Departing Key West.

After checking luggage for my evenings cruise back to Fort Myers Beach I walked almost 5 miles along the Historic Seaport Marina Harbor Walkabout, Duval Street and a few other places I wanted to revisit in Old Key West. Late in the afternoon on my way back to get my luggage it started to rain, I therefor had to do some bar hopping along the Historic Seaport Marina HarborWalk between downpours to prevent from getting drenched on the way to the Key West Express dock before departing back to Fort Myers Beach.

Jack did not eat and/or imbibe in every establishment Jack took pictures of while in Key West. Also establishments which did not practice outside social distancing were avoided.

We should always pay tribute and honor the Margarita on Jack’s special day of celebration. Jack so deeply respects and values its place in our history that he never attended school on February 22. He always celebrated National Margarita Day. FYI, Margaritas that have been continuously refrigerated will typically keep at best quality for about 4 to 6 months! What a cocktail! I’ve never stored one anywhere for that length of time, so I can not verify that statement.

Jack’s first visit to Key West was in 1970, which was years before Key West became a tourist destination. A bunch of guys from Chicago rented boats at a marina and went camping and fishing around Marquesas Keys.

As rain let up I continued down the Harbor Walk until another squall hit and I ducked into Dante’s Key West Pool Bar & Restaurant for my last rum drink in Key West. I had always had some type of sea food for dinner throughout my stay in Key West, knowing it was fresher than I would get in Illinois. I had chosen not to order fried Calamari up to this point in time because they are available in Illinois. I succumbed and had an order at Dante’s Pool Bar during this down pour. It was the best Fried Calamari I’ve ever had!

This is usually a “Party” pool, but since it was raining hard only a couple of us old guys were at the bar.

Earnest Hemingway moved from Key West to Havana Cuba in 1939. Alice, Barry, Jimbo and Jack visited his home and boat Pilar in 2016. Click here to review this trip.

My original plan was to take a day cruise (70 miles in the open ocean) to the isolated Dry Tortugas National Park and the 16 acre Fort Jefferson (largest brick structure in the Americas). I waited too long to make reservations, the reason for extending my time in Key West at the Ibis Bay Beach Resort. These cruises were canceled because of choppy waters from Small Craft Warnings.

This is where, Ernest Hemingway went fishing many times and John James Audubon made several of his drawings for the “Birds of America” folio. Also this is where doctor Samuel Mudd was imprisoned after being convicted of conspiracy in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Mudd helped provide medical care during a yellow fever epidemic at the fort and was eventually pardoned by President Andrew Johnson for his efforts.

Numeric Orange Balloons correspond to those shown on below map.

Click the below photo to view Uncle Jack’s Key West.blogs.

More Key West Stuff.

I have NOT imbibed in all these establishment. My favorite “watering hole” in Key West is not even shown above!

The Old Town on-Off Trolley drove by the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea but is not on one of their Stops. So on Sunday after visiting the Southermost Point Buoy, I walked three quarters of a mile to the church. It is one of the oldest Catholic parishes in Florida. The church is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1868 five Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary arrived from Montreal, Canada, and established the first Catholic school in South Florida. The Convent of Mary Immaculate, the oldest educational institution in South Florida, had its humble beginnings in a framed government building, which was an abandoned Civil War barracks being used by locals as a goat shed.

In 1875 the Sisters began construction of a new building of native coral rock. (Coral Rock is no longer allowed to be used as a building material.) To save money on building costs, the sisters would work on the grounds themselves during their “leisure hours”.
The Grotto was designed and built under the direction of Sister Louis Gabriel and is buried in the on site cemetery. Sister Gabriel had survived three major Hurricanes since her arrival in Key West in 1897. Tradition tells us that her desire to keep Key West and its residents safe from future storms, she and the other Sisters who built the grotto prayed that Key West would never experience the full brunt of a hurricane again. As can be attested to, the center of a hurricane has not hit Key West since the erection of the Grotto in 1922.

The Convent has been more than an educational facility. During the Spanish-American War, the Sisters turned the Convent, along with the two school buildings, over to the U.S. Navy for use as a hospital.

Numeric Orange Balloons correspond to those shown on below map.

Click the below photo to view Uncle Jack’s Key West.blogs.

Ibis Bay Beach Resort.

We started the day by walking down the street from the Kimpton Lighthouse Hotel where we stayed to the Rams Head Southernmost resturant for breakfast. I then walked the other direction to The Lighthouse & Keepers Quarters. Alice and Barry then drove me to the Ibis Bay Beach Resort, where I stayed for two more days. They continued onto Ft. Lauderdale for a flight back to Chicago.

