Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Key West - The second crew arrives

These were fiberglass but their were made from 3D images of animals caught temporarily. They are stunning when seen in person.  
Their trip was not uneventful. They landed at Ft Lauderdale fine and rented a minivan through AVIS. Around about Homestead they had a flat tire. It seems that the nearby AVIS offices were due to close before they could have reached them. Finally they found an office 20 miles back from where they came that was willing to meet them and them give a new car after a 45 minute wait. All this was happening mostly in the dark and it's still a long trip to Key West. Finally after much trial and tribulation they reached Fleetwing around 10:30 pm, a very long day after having to catch a 7:30 am flight out of Hartford, CT.

It was Ash Wednesday - Ashes to Go was the sign
With that as a lead in, not much was planned for today except sleeping in and going for a stroll in the morning. The high winds did not materialize, a first for this trip south, only 15 kts, a gentle breeze compared to past wind tunnel events. We hardly noticed the wind. Could it be that the weather is calming down??

We're not sure what we're doing the rest of the week yet. Planning ahead is not big on the agenda here. Meanwhile, the city of Key West is busy tearing up Caroline Street which is in the next block off the docks from us. They're installing storm drains as best I can imagine, big ones. Everything is a mess all around the area, much dust and dirt flying with sidewalks roped off.

As far as we could see, Duval Street looked as busy as ever, there's no shortage of tourists. Peter Max and Wyland are both in town this coming weekend and giving exhibitions which we signed up for, Ann likes to see artists at work.


3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Bob

I commented a few weeks ago about how helpful your blog has been to us since we are first timers. Glad you got to Key West safely and are enjoying family. We also made it to our destination Marathon on 2/1 after sitting out some nasty weather in Fort Lauderdale, we have a fantastic slip at Marathon Marina we a great view (that we booked a year ago). We are also ready for this cool weather to leave but guess we can't complain since they have had snow and cold back in the Philly area were we call home.
I have a question for you, I also sail a 423, do you have the 17th Street Bridge in Fort Laudedale open for you? It's listed at 55' but The bridge tender told me that the 55' tide boards (which is what it was reading that day) are not at center but at the sides and implided we did not need it open. He did open it for us reluctantly but told us that he could barley see our mast as we passed. I was just wondering what your experience with that bridge has been.

Bruce

Bob423 said...

Bruce, I've always called the bridge to have it raised since it was posted at 55 ft and I'm 55 ft, 4 in. The bridge tender never said anything but then I usually leave in the morning when heading south and I've never been the only one through.

Unknown said...

Thanks Bob enjoy!!