Our Southernmost Point

Day 276  |  Marathon/Key West    

Another wonderful hot shower and a few moments on the balcony overlooking the pool started the morning. We grabbed a quick breakfast, checked out of our room, and waited beside the dolphin statue for the hotel shuttle bus to take us into downtown Key West for the day. Our plan was to walk down Whitehead Street and visit the busier tourist spots before the crowds got thick and the temperatures too warm. The first spot we passed was Mile Marker 0, marking the end of US Route 1 which runs 2,369 miles from Fort Kent (ME) through Richmond and ends here in Key West. Anything that has this many road signs and billboards devoted to it is required to have adjacent souvenir stands ... and there were two.

At the end of Whitehead Street is the Southernmost Point marker. It was quite breezy and the wind-aided chop was breaking at times over the wall, but there was a line of us to get our picture taken in this iconic spot. Also in this little area is a statue of Bishop Albert Kee, a renowned conch-blower, who greeted an estimated 11 million visitors with characteristic sound of air through shell. The gypsy roosters wandered all over the place and crowed at all hours of the day, just because they could. We walked over to South Beach and found a photo-op adirondack chair. On our way back into town we stopped by the Butterfly Conservancy. No time for museums today, but we did visit the beautiful gift shop and stuck our heads in the holes.

The lighthouse opened at 9:30 and we waited for a little while, commenting on how the sky was really starting to cloud over. The lighthouse was built in 1847, but in 1894 twenty more feet were added to the top to reach its present day height. The "stretch" section throws off the aesthetics, but gives it an interesting story. There were 88 steps to the top. The views from the ports and the top were of thickening clouds.

By the time we were down and midway between the light and keeper's house, the bottom fell out. Heavy rain fell for 20 minutes or so. When it was done, the sun came out and the raindrops on the berries of the Buccaneer Palm tree glistened in the sun. Almost looked like the freezing rain they were having back home. Our path back into town took us by the Truman Waterfront and the US Coast Guard Cutter Ingham, the only Coast Guard cutter afloat today to receive two Presidential Unit Citations for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy. We admired the stately mansions along Duval Street, passed by President Truman's Little White House, and made our way to Mallory Square in search of some lunch. While checking out what was around us, we were presented with a live scenario of an age-old question: Why did the chicken cross the road?

We followed him to find out and ended up at Two Friends Patio Restaurant where there was live music and good food. We finished up over at the Historic Seaport Harbor Walk where we found the welcome sign and a cool directional sign (Chesapeake Bay's Mobjack Bay is near the top). Barry picked himself up some snorkel gear and then we loaded back into the shuttle bus and returned to pick up the car at the hotel. Away we went, back to the marina, stopping by the office to pick up our latest Amazon delivery.

Looks like the laundry and boat projects are on the horizon for tomorrow. We'll also start looking at the weather more seriously and hoping for a good weather window to leave Marathon and stage for the crossing to the Bahamas.