I had initially planned to take a ship to the National Park on the Dry Tortugas Islands during my stay in Key West. But, I waited too long to book a cruise and they were all booked up. I then booked a trip for Sunday, than for Monday, they were both canceled because of small craft warnings in the Gulf of Mexico. Since the hotel we were staying in was booked for the weekend I chose to stay the Ibis Bay Beach Resort until my cruise back to Ft. Myers Beach.

Ibis Bay Beach Resort has 600 feet of private white sand beach with a quirky inspired old 1950’s Havana décor. It has a nice Pool Bar and a free Continental Breakfast. A shuttle to down town Old Key West every hour using two of the Trolley stops to let off motel guests. Plus: Tortoise feeding at 11 am • Iguanas (I was told not to feed the iguanas!) • real live talking “rescue” Macaws (Again, I was told they bite!) • White Herons wandering freely • Shark feeding at 1 pm and 6 pm. (Shark food sold at a nearby Fish Market!) I was always somewhere in down town Old Key West during feedings and I had no time for their water sport rentals.

Lexi the talking rescue Macaw says: “Hy” as you walk into reservation office and “Bye” as you leave.

Ibis Bay Beach Resort has the only beach on Ibis Bay. All sand in the keys has been imported from the Bahamas. The Keys do not have surf which generates sand.

Numeric Orange Balloons correspond to those shown on below map.

Click the below photo to view Uncle Jack’s Key West.blogs.

Bahama Village Trek.

Old Town Bahama Village – The “village” founded in the early 1800s, is a residential 12-block area with colorful Bahamian-style architecture on cobblestone streets and panoramic water views from the Key West Lighthouse. It was frequented by Ernest Hemingway during the 1930’s. It is located a block from our hotel with, open-air restaurants serving Caribbean island-inspired seafood and coconut-heavy cocktails, and many feature live music. This area in where the first black Bahamian settlers arrived in the 19th century. The “village” has all the flavors, culture and traditions a historic neighborhood represents and comes alive through the many streets in this area of Old Key West.

On Thursday Alice, Barry and Jack headed a couple blocks from our hotel to the Blue Heaven Restaurant & Bar (“You don’t have to die to get there.”) restaurant for one of their famous breakfasts’ in the Bahama Village. We were planning our initial old Town Trolley tour to begin that day and did not want to delay it with a long wait.

So we walked back to the Rams Head Southermost resturant for their “Best dang Breakfast.” They too had a very long wait. But, I had time for a build-your-own Bloody Mary. You purchase a half filled salted glass of Vodka. (Price of Bloody Mary varies based on the quality of Vodka that is chosen.) Then you choose your tomato, lemon and/or lime juices from inside a refrigerator. Note shelves of many, many hot sauces to choose from. Below shelves are containers of many vegetables to choose from. Alice had an import beer and Barry a tea!

So we walked across the street to the Moondog Café & Bakery for breakfast.

Jamille took the photo of me behind the steering wheel when we were on a small boat tour in the Galápagos Islands in 2017.

Numeric Orange Balloons correspond to those shown on below map.

Click the below photo to view Uncle Jack’s Key West.blogs.

Fort Zachary Taylor & …..

Fort Zachary Taylor – Wednesday morning I walked the half mile from the Kimpton Lighthouse Hotel to Fort Taylor. The fort was built in response to the war of 1812 when the US started building forts to protect it’s valuable coastlines. In 1845 construction began on this brick fort to protect the Key West Harbor, the Straights of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. The fort was named for the 12th US President, Zachary Taylor. The fort was activate during the Civil War, the Spanish American War, WWI, WWII and during the Cuban Missile Crises. The fort is now adjacent to an active US Naval base.

Numeric Orange Balloons correspond to those shown on below map.

Click the below photo to view Uncle Jack’s Key West.blogs.

Arriving Key West by Boat.

_I chose to arrive in Key West on the Key West Express (a 170 foot catamaran). I like catamaran rides, especially when they can travel over 34 knots in the open ocean. It’s actually quicker to take a 3½ hour boat ride from Fort Myers Beach than to dive over 5 hours to Key West from Fort Myers.

I was going to meet friends in Key West, Florida after visiting my son in Celebration, (a suburb of Orlando) Florida. There were no direct non-stop flights from Orlando to Fort Myers. There are flights from Orlando to Fort Myers, but, I would have had to fly back home to Chicago and then back to Fort Myers. This would require an Uber from the airport to a motel • to dinner and • to the Key West Express dock for a 7:45 boarding. Renting a car from Orlando to Fort Myers was more expensive than renting a car all the way to Key West! I borrowed my son’s car for the drive to Fort Myers Beach.

