Life looks pretty good in the Florida Keys. Boot Key Harbor is quite full of boaters and boats contentedly swinging bow to stern in the vast mooring field, and Key West is brimming with tourists. Jugglers and mimes and unicyclists and fire eaters all cajole the sunset crowds in Mallory Square. The man with the manic laugh who trains cats is still putting on his show – I personally might be wishing for a different life by now. And the cats? They walk and jump and sit, but their tails are switching all the time. I wonder???
The Navy has roiled up the anchorage, insisting that everyone move 400 yards from Fleming Island (present limit is 100 yards), saying that more munitions are being stored there and boaters should be clear of the ‘explosive zone’.
But we are focused on business. My bicycle shuttles too and fro on errands, last minute laundry, groceries, mail, phone calls, reordering our lives, again. Hardly time to admire the palms, cycads and datura that burst through every picket fence, the sweet old cottages and the art-encrusted bicycles, not to mention a cast of characters who could almost fill a bar in Star Wars.
And now, finally, taking a look at the sailing directions from here to Mexico, it seems there’s quite a stir of ocean between us and our destination.