Days 111 – 141
After recuperating from our Day From Hell, we crawled out of our boat to explore Stock Island Marina Village, a huge marina that includes the upscale Perry Hotel, on the western side of Stock Island, which is just east of Key West. In fact, Stock Island Marina Village has a physical address in Key West. The marina itself boasts 288 slips on floating docks, along with very nice amenities such as two beautiful swimming pools, two onsite restaurants, multiple marina restrooms/showers, and laundry facilities. They have an attentive staff that does their best to please all customers, with ice delivered directly to your slip whenever its requested, along with weekly pump-outs. My favorite amenity was the complimentary shuttle that provides convenient transportation to and from Key West every hour, on the hour, from 9:00 AM through 9:30 PM, seven days a week, for its marina and hotel guests.
We partook of the Salty Oyster Bar, which was located just down from our slip between the hotel and marina, right next to one of the pools. Even though they offer friendly service, a full bar, and tasty bar food, they did not offer oysters, despite their name. We enjoyed enough lunches and/or happy hours there during our month’s stay we felt we knew the staff well enough to razz them about their name. (Turns out, the Salty Oyster Bar did once serve oysters, but that was discontinued when COVID hit for some reason. I believe the plan is to eventually provide the restaurant’s namesake as fare again, at some point, when all this craziness ends.) We lunched at the SOB our very first day, 12/31/20. I marveled at the beautiful grounds with all the lovely palm trees and well-tended, tropical shrubbery. The sun was shining, air was dry and clear, and high temps perfect – low to mid-70s. It truly was paradise!
On New Year’s Day, feeling more fully rested, we explored SIMV (Stock Island Marina Village) and ogled the very large, luxurious yachts tied up along the walls at the marina. These yachts ranged from 60-feet to 120-feet in length, and were so expensive and noteworthy, they each could easily be Googled online, simply by typing in their names. Steve learned that most of them are privately-owned, but are chartered out for private cruises when not in use by the owners. The reality show called Below Decks came to mind every time we ambled by one of these monstrosities, or viewed pictures of their interiors online.
In addition to regularly cleaning Legacy inside and out, along with the never-ending daily chores of laundry, dish-washing, head-cleaning… (Yes, we were in glorious Key West, but the daily drudgery still continued, unfortunately. Too bad we couldn’t have afforded a full onboard staff to do all that work for us, like those giant yachts tied nearby!) We always treated ourselves to cocktails up in the flybridge at sunset, which helped to balance out those chores. Even though we weren’t right on the ocean, we still had a great view of the sunset. Early on, we both agreed that – since we had an entire month to enjoy the Key West area – we weren’t going to run ourselves ragged trying to cram every attraction into our first week there.
We easily got the hang of catching the shuttles on time and even became friends with one of the shuttle drivers, who said he and his wife had retired to Key West from New Jersey about a year earlier. He was driving the shuttle to supplement his retirement income. He played THE BEST Sirius/XM stations on the shuttle, with all of our favorite hits. He also recommended we try brunching at Two Friends Patio Restaurant after we made our initial shopping runs, which we took him up on and thoroughly enjoyed. Almost every restaurant in Key West has open-air dining with tropical island decor (everything from elegant to Bohemian), which always helps to enhance any dining experience.
We visited the Shipwreck Treasures Museum and learned all about the history (and one-time profitability of) wreck diving in Key West, during the mid to late 19th century. Back in the day, before the invention of modern nautical navigation tools, it was a regular occurrence for large, overseas passenger and cargo vessels to run aground on the jagged reefs south of Key West, especially in hurricanes (which could not be predicted during those times). Although these ships often sank and their treasure cargo was lost during this period, many others were intercepted after they wrecked, but before they sank, when wreckers would rescue any living passengers and then help themselves to the doomed ship’s treasure. “Wreck Ashore!” was a common cry heard throughout Old Towne Key West, whenever an unfortunate vessel was spotted in such distress. During this time, the fortunes recovered from these shipwrecks were Key West’s only way of supporting its early pioneers. Recovery of the wrecked vessel, Isaac Allerton, which sank in 1856, was finally achieved in 1985. The Shipwreck Treasures Museum illustrates and documents this wreck and recovery through the use of actors, films and actual artifacts recovered from the wreck. Cecil B. Demille’s 1942 movie, Reap the Wild Wind, staring John Wayne, is based on the wreck-diving and recoveries of the mid to late 1800s. Steve and I traveled back in time to learn the ways of the wreck-divers and their adventures. We climbed to the top of the 65-foot high lookout tower where wreckers once watched for wrecks and alerted the island’s residents to run down to the seashore for possible treasures available for the taking. Steve wasn’t thrilled with the some 5,487 (maybe not quite that many…) steps we had to climb to reach this vantage-point, but he endured it nonetheless and we were rewarded with a gorgeous, 365-degree view of the island of Key West and waters surrounding it.
