Trip to Key West and partying with St. Joe Friends

March 19 - 26, 2002 - Trip to Key West and partying with St. Joe Friends

.I The four of us were up early and left Marco for Key West at 7:00 a.m. We followed the markers out of Marco on a lovely, warm morning. It was almost too good to be true and we all hoped the water would stay calm. We exited the harbor about 7:30 and set our headings for Key West. Fishermen were all over and there were hundreds of crab pots to dodge. I don't know why the fish people have to put them out right in the channel that we follow - if anyone knows, please let me know.

Well, unfortunately, our still water didn't stay calm, so we held on and rolled our way toward Key West. It was still a sunny, pretty day, and we saw lots of shrimp boats alon the way, even though the ride was a bit rough. Soon we began to see land, and knew we weren't far away - we should arrive around 3:30. We stayed at the Key West Bight Marina, right in the heart of the action. We could see all the ferry boats that take people back and forth to Marco, the Dry Tortugas boat, the scuba boats, underwater tour boats, large sail boats, and almost anything one wanted to do right from our deck. It was very interesting. We explored the town a bit and had a bite of dinner at a little outside bar on Duval street and did a lot of people watching.

The next morning, Jane and Gene Maddock dropped by the boat with a bag of muffins. They had been out for their morning walk. It was really fun to see them and we had a good visit. That night we had the Maddocks and Georgie and Art down for cocktails, and we walked over to the Turtle Kraal Restaurant for dinner - Very fun. Can you believe that there are so many St. Joe friends vacationing here? The next few days we toured around town to see the sights, and took the Conch Train around too. One night we walked down to see the sunset at Mallory Square. Very interesting. Thousands of people gathering to watch the little shows, people watch, and watch the sunset every night. We in St. Joe., are really spoiled while we enjoy the beautiful sunsets over Lake Michigan. I guess we take them for granted. Bill and I toured the Hemingway House and The Truman Whitehouse. Lots of history around here. The Bells and the Sinns arrived on Saturday, and we will all get together tomorrow, including Evelyn and Jeff Edmunds, who are also vacationing here.

Sunday the 24th all of the St. Joe.gang, except the Maddocks gathered for lunch at the Raw Bar. Kim and Stuart were here visiting and they were busy. Then we continued our visit on the deck of the boat. It was really fun to catch up. Later, we gathered for a drink on the boat and 10 of us walked over to the Conch Republic Restaurant for dinner.

Monday morning the Bells and the Lundgrens left for their drive back to Naples. Jo and Ralph will visit some friends there and then go over to Briney Breezes before heading back to St. Joe. We miss them already.

Tuesday, our last day in Key West, we gathered at the Edmunds lovely condo for a potluck and final goodbyes, as we will leave in the morning. (Edmunds, Sinns, Haights, Maddocks and us) Gosh, it will be so long before we see everybody again. But the time does go so fast, and we will be home in August. We still have a long way to go and it will keep us busy plotting our course up the East Coast. Wasn't in amazing for us to find 14 of our friends from home vacationing in Key West???? at the same time we were there.