March 24, 2009: Key West, FL

With high winds predicted for another two days, we decided to hop from the Bahia Honda Key Marina to dockage in Key West today. It was pretty tricky just moving off the docking wall with the wind pushing us into it with sailboats fairly close just in front of and behind our spot. We said goodbye to the beautiful beach and exited the quiet bay through the cut in the old railroad bridge. The turquoise sea was white caped but fortunately, we were moving with the wind as we cruise due west. The boat was pitching so that it was hard to take pictures, but we did see a plane taking off from the Naval Air station.

So we are spending two nights docked at the Conch Harbor Marina at the old seaport in Key West as part of my 60^th birthday celebration. We took a bike ride around the old town area including to the southernmost point in the USA which is marked by a large yellow and red bullet shaped monument. We also rode by the walled compound on Whitehead Street where Earnest Hemmingway spent his most prolific writing period. It was a place we toured the last time we were in Key West 18 years ago. There is an amazing, huge kapok tree with roots like flying buttresses in front of the Monroe County courthouse.

There was a beautiful pool with the waterfall at the marina with a large sculpture of a swordfish spouting water. We spent the afternoon enjoying the warmth of the sun and a little swimming in the fresh water. It is still very windy.

For dinner we walked over to Turtle Karrals, a restaurant named for the history of the turtle meat canning factory that was on this location. We ate on the upper deck overlooking the docks and the dinghy landings. They were serving Carolina barbeque, so we had a taste from home while we watched the sun setting.