On another day, we walked to Arcimoto, located right next door to the Perry Hotel, to rent one of their all-electric FUVs (Fun Utility Vehicles). The FUV combines a 3-wheeled motorcycle with a small, dune-buggy like contraption that can travel as fast as 45 mph, which means (unlike the rental golf-carts), renters can travel right along with the speed of traffic on the roads. We drove that little FUV all over the island, running errands, seeing sights, and lunching at The Stoned Crab. The SIMV shuttle only services designated stops, so when you need to go places other than those, the FUV is perfect for that, as it even has a locking compartment behind the passenger seat for carrying groceries or other finds. I took a selfie of Steve driving with me sitting behind him, and when I saw that picture, it hit me full in the face that we have actually become those “goofy old people” I’ve always made fun of!
During our stay, we walked over to El Siboney, a Cuban restaurant on Stock Island for several lunches where we discovered we both really like Cuban food. One of the things I like best about Key West and Stock Island are the wild hens and roosters that run free all over the islands, and crow at will. Even if you’re standing right next to them! It is believed that the early immigrants to Key West brought with them Red Jungle Fowl, a common breed of wild chicken, from Cuba and the Caribbean islands. Originally, they were bred and raised for cock-fighting, but when the US outlawed cock-fighting, the residents simply freed all their chickens from captivity, where the fowl quickly adapted to being free-range and self-sufficient over the years. Their ancestors have since over-populated Key West to the point they are becoming a nuisance, but most tourists find them delightful, including us!
Early in our stay, Steve contacted Brent Eaton Freece, a recommended boat mechanic in Key West, to come perform some maintenance on Legacy’s engines, repair a leakage problem up in the anchor pulpit, and install a new, larger TV, in the salon! I now have a new place for my onboard plants (where the original, smaller TV was located) and a brand new, 32” Samsung Smart TV is mounted on a bracket to a cabinet between the galley and the salon, for my easier viewing pleasure.
As no visit to a new marina is complete without, early in the month I made a visit via Uber to the Key West Urgent Care to treat YET ANOTHER sinus infection (my 3rd one since we moved aboard). I got my usual shot in the hip of steroids and more antibiotics prescribed. I think Steve may be exactly right about urgent cares being my new hobby! 😐
Janice and Dean Conley, our friends on Blue Barnacle, arrived in Key West early in the month, where they slipped until the end of January in Key West Bight Marina, which is right down along the harbor walk, where all the action is. Both of them being athletic, they rode their eBikes all the way over to SIMV to join us for lunch at the Salty Oyster Bar and also to stop at nearby Fishbusters, which is famous for its fresh, low-priced seafood. Janice is braver than me and boiled stone crab claws onboard their boat that night for their dinner.
We had a nice surprise visit from our daughter, Kinsey, and her teen-aged daughter, Laney, when they joined us on our boat from 01/08 through early morning, 01/11. We had invited both daughters and their families to feel free to come down and visit while we were in Key West, but weren’t sure anyone would be able to partake, considering the time of year, school, and activities of all their kiddos. Kinsey saw an opportunity to take a short mother/daughter trip, so they both flew down from Conway on Friday, 01/08/21. We showed them around SIMV, then hung-out at the pool for a few hours (the weather of course had turned chilly for their visit, after a front came through…), then ate dinner up in our flybridge to watch the sunset. The girls said they slept fine up in their v-berth accommodations, and Grampa fixed us all a big breakfast with pancakes on Saturday morning. We then jumped onto the shuttle to do the Key West thing. Laney is at that age where clothes and shoes are everything, so ample shopping for her was on our agenda. The four of us ate a late lunch at Conch Republic and then walked to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory, which was one of my favorites from our previous visit to Key West several years ago. I was afraid Laney might be bored, but when one of the many resident butterflies alighted on her shoulder and then stayed there for many minutes, I could tell she was charmed by that. We all four walked and walked that day, with Gram stopping to take lots of pictures, so was always behind the rest of the group. We came back after dark that evening, having had plenty of exercise. Kinsey and Laney went off on their own to Key West on Sunday morning for girl-time and another shop-o-rama, then took a ride on the glass-bottomed boat to visit the only living reef remaining in the US, near Key West. The cold front had raised the winds and roughened the water, so they didn’t get to see as much as they’d hoped (water was too murky), but were still glad they went. While they were off on their own, we enjoyed lunch at Half Shell Raw Bar and visited the Gallery on Greene Street so I could get a dose of artistic inspiration. (I still need to get out my drawing pad and drawing pencils!) The weather this day was COLD, by Key West standards, with brisk north winds, not much sun, and high temps in the low-60s. Even still, we stopped at the White Tarpon on the harborwalk for their world-famous Key Lime Martinis, which were delicious. Our guests left before sunrise to catch their Uber to the airport, so they could head back north to cold and snowy Arkansas. We were glad it was them and not us!
