You are viewing RSS feed from
http://flight-to-key-west.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
pop up description layer
Flight to Key WestWhack Nature Trail
 Key West has a nature trail- it's through a shady mangrove area and ends up on the beach. Sounds nice. But actually rather than enjoying a pleasant walk, you get a swampy trek across the back yard of a condo building.
There's nothing to see but some mangroves which around here are like weeds. You can also spy on what's happening on people's balconies which overlook the wooden walkway. It would just be a cool little pathway to the beach but for the fact that whoever made the trail announces its presence with a glorious official-looking sign that promises much much more than it delivers.
Trees in Key West
Key West is a small, flat island so trees are sparse here. Palms are often cut down for building so even large palm trees are special. These beauties are along Higgs Beach, one of the most popular Key West beaches.
Beach Walking
Key West has skinny, fragile beaches, so we're not known for them. Also, we don't have much in the way of waves, so there's another whole aspect of the beach vacation that's lacking. But we do live on a sub-tropical island, and it's nice to know there are some beaches you can stroll and explore. Higgs Beach is fun because you can start at the eastern end (the end in the picture) and continue in front of West Martello Tower, ending up at the White Street Pier.
Dog on a Boat
Fenway is a Boston Terrier belonging to a spearfishing buddy and his girlfriend. He goes out in the boat all day long with us, and even though that sounds brave and tough, he's really a big baby dog. Just take a look - click on any picture to see a larger version.
Drilling for Oil in Key West
It started with President Bush , who pushed congress to lift a 27 year ban on offshore drilling. Actually, it started 20 years ago in Key West, when citizens formed a drilling ban symbol on the beach to protest drilling for oil and natural gas in Keys Gulf waters. Florida has always had a strong citizen voice against drilling for oil. Since tourism is the economic powerhouse of Florida, opposition to drilling has always been strong enough to keep the rigs away.
Not so in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, where there are rigs close enough to be visible from the beaches. In fact, in the western Gulf of Mexico, there are 4,000 platforms dotting the map. There are no rigs off the coast of Florida.
Since 2008, this is starting to change. That's when Senator McCain switched his position on offshore drilling and joined the call for lifting the ban. And since McCain changed, so did Governor Christ. And the public is changing its tune, too. Since gas hit the $4 per gallon benchmark a few years ago, there is less public outcry at possibilities of lifting the offshore moratorium.
According to one report I read, lifting the ban means drilling for oil and natural gas could take place as close as 3 to 10 miles from the shores of Key West!
Drilling in the eastern Gulf may yield as much as 3.6 billion barrels of oil. That's as much as the United States uses in just six months. We could potentially ruin our marine ecosystem for six months of being able to continue to guzzle gas.
Alabama has been allowing drilling in its offshore waters since the early 1980s. Natural gas generates $500 million a year in state revenue. They even pipe their natural gas to us in Florida. Many citizens in Gulf states where drilling is allowed consider the drilling part of their duty, as in they are "doing their part".
How about doing your part to protect the marine environment?
Yacht Races in Key West
There was some sort of Key West yacht race in town this week, take a look at the photo. It's been windy lately, around 20 knots each day, so it must have been pretty exciting to be on one of those sailboats. They looked beautiful when the wind caught their big sail as they came around and switched direction in Key West harbor. The sun hits that big sail and they zip across the water pretty fast. It was kind of like a painting, all those dozens of big colorful sails set against the blue water and sky.
Wildlife in Key West
  This is exciting to me- a giant neon green lizard in my yard is noteworthy, especially if you're not from Florida.! A mid-sized Iguana munched away as an older one, visible but blurry in the background, skulked around the fence. The colors are amazing.
Worst Silver Girl Ever
 Mallory Square is full of professional street performers who've honed their crafts over the decades. There's a tightrope walker, fire juggler, a modern-day houdini, hypnotist, and one all-around skills guy who does a little bit of everything while his dog collects tips from the crowd.
Big bucks are made at Mallory Square every night, and the best spots for performing are doled out by lottery each night according to a system that's closely watched by a governing board of performers. Permits are required, and the entire sunset scene is very closely monitored for un-licenced performers, etc.
If you're not signed up for a Key West sunset cruise that night, hanging around in Mallory Square at dusk is a good way to start your evening.
So I was puzzled during a recent visit to the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square when I came across the worst Silver Girl ever. There's a Silver Man there, and he's pretty good. If you give him a dollar he'll whistle and pretend to fix his bike with a wrench, robot-style. Next to him is Silver Girl, painted up in wings and a long fancy dress. Give her a dollar and not much really happens at all.
