Sunday, Feb 20, 2022

People were taking advantage of the wind today. We were greeted with the sight of two kites flying at our resort. Unfortunately, there was a kite-eating tree that captured one of them for a while.

We enjoyed a leisurely drive to Key West, stopping at a couple of spots along the way. One stop was at Coco Plum Beach, a nice long stretch of white sand. Here, we found several groups of kiteboarders. It was the first time I’ve ever seen the boards and sails up close. It’s a beautiful sport.

Then we came upon the Crane Point Museum and Nature Center, a 63 acre park in Marathon, with a bird sanctuary and rehabilitation center, an intact home from an 1800’s Bahamian settlement, as well as the largest tropical hammock in the Middle Keys. Hammock is a term used here to describe a stand of trees that forms an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem.

At one point, we were able to dip our feet in a lagoon and have tiny fish nibble at our feet – nature’s pedicure! They really liked Mark’s feet.

On to Key West, where we will spend the coming week. After checking into our VRBO, we walked about a mile to Sloppy Joes, which was a favorite hangout for Ernest Hemmingway. The bar has been located here for 85 years, and is on the US National Register of Historic Places. It was packed, but we managed to find a couple open stools at the bar. The sloppy joes were good, the drinks were good and the band was good.

Key West is pretty busy right now, with people having a good time during this long President’s Day weekend.