Of course, even though chain stores are highly discouraged in Key West (there’s not even a Walmart!), which meant there were no Michael’s or Hobby Lobbies or Joann Crafts, I was still able to find the Seam Shoppe in Old Town where I could purchase sewing supplies and yarn to my heart’s content, and frequented it several times. 😊 My plan is to start sewing myself some blouses and tops, now that I have my beloved portable sewing machine onboard. I’ve also found Warm Up America, which is an organization for which I can crochet for charity and mail them my creations when finished, which is why I needed the yarn.
One night we met up with Dean and Janice Conley again, this time for happy hour at Alfonzo’s on the Harbor Walk, where we had an entertaining waiter, great drinks and delicious food. We updated each other with our latest boating stories. That’s one thing we boaters are never short on – boating stories of our adventures. On our shuttle ride back to SIMV that evening, we happened to meet Scott and Ruby Stevens, along with their precious little Pomeranian named Bitsy, who were also staying at SIMV on their sailboat called Nautical Dreamer. They had also sold their home and their belongings and were living aboard like we are. We ran into the Stevens and Bitsy multiple times on the shuttle throughout our stay.
About mid-month, Rick and Rhonda Spykman on R&R (for Rick and Rhonda 😊), joined SIMV B Dock several slips up from us. They are a fun couple from Holland, MI, who are also doing the loop. Rhonda quickly organized a docktails outside their boat, but by the time we were all gathered, it began to rain! Instead of ditching the gathering, I invited everyone to come up into Legacy’s flybridge and continue the fun. We managed to get five couples in there comfortably, with room to spare and wound up having a great time. We met Dave and Val, on Sea Major, Bobbie and Dan, on Serendipity, and Cathy and Scott, on Andante, in addition to the Spykmans. The whole time I kept thinking both Rick and Rhonda looked familiar to me, but had no idea why. Eventually I found out that they had attended the same AGLCA Fall Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park that we had, back in 2018. Being loopers in progress, Rick and Rhonda had gotten up in front of us planners to share their experiences. THAT’S where I remembered them from! Small world, indeed.
During our stay, we made multiple walks to Hogfish Bar Grill for lunch, and then to West Marine for supplies. Even though they were less than a mile’s walk, one way, the walk always seemed longer for some reason. One thing we’ve noticed while we’ve been in the Keys, there seems to be only two income levels living down here – going by their dwellings, residents appear to be either mega-wealthy, or poor. There seem to be no middle-class-sized homes like those we’ve always lived in. The walks to both Hogfish and West Marine are both through a poorer side of Stock Island. (Although, when we happened to find an old mobile home or shotgun house with a For Sale sign in the yard, we’d look it up online and discover it listed for close to a million dollars! Location, location, location!)