 She wanly kisses her finger tips, first left and then right, then completes the lamest, most passionless curtsy ever. I don't even know how you can perform physical movement and be so limp at the same time. The whole thing takes maybe five seconds and after she's done, you stand there not even believing that was her whole schtick and would it be wrong to take back your dollar.
Floating Ships Museum
 Key West's budding Floating Ships Museum has a new member: the US Coast Guard Cutter Ingham. It arrived just a few days before Thanksgiving this year and is now settled permanently at the East Quay Wall at Truman Waterfront.
The Ingham was launched in 1936 and served during World War II, The Korean War, and the Vietnam War. During World War II, she escorted supply ships across the Atlantic. She was decommisioned in 1988 and this week brought to Key West to become a permanent installment in the Floating Ships Museum at Truman Waterfront. She joing the USS Mohawk, another highly decorated war ship.
She's not only part of this museum, but also a memorial to Coast Guardsmen killed in action during World War II and Vietnam. A total of 912 casualties are memorialized on a plaque at the quarterdeck area of the ship. She's also a National Historic Landmark. To get to the Floating Ships Museum, drive west on Southard (it's a one way street) all the way to the end and park on the gravel near the fenced waterfront area.
Fantasy Fest 2009 Red Party
 Red costumes are awesome- fun to make, wear, and watch! Here are some of the best of 2009 Fantasy Fest, Wednesday night out in front of the Red Party.
Li'l Orphan Annie is the first one, I think. How original is that, what a great costume. It's body paint but it's prim!
And sometimes, if you have a great body and impressive tatoos, that's all the creativity you need. A red corset and you're all set for the Red Party. That's the second photo.
And group costumes are always great looking, too. Those guys, I don't know what they were supposed to be, but they looked fantastic. 
2009 Pet Masquerade at Fantasy Fest
 With so many things in Key West, it's Location, Location, Location. They couldn't have picked a better spot for the 2009 Fantasy Fest Pet Masquerade than Casa Marina. A lovely resort facing south and right on the beach, Casa Marina offered the perfect venue, and a lovely afternoon. In the past, the Pet Masquerade has been set at the Westin at Mallory Square and it was just too crowded and windy there. Pets and their dressed up owners strolled the beach and the walkway, displaying their costumes before the actual show. Not sure why it's called a "Masquerade",  since it's really set up more like a talent show with a stage, etc, but whatever! The theme for 2009 Fantasy Fest was "Villains, Vixens, and Vampires". In keeping with the theme, there was a Cruella De'Ville, possibly the most apt costume since it involved not only a Vixen but also pets (i.e. dalmations). Perfect! 
First to Freedive the Vandenberg
Very big day: we drove out to the Vandenberg and became, I think, the first people to freedive the USS Vandenberg artificial reef. The vis was so good you could see the ship from the surface. I mean, you could even look down from your boat and see the Vandenberg without getting into the water. It won't be that way forever, as things growing on it will cover the white paint and obscure it more and more. But as it stands now, you can snorkel the Vandenberg!
We spent at least an hour there, and nobody took out any guns. It was just that amazing. There were fishermen trolling the thing- I bet all they caught was barracuda, if anything! It's a little too early, guys! There were some good-sized cudas hovering a few feet off the Vandenberg, unfazed by anything, loving their new home, welcoming visitors.
Also present on the Vandenberg were various groups of scuba divers. Now I know why they call them "bubble makers" or whatever the phrase is. The stream of tiny bubbles flowing out their tanks created a column of bad, bubbly vis that went all the way up to the surface. I think we startled a few of them!
The top deck of the Vandenberg is about sixty feet down, so it was good practice for all of us, since that's just about everyone's limit. Mine is about 45 feet. The satellite dish was fabulous, and creepy at the same time. Great picture taking opportunities and the best day freediving I've had in a while.
Key West Snorkeling- Never the Same Twice
Painters can paint the same scene every day and see something different every single time. Monet did this in his impressionist paintings of haystacks, lillies, and anything else he found to be beautiful. Key West snorkeling is the same way. You can go out to the same spot every day and see a totally different scene. And it's not just that there are different fish there each day, it's the quality of the light coming through the water, just what Monet was painting. It's the vis- some days it's very blue and clear. Freedivers and spearos call this "blue water", which is optimal conditions for seeing and spearing fish. Some days you can only see 10 feet in front of you. This day, the vis was ok in some spots, but tinted a very distinct green. We called it Green Water Day. Take a look.
