Key West - Pirate Haven

10 Dec 2010

Key West.

I thought Key West was the “end of the U.S.” but it isn’t. Found out today that there are something like 700 islands further out from Key West, about 20 or so inhabited. This used to be a pirates haven - until the U.S. navy moved in and kicked them out.

Key West is a Cool place – 2 miles by 4 miles wide. There are some islands not connected to US 1 that have houses on them just off the pier. Sailboats lay at anchor around them.

Today is the first blue sky any of us have seen since leaving Galveston last Sunday. A shop manager said it was raining and cold yesterday. Today it was blue and cool, from Hemingway’s house to the marvelous red Custom’s House on the pier that is now a Museum. The Minnesota architect gave it a snow roof, even though it has never snowed in Key West – the lowest temperature is 41 degrees. The museum does shows during the winter, which is their peak season – lots of people coming down from the east coast to the warmest point, which is 90 miles from Cuba.

There is a good lesson here. They had a rail line wiped out by hurricanes and red algae that killed the sponge trade. Yet each time they came back as a new chapter. A road was built on top of the destroyed rail line and tourism is the new trade.

This is something the USA needs to do – the old chapter of ‘borrow-and-spend’ to live like drunken sailors is over. Some fiscal sobriety and honesty would go a long way to getting us moving back in the right direction.

It’s a 150 miles from here to the Florida coast mainland. But Key West reminded me of the Bahamas – laid back, with not much on sale but conch shells, bags and shirts. Our guide was an escapee from Michigan who never wanted to scrap ice off his windshield again.

Navy helicopters and aircraft have been noticeable overhead.

It feels like the ship is leaving the dock – so I’m about to lose my low-cost Internet (back to the 40 cents/minute Ship Internet).It’s amazing how these giants spin around and maneuver without any tugs – the side propellers along them to spin in place.

Next time…back into the Gulf of Mexico and another day at sea.