We enjoyed several FUN happy hours at the Salty Oyster Bar with Rick and Rhonda Spykman and Cathy and Scott McKinley. One of those happy hours was after we’d all returned from a very fun dinghy ride (three couples on three dinghies) over to Mud Key, which is basically several large mangrove beds situated northeast of Key West. Scott knew about Mud Key from an acquaintance, and since it was another stellar weather day (and we had finally gotten Digney down and into the water), we decided our little flotilla of three should take an afternoon ride out to Mud Key. The seas were pleasingly smooth and the sun was shining, so off we went, where we saw lots of crystal-clear and very shallow water. In fact, in several spots, our dinghy motors accidentally stirred up huge clouds of sand behind us, because the props were so close to the bottom! Riding around those mangrove beds made me remember WAY back in the day, when as a very young child, my family had lived in the Florida Keys and my dad had taken my 4 and 5-year-old self out in our little red and white boat to explore the area, which did my heart good. We also felt extremely patriotic as we watched (and HEARD) the low-flying fighter pilots zooming back and forth above us, as they made practice runs from and to the nearby Boca Chica Naval Air Base. (In fact, because SIMV is located right next to the Key West International Airport, and just a few miles north of the naval air base, we became very accustomed to all the air traffic noise. It was so close that we would literally be forced to stop our conversation for several seconds to give planes time to pass over, or we wouldn’t be heard by our listeners. Several people mentioned they wouldn’t return to Stock Island because of that noise, but it really didn’t bother us that much.) Coming back to SIMV, the sun began to dip in the sky, but it was still early enough for us all to gather for happy hour snacks and drinks, which was Cathy’s idea.
Another evening, Cathy arranged for the six of us to enjoy a delicious Italian dinner at Mangia, Mangia – one of Cathy and Scott’s favorite restaurants. The Spykmans still have a car with them, so Rick chauffeured us all over for the evening. We ate outside in a charming, plant-filled garden area with lots of twinkling lights suspended from pergolas above us. We had the best time that night! The temps and atmosphere were just right, the wine was flowing, and our dishes were all perfect. After sharing a piece of tiramisu and a slice of key lime pie for dessert, we were all stuffed, so Scott decided we needed to walk over a few blocks to the Key West Cemetery in the dark. The evening was so warm and pleasant and all the homes along our walk were beautiful, with an abundance of tropical landscaping illuminated by up-lighting. Of course, I took a ton of pictures, and Steve and I decided we needed to come back to the cemetery during the daylight hours, which we did.
Several days later, Steve and I took a daytime tour of The Key West Cemetery and found it very interesting.
On one particularly gorgeous day, we rode the shuttle into Key West for an early lunch at Island Dogs, then took a tour of The Harry S. Truman Little White House, which is the state of Florida’s only presidential site. The house was originally constructed in 1890 as naval officers housing. The building was since converted into a single-family dwelling and hosted important visitors such as inventor, Thomas Edison, and scientist, Edward Hayden. Eventually, it was deemed a presidential haven where past and present US presidents and their families were invited to visit as a retreat from the actual White House to enjoy the beautiful grounds and much warmer climate. It has been visited by four different acting presidents and their families over the years. The first was William Howard Taft in 1912, then Harry S. Truman in 1946 through 1952, then Dwight Eisenhower in 1955-56, then John F. Kennedy in 1961 and 1962. In addition, former president, Jimmy Carter, visited in 1996, and former president, Bill Clinton, visited in 2005. In May of 2009, The Little White House was restored to Harry S. Truman’s era (as he spent a large part of his presidency working from that location), and lush botanical gardens were added. Today, the house is available for tours and is actually still open to any current or past president and family to utilize whenever they wish. (Although, Steve and I both doubt many presidents have banged down the doors to stay there, considering it’s a very humble place, with all furnishings and décor from the 1940s and 1950s, but each to his own!) After our tour, we walked around the development adjacent to the house, called the Truman Annex, where the homes are all expansive and expensive. I told Steve that if we ever won the lottery, I’d be fine with us purchasing a home in Truman Annex, Key West.
Later in the month, we rented another Arcimoto FUV and drove it over to Higgs Beach to try out Salute Ristorante, which also came highly recommended, and we agreed with the recommendation.
We then drove it to the Audubon House in Old Town for another tour. We learned that the Audubon House is erroneously named, as there is no real evidence that the renowned bird artist, John James Audubon, ever actually visited the house himself, but is rumored to have taken some plant cuttings from the property to use in his famous Birds of the Florida Keys paintings. The house was actually built by Captain John Huling Geiger in the mid-1800s. Captain Geiger was Key West’s first harbor pilot and master wrecker. Amassing great wealth from his wreck-recoveries, Geiger built the home for his wife and many children, planting luxurious tropical gardens on the property, one of which was the Cordia Sebestena, commonly known as the Geiger tree. This tree is believed to be a native to the Florida Keys. The house and gardens fell into dilapidation in the early 1900s until Colonel Mitchell Wolfson and his wife purchased and restored it in 1960 to its original American Classic Revival architecture and refurbished the gardens, to what is now known as the Audubon House Museum and Tropical Gardens, which exhibits a large collection of Audubon’s works.