 
The Vandenberg!
It's a big deal, and it's here now, soon to be sunk on May 27. The Vandenberg, to be an artificial reef just south of Key West, was a war ship from World War II that's been cleaned and picked apart so there are no contaminants or pollutants which would harm the real reef once it's sunk. This cost millions and millions of dollars, and took at least ten years, I think. It's going to be the second largest artificial reef in the world, at 528 feet long. It'll be in 140 feet of water, good for scuba but not so accessible for Key West snorkeling. If you can freedive down to forty feet, you will be able to see the dishes, which will be at that level. But too bad it's not a little bit shallower for snorkelers.
She has to be sunk by June 1, 2009, which is the official start of hurricane season. Hurricanes can seriously mess up sinking plans! Anyone who has a boat has to stay outside a one-mile radius of the deployment area, so I'll be curious about what we'll be able to see when we go out to watch. It'll be located south of the Cayman wreck, convenient for dive boats out of Stock Island as well as Key West.
Best Fish Sauce
We catch a lot of fish, (spearfishing) and eat almost all of it ourselves. So eventually the need for lots of fish recipes and fish sauce recipes became an urgent matter. You can get tired of fried fish pretty quickly. Here's one of our favorite sauces, the all-purpose sauce for fried fish and baked fish too.
It's called Red Reef Coral Sauce and it's from Mastering the Art of Florida Seafood.
Fast, easy and delicious.
Coral Sauce
Just stir it all up in a bowl and then put it on your fish!
3/4 cup Mayonaise
2 TB ketchup
1 TB prepared horseradish
2 TB pimento (optional: we never put it in)
juice of 1/4 lemon
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp worchestershire sauce
1/8 tsp tabasco sauce
Star Gazer Reef
One of the coolest snorkel spots in Key West is Star Gazer Reef. Not really for the fish, but for the whole scene. It's a sculpture, kind of like a series of tables under water, with small balls of coral growing all over. Under the "table" there are lots of mangrove snappers and other fish, and one giant resident Jewfish underneath. There's a pair of angel fish here that are ginormous, too.
Star Gazer Reef is lots of fun to snorkel or dive because it's so strange. You can take some pretty cool pictures, too. The challenge is trying to get as close as possible to the Jewfish. Poor thing, he can't really hide himself here. He doesn't like to be bothered, so you feel kind of rude trying to get close. He will keep his eye on you and keep swimming, although slowly, to different sections of the Star Gazer to avoid you. Best option for getting a good picture is to find a place in the sculpture where there's a hole and look down through it, or peer over the top of the "table" at him.
Dolphins at Key West
Seems like every day on the boat becomes an impromptu Key West dolphin tour. The dolphins are everywhere these days, frolicking and feeding within just a few miles of the shoreline. These guys were just south of the island, maybe two miles out. There were more than just the two in the photo, but these were the only ones offering to have their picture taken.
 
Coral Beauty
My latest passion is taking pictures of the gorgeous coral all around Key West. Coral has always been the backdrop for fish pictures, but sometimes the fish just aren't around. This is some sort of parasite coral living on a bigger rock style coral. Did you know that the colors on coral is not the actual coral itself? It's algae that lives on the coral. When you see the dead coral fields in front of Key West, all bleached out, that's just coral without its algae. This coral would look bleached too, if you took away its friendly alage.
Tired Pidgeon
We were out on Sunday, well all weekend actually, spearfishing. On Sunday, the winds were a little strong, but nothing radical. Maybe 13 knots but current made the waves larger than what you would have expected. Anyways, I was eating my sandwich and doing drift duty with the boat (others drift and dive with the boat, and I keep the boat near them) and felt a presence behind me. I looked up at the bow and there was a pidgeon perched on the boat. He was tired, I guess. How did he get so far out? We were near Sand Key.
His leg was tagged, so ...I don't know. I don't know what any of this means, but here he is.
Dolphin Scars
Recently on the way home from a day of spearfishing, we embarked on our own private Key West Dolphin Tour. We saw a pod and slowed down to idle speed and there they were. This poor guy must have run into a boat prop. He's got some major damage going on right there on his dorsal fin.
Key West Fishing at 30 Knots
March is for die-hard Key West fishing fans only. This March it's blown average of 20 knots most weeks, making huge rolling waves out there on the reef. Beyond the reef, well you're taking your life in your own hands if you go out there in a fishing boat.
