established a checkpoint where U.S. highway 1 joins the mainland. They were stopping all vehicles to search for drugs and illegal immigrants. This disrupted travel to the Florida Keys for locals and tourists alike. The mayor and city council of Key West declared the Keys independent of the United States on the grounds that they were being treated like a foreign country by the government. Key West started issuing passports, not really seriously, and a publicity campaign for the Conch Republic took off. I was told that some people actually tried to use these fake passports as actual travel documents. The results were not good. The Conch Republic though, has been a great marketing idea.
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| He is Looking For an Open Bar at 9 AM |
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| Historic Lighthouse in the Center of the Island |
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| Crowd at Hemingway's House - I Didn't See any Six Toed Cats |
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| Audubon Cottage |
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| Historic 19th Century House |
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| The Beginning or End of US 1 Depending on How You Look at It |
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| Retro cinema with plastic Marilyn Monroe |
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| 1800s surveyed southernmost point but it no longer is |
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| This house is south of the marker |
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| Another Southernmost Establishment. There Are Many of Them |
As the Silver Spirit pulled away from the pier a few minutes before sunset, Michael and I watched the crowds gather at Mallory Square as they do each evening to celebrate sundown. The partying was getting underway in earnest. We enjoyed cocktails on our veranda as Key West receded in the distance. Our celebration of sunset was much more subdued.
The following morning we left Silver Spirit at Ft Lauderdale. We had lunch and a wonderful walk on Ft Lauderdale beach with our friends Mike and Kathy who had made it to Florida a few days before we did. We said one last goodby to Heinz and Ellen at the airport before an uneventful flight home to Denver. We had a wonderful warm weather vacation while Colorado suffered the season's first really cold spell. It was great to see so many old friends. The cruise turned out to be far better than we expected.
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