On 01/20/21, another much larger docktails was held on B Dock – this time with perfect weather. More than 10 couples gathered and we met some newcomers to SIMV. We met Tom and Patty Olszowy, on Gemini Gypsy, another 27-foot, trailerable Ranger Tug, like we’d seen in Grand Rivers, KY. Tom and Patty are from Buffalo, NY. We talked and talked with lots of different people and later remarked on how we’re NEVER going to be able to remember all these peoples’ names! Of course, we passed out our boat card and collected others, but it’s still a whirlwind of boats and folks.
On Tuesday night, 01/26/21, we had a great experience when we joined the Spykmans and the McKinleys in our dinghies to motor over to LL’s Test Kitchen at Stock Island Yacht Club for a wonderful sunset dinner. We enjoyed a great meal out on a terrace, with great company and a beautiful sunset. Scott suddenly pointed out that we needed to wrap things up and get back to the dinghies, post-haste, as dark was coming quickly. (Scott is retired Coast Guard, so he thinks of all these things, thankfully!) The water was very smooth and the light was just enough to get us all safely back to SIMV. The views at that time of day over the beautiful waters of the Keys was an experience in itself. I tried to get pictures of it, but my iPhone camera just could not do it justice. One thing we noticed, alarmingly, was that our Digney’s navigation lights weren’t working properly! We were surprised, as they’d worked the last time we’d used the dinghy after dark. We motored back between the other two dinghies, since their nav lights were working properly. Fortunately, we did not get run over or receive a ticket for improper boat lighting at night.
One afternoon, Rhonda and Cathy and I rode in Rhonda’s car over to Lady Nails for simultaneous pedicures. It was a fun and relaxing experience for all. I highly recommend Lady Nails when you’re in Key West! 😉
On Friday, 01/29/21, Steve and I rode the shuttle into Key West to visit Mel Fisher’s Maritime Museum and learned all about the amazing recovery of the Atocha, which sank all the way back in 1622. Mel Fisher was a pioneer in the diving industry, as well as a big dreamer, ever since he read Treasure Island as a child. He studied the many wrecks that occurred over the centuries off the Keys that were never recovered, and eventually dedicated his finances, family, and life to recovering the lost treasure of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a doomed Spanish ship that wrecked and sank with hundreds of millions of dollars in treasure and fortune onboard. During his 16-year search, Mel’s mantra was always “Today’s the day!” and finally, on July 20, 1985, Mel’s team discovered the motherlode. After many legal battles, Mel managed to keep the majority of the fortune, but did donate $20 million dollars’ worth of the fortune to create the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum on Key West. The museum was very interesting, but our experience was lessened because of the museum’s ultra-strict COVID masking rules. They actually had mask monitors following patrons around the museum, on watch to make sure every guest’s masks were being worn and pulled up over their noses. It is difficult to relax and enjoy a tour when there are people standing all around you staring you down. Extreme overkill and completely unnecessary.
On our last full Saturday in Key West, we brunched at Blue Heaven, located inside the Bahama Village portion of Key West, on several strong recommendations, and fully enjoyed the experience. We had been advised to order their version of eggs benedict, called the Bennie, with key lime hollandaise sauce. I ordered mine with avocado and Steve had his with tomato. Afterward we split a scrumptious piece of key lime pie for brunch dessert.
That night, 01/30/21, B Dock put together one last docktails before several of us left the marina for new destinations the following day, of which Legacy was one. Sandy and Otis Scarborough on Taste & Sea hosted, and there was a large turnout of more than 25 guests. In addition to Legacy (which was heading to Marlin Bay Resort and Marina on Marathon Key the next day, 01/31/21), Dave and Val on Sea Major, and Rick and Rhonda on R&R were also leaving for Marlin Bay, and Jim Williams on Seeker was heading across the water to Safe Harbor Marina over beside Hogfish. With that many boats departing from one dock, Sandy felt like a “goodbye docktails” was definitely in order. It was a fun evening and we met a whole bunch more people whose names we won’t be able to remember!
Position: N 24° 33.912, W 81° 44.297
Marina Nights: 120