Luckily, there is one type of Key West fishing that's possible on any day, no matter what the weather has thrown our way. It's on White Street Pier.
Now if you're used to fishing in a boat and in deeper water, this is going to be a big disappointment for you. But for people on vacation or fishing addicts who just have to fish but can't take the skiff out in 25 knots, we have White Street Pier. You can see here how horrible the Key West weather is on this particular day in late March:
The sky is gray and the water is brown from days of high winds from the south. But these folks have figured out that none of this matters to the fish below White Street Pier.
Florida Keys Beach, Wild Style
Key West is great, but let's face it there is a lack of wild places to explore on land. The ocean is a whole world of exploration, the Silent World, full of mystery and strange creatures. What to do if it's blowing 30 knots and you are stuck on land?
Drive out to Geiger Key, just east of Key West, to satisfy the explorer in you. It's a strip of beach adjacent to fenced-off military land, wide enough to traverse and explore. It faces the Atlantic and the beach is narrow with rocks behind it. As Key West beaches go, this is my favorite because it's so untouched and wild.
Walk far enough down the beach, westward, and you'll hit the most incredible little beach hut. It's got a stone foundation and the walls are made of woven driftwood. There are rooms, stairs, a ladder to the roof, hallways, and secret little dens that could also be altars, depending on your point of view.
The beach hut is made to the scale of hobbits, and the little kids we saw there were delighted when they saw it. What a great place for a kids' birthday party. Check out the pictures: 
Key West Barracuda Fishing
Key West Barracuda Fishing
Key West barracuda fishing is, believe it or not, quite popular and exciting. Although most Key Westers don't eat barracuda, they are considered a pretty good fighting fish, and they make the best bait if you're going to go shark fishing later. For first-timers to Key West game fishing, hooking a barracuda is going to be the hilight of the day. Key West barracuda fishing is fast and easy, since there are so many of them in the waters around this island. They can be found in shallow water, on the reef, and in deeper water just beyond the reef. They can get quite large, like five or six feet long, too. And they are strong fighters! Once reeled in, you will see that their teeth are very impressive- large, plentiful, and sharp! Makes a great picture to impress the folks back home.
Barracudas have a reputation that is not quite warranted. Most people, when they hear that you have been Key West barracuda fishing, will have some sort of danger alert pop up in their minds. They will be concerned that perhaps you were in danger while on vacation in Key West. And if you go snorkeling you will almost definitely see barracuda. Folks back home will be shocked! That's because most people know about barracuda only from some exaggerated notion from a movie.
Let's set the record straight. Barracudas don't attack people. They attack the fish that people catch, whether it be on hook and like fishing or spearfishing. But barracuda are afraid of people. They lurk around boats and try to steal hooked fish, but they aren't waiting to ambush actual people!
Barracuda also hang out on the coral reef, which is why Key West reef fishing is sort of popular. Some captains will incorporate barracuda fishing into the first part of a day of fishing, as a way of catching bait. They make great bait because barracuda is a very bloody fish and they are easy to find and catch. Ask you captain about it, try it and you'll see why barracuda fishing in Key West is so much fun!
Top
Half Shell Raw Bar
Right down on the water in Key West's Historic Seaport, you'll find the Half Shell Raw Bar. It has one of the best logos in town (how can you go wrong with a pinup girl holding a platter of raw clams?) and some mighty cheap oysters at happy hour. From 4:30 to 6:30 you get fifty cent oysters, served up fresh at the bar. Pull up and order a dozen, it won't break your budget. They also have Blue Moon on tap, usually. Recently we went there and they actually didn't have it, however.
Woe to the hungry diner who doesn't like raw oysters, however. You will be rushing to make it in time for happy hour only to find that the raw oysters are the only real deal on the menu. You'll end up ordering a seven dollar cheeseburger while your raw shellfish-loving buddies chow down happily. Don't fall for the $5 conch fritters 'cause they are the worst ones in town.
Another Drug Sub
Look, I painted a picture of a drug sub being towed through Key West Harbor. No, really, it's just a terrible picture, but I was on my way out for one of my favorite Key West activities, spearfishing, and the boat didn't stop for pictures. If you look closely at the photo, it's a yellow Sea Tow boat behind a light blue vessel. The blue vessel is another drug sub, only smaller this time. The tow boat really was towing but when the picture was taken the drug sub had rushed ahead with the currents.
|
