Wasting away again in Margaritaville
In fact, I think we have done a fair bit in our now two weeks here, which have gone very quickly.
The area was very nicely but unusually lit for Xmas with nautical and tropical themes but the lights have come down this week.
Our (my) general routine has been to work on minor maintenance projects in the morning, and do fun stuff in the afternoon. So what have we done?
Visited the USCG Ingham, the longest serving coast guard ship, at over 50 years, which is now a floating maritime museum in Truman waterfront park, in front of the Key West big ship harbor, near where the cruise ships dock. And in Truman park, there is a great farmers market each Thursday which we have used to re-provision with fresh veggies. The same park also hosted a "Pole Vaulting in Paradise" event over a weekend which hosted high school, college and Olympic athletes.
Nearby is the Florida Keys Discovery Centre, focused on the reef life in the area, which we visited another day. These fish are doing a territorial display.
The Audubon house is an original KW house which was used as a base to paint some of the Florida birds while he worked on that momentous project to paint all 450 birds native to the US.
And of course we have visited a few bars in the evenings to take in the great music here. Sloppy Joe's, which was Hemingway's haunt, is a favourite for good bands, but we have had mixed experiences there. One night, with a great band and a full house, we shared a table with a very nice couple from Greenville SC. One of our favourite places, Hanks Hair of the Dog Saloon, which is a block off the main action on Duval street, had a great band Coconut Victrola, who play a mix of swing, New Orleans Jazz, blues and easy rock. Listened to them at Sunset Pier another early evening, enjoying a sunset, of course.
The area was very nicely but unusually lit for Xmas with nautical and tropical themes but the lights have come down this week.
Our (my) general routine has been to work on minor maintenance projects in the morning, and do fun stuff in the afternoon. So what have we done?
As I think I commented on in the last post, the weather turned very nice just before we arrived here, and we have been enjoying mostly sunny days of 25 to 27, but still some breeze. Makes for very pleasant temperatures walking as much as we do. We run the A/C on the boat some nights as it does stay warm and humid, but the last few nights we have not had to.
Visited the USCG Ingham, the longest serving coast guard ship, at over 50 years, which is now a floating maritime museum in Truman waterfront park, in front of the Key West big ship harbor, near where the cruise ships dock. And in Truman park, there is a great farmers market each Thursday which we have used to re-provision with fresh veggies. The same park also hosted a "Pole Vaulting in Paradise" event over a weekend which hosted high school, college and Olympic athletes. 
Nearby is the Florida Keys Discovery Centre, focused on the reef life in the area, which we visited another day. These fish are doing a territorial display.
We have visited a few museums that we didn't get to see last year. Best on the list is the Mel Fischer museum, which tells the story and houses some of the treasure of the wreck of the Atocha, a Spanish galleon from one of the treasure fleets, which when found about 20 years ago yielded over $450 million worth of gold, silver, copper, and jewels from South America.
The Audubon house is an original KW house which was used as a base to paint some of the Florida birds while he worked on that momentous project to paint all 450 birds native to the US.
On the cultural side, we attended a Classics of Comedy show which featured 10 classic sketches by legendary comedians such as Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Cheech and Chong, Monty Python, Abbott and Costello, Rowan Atkinson and on. Although funny, it certainly emphasized the classic delivery and timing of the original artists. Judy attended a literary event featuring the author Daniel Brown, of a book we read a few years ago, "Boys in the Boat", which is the story of the US rowing team from Seattle area which went to the 1936 Olympics.
On the culinary front, we have visited a couple of great Happy Hour places. One a repeat of last year, and one, Santiago's Bodega, a new discovery for us. Great tapas which brought back great memories of our times in Spain. We finally experienced a Key Lime Pie, courtesy of our local grocery store, which is much more affordable than from the tourist shops downtown.
And of course we have visited a few bars in the evenings to take in the great music here. Sloppy Joe's, which was Hemingway's haunt, is a favourite for good bands, but we have had mixed experiences there. One night, with a great band and a full house, we shared a table with a very nice couple from Greenville SC. One of our favourite places, Hanks Hair of the Dog Saloon, which is a block off the main action on Duval street, had a great band Coconut Victrola, who play a mix of swing, New Orleans Jazz, blues and easy rock. Listened to them at Sunset Pier another early evening, enjoying a sunset, of course.
We have had the dinghy in the water a few times to explore the area, but has been a bit too windy so far to go to far. The wind is forecast to ease a bit so looking forward to getting a bit further afield. To get around, we walk a lot as we are so well located. When we want to go further, we use the Duval Loop, which is a free, tourist oriented bus that runs a fixed route around the town, and covers most of the destinations we want. The one destination it doesn't cover is the Publix grocery store, but we can use the paid bus to get there, for $1 for the two of us, and then Uber back with our groceries. Importantly, there are two marine supply stores and a general hardware store within easy walking distance to support my maintenance tasks.
We still haven't been to the beach, or sailing on America 2.0, so we still have lots to look forward to. We are expecting guests over the next two weeks to share some of these experiences, including Judy's sister Wendy, and another visit from Tristan shortly after. So, lots to look forward to.
great photos
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