On Monday evening, February 15, I stayed at the 2-star Hideaway Motel (Very small room, clean and recently remodeled.) at Fort Myers Beach, on Estero Island. This island faces the Gulf of Mexico.

I had dinner at the Matanzas on the Bay Marina (Recommended by the Motel.) with an outside waterfront patio on the Matanzas Harbor Pass across from the Key West Express dock.

“Per FEDERAL MANDATE, FACE MASKS must be worn at all times at terminals and throughout the duration of Sea Travel.“ This was announced many times before and during cruise. But, it was not enforced on the ship! To be safe, I traveled on the top outside third deck at a social distance at a speed of over 34 knots.

TSA required all Adult passengers 18 and over to show valid identification corresponding to Boarding Pass in order to travel on the Key West Express catamaran.

Early morning Tuesday at the Key West Express dock, Matanzas Harbor Pass, Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

Upon arriving on the Key West Express Catamaran in Key West on Tuesday, February 16, there were Electric Vehicles waiting for those that had previously reserved them. Also, they would hold your luggage and deliver it to your Hotel later in the day when your room becomes available. And, they notify the Conch Train Tour, that visitors had arrived for a tour of the “Conch Republic.” The closest train would then head over and pickup the passengers that just arrived.

I only had a small wheeled suitcase and a backpack for my 1-mile walk to the Kimpton Lighthouse Hotel. My room wouldn’t be available for several hours, so I decided to have lunch at the Conch Republic Seafood Company which is located at the historic Seaport Harbor Marina. They advertise their seafood is so fresh you can watch their fishing boats arrive.

The Conch Republic (/ˈkɒŋk/) is an actual micronation by Key West seceding from the union in a tongue-in-cheek manner in 1982. (30 foreign countries have since recognize the Conch Republic.) This was done when the United States insisted on treating the Keys like a foreign country by having the Border Patrol blockade the Florida Keys looking for illegal immigrants and drugs. The blockade was hurting the Keys’ important tourism industry.

The Key West’s City Council’s complaints went unanswered by the U.S. Federal Government and attempts to get an injunction against the roadblock failed in court. So, the City Council declared Key West’s independence on April 23, 1982. As many of the local citizens were referred to as Conch’s, the new nation took the name of the Conch Republic. (Key West has maintained this name as a tourism booster for the city.)

Mayor Wardlow was proclaimed the Prime Minister of the Republic, and immediately declared war against the United States (symbolically breaking a loaf of stale Cuban bread over the head of a man dressed in a naval uniform). He quickly surrendered a minute later to the man in the uniform, and he immediately applied for one billion dollars in foreign aid from the US. The Conch Republic is still waiting for their foreign aid.

The roadblock and inspection station were removed shortly after national TV stations started broadcasting the plight of the Key’s. And, it’s anniversary continues to resulted in the creation of special events at Key West.

Numeric Orange Balloons correspond to those shown on below map.

Click the below photo to view Uncle Jack’s Key West.blogs.

Key West, 2021, Activities.

Key West, is an island city, part of the Florida Keys archipelago. Key West is the Southernmost Point of the United States to vacation where Artists, Authors, Pirates, Poets, and Presidents have lived with great weather. This subtropical paradises highest recorded temperature ever recorded is 97°, lowest temperature is 41° and it is the driest city in Florida. It is the only city in the US that has never had frost. It is famed for its Bars, Beaches, Coral Reef, Fishing, Treasure Hunters, and Sunsets, or just to play in the water. Keeping in mind, Key West is located closer to Cuba than to Miami!

A Paradise Close to Perfect, Far from Normal.

I always wore two masks while in Key West, this was during the 2021 Covid-19 pandemic. I would step off a sidewalk when encountering groups without masks.

My original plan was to also take a day cruise (70 miles in the open ocean) to the isolated Dry Tortugas National Park and the 16 acre Fort Jefferson. I waited too long to make reservations, the reason for extending my time in Key West. These cruises were canceled during my extended stay because of small craft warnings in the Gulf of Mexico.

Click the below photo to view Uncle Jack’s Key West.blogs.

J. N. Darling Wildlife Refuge.

In February 2021 on my way to Key West, Florida, I stopped at the J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. At the refuge I took the Shell Mound ¼ mile interpretive boardwalk trail from the Education Center to the 4-mile Indigo hard packed dike trail. They close this area down once a week to give the refuge creatures a day off to rest!