17 June Exploring Key West

On Monday we arrived here. Yesterday it rained for most of the day and we were still tired from our passage from Caymans. Today we went to have a look around. There's a convenient dinghy dock that charges $7 a day within Key West Bight marina and from here it is five minutes to the centre.

afternoon storm in the Keys

I was surprised by the numbers of people who were here on holiday packing the bars and restaurants. The shops that were open had notices on the door stating face masks were to be worn by all who enter yet in the bars and restaurants I saw lots of naked mouths and nostrils with owners less than 6' apart.  You just know there's going to be an increase in community acquired infection.  We will be eating and drinking on board, maintaining social distancing and wearing masks in shops.

hiding behind the foliage

I was enchanted by the Southern style of houses; deep verandas, pastel shades and old banyan trees.

In the old Custom House district we visited the Mel Fisher museum. From 1969 for sixteen years Mel and his business associates dived and searched the waters off the keys for the richest wreck ever recorded – a Spanish ship loaded with gold, silver, emeralds and treasures valued at $800m at todays estimate. In 1985 they found what they were looking for 35 miles from Key West in shallow water. After a lengthy legal battle with the state of Florida Mel claimed all the recovered treasure – about half of the original manifest. Some of what they brought back is in this museum along with the story.

Emerald cross and ring for the Pope

gold

silver ingots

No visit to Key West is complete without seeing the sunset from Mallory Square. We were here separately about twenty years ago so a visit together was a must do. David remembered street performers. I remember seeing my first green flash sunset. Tonight was a bit of a disappointment. There were some buskers, a juggler and stalls selling arty souvenirs. There were lots of people pointing their cameras west and there were clouds across all the way to the horizon.