Farewell Safari

Look closely and you will see huge Tarpon

This morning, Safari sailed back toward Miami where they keep the boat.  We have a wonderful time with them and Salty Sailors for the past couple of days.  Key West has much to offer and since Safari has been here a total of five plus months over a couple of years, they knew some very good but almost hidden places to eat and to see.  Duval Street is a bit like Bourbon Street in New Orleans due to the variety of shops and eating establishments.  It has it's own flavor and one must see it during a bucket list visit.  We learned that the cruise ships can only dock here during the day and that they must be away before sunset.  One possible reason is that they block Mallory Square view of sunset.  That's a no no.  The dock fee is around $45,000 per daylight visit.  Now that's a whopper.   Stories abound about lost cruise boat guests asking for directions back to the boat.  Since nothing on the Key is higher than about three stories, all one really needs to do is look up.  It is hard to miss a 15 story wall of white steel down the street.  Those ships drop a couple of thousand hungry, tee shirt seeking, thirsty tourists on the economy every stop.  There is a look some of them have in their clothes.  It is the shorts with black shoes and sometimes white socks that immediately identify their planet of origin.  Not sure Hemmingway ever saw that look.  We tried our first conch fritters the other day.  Not impressed.  We might have to try some other form of the critter. 

Balcony restaurant on Duval Street

Today we rest from the nightlife of the past few days.  Dang, it is hard to run with  the big dawgs.  Anything past sunset starts to require our internal batteries to take over.  We will miss Safari and wish them farewell.  We are hatching our plans to start up the Atlantic Coast.  One thing is that we will not make haste.