We’re wrapping up our time in Wey West and preparing for the next leg of out journey: Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Key West has been fun and it’s been a privilege to spend a month in one of the most unique places in America. It was a chance to satiate our culture longings with live music, three movies, a play and performance artists.
After months in the islands we were running low or were out of most of our staples. Susan had done an amazing good job of anticipating our needs in the initial provisioning and now it was time to repeat that feat for the next several months travel. Reprovisioning turned out to be our single biggest job in Key West. It took three days of shopping to complete the task. Each day we would walk to the supermarket, which is about a mile from the dinghy dock. We would then buy one shopping cart’s worth of food. After checking out we would then transfer the food into our 2-wheeled handcart for the walk back to the dinghy dock where we’d then transfer the load into the dinghy for the mile long trip out to Gypsy. After three days of shopping and carting goods Susan declared us stocked and we spent one next day storing and inventorying all those provisions.
Once that was done we took some time to walk around Key West and take in the sights. We checked out some new areas, new to us that is, such as the beaches along the eastern shore and the amazing municipal gardens which are located in an old forte.
We were enchanted by the Butterfly Conservatory; a magical place full of lush tropical plants, birds, fish, turtles, lizards and of course butterflies in all shapes, sizes and colors. At one point Susan extend her had to point to something and several butterflies took the opportunity to fly spirals around her out-stretched arm. It was like being in a fairytale or in a waking-dream about an enchanted rain forest.
We passed this unique houseboat on our almost dally commute from Gypsy to the dinghy dock. We never saw the owners but I often wondered what type of people would occupy such a dwelling. I would love to have met them.
Sometime in the next couple of days we’ll decide that “this is the day” and we’ll drop the mooring lines and head to Mexico. As usual I’m looking forward to sailing and also to arriving in a foreign and exotic port. The next passage won’t be easy as we’ll have to cross the gulf stream at least twice to get to Isla Mujeres, a distance of about 350 nm which should take us three or four days to transit. Wish us luck; we’ll take all we can of that valuable commodity.
