The transformation of Key West Bight is close to complete. A couple of decades ago this area was a working waterfront, the place where shrimpers came to load up with ice and supplies after off loading their catch. I remember this area the first time I came to Key West. filled with those commercial boats. Nowadays the smelly noisy metal hulled fishing boats are long gone, replaced by an assortment of wooden docks, home to Key West's recreational, mostly fiberglass fleet. There are also a bunch of assorted sailboats that offer sunset cruises, known to landlubbers as "tall ships" and to sailors as "square riggers:"
The work in the old days involved chasing shrimp and fish, these days it takes trolling for tourists to catch the fish:
In the bad old days people chased and killed turtles, hundreds of them, and there are photographs to prove it. They laid the creatures on their backs on the dock to render them helpless and took pictures. There is a museum of uncertain opening hours devoted to the subject and a noted bar and restaurant nearby devoted to more epicurean pursuits:
The restaurant called Turtle Kraals is named after the pens, the "corrals" the turtles were kept in, though why they adopted the South African version of the name I don't know. They sell beers from around the world in a gloomy room shaded from the burning sun:
And one can get a rather decent breakfast outside under that very sun on Turtle Kraals' waterfront deck, though it does put the diners rather in the face of passers-by who cruise the boardwalk, ambling aimlessly for the most part, and who thus get a chance to inspect one's breakfast plate as they go:
Not a stone's throw from Turtle Kraals lies the other well known drinking hole in these parts, the Half Shell Raw bar, under the same ownership:
One measure of how many people are still in town is to check the parking situation and in front of Half Shell it was looking good, which was just as well as I had to haul the boat into town for a service and as a a result I was driving the car (again- it's been a constant lately). I had my pick of places to park and naturally chose a jammed meter which technically one is not allowed to park at by city rules. However I got back to the car seconds before the parking control officer showed up. That whole hassle made me miss my motorbike even more as there is tons of free two wheel parking by the Half Shell.
The city of Key West owns the "Historic Bight" and the waterfront and the businesses all along the water around to the Galleon Resort are city tenants. The idea was to preserve the historic structures and the feel of Key West as a harbor. Maybe or maybe not, but there are boats out there, small ones too (the little black dot in front of the helmsman is his dog):
There is a working fuel dock, which doubles as the custom dock for boats checking in from foreign countries. Most people just stop here to get fuel or to pump out their holding tanks:
And in the rear one can sit in the shade next to the Harbormaster's floating office and watch the water world go by:
The old ice house, a crumbling structure for decades, now appears to be getting renovated. However if it is renovation, rather than demolition, they are sparing no expense, half tearing the place down before rebuilding it:
The dinghy dock is located right in front of Turtle Kraals also. There are many people who choose to live afloat, anchored doff Fleming Key or Christmas Tree Island in the harbor. personally I found no decent anchorages in the area, as there are no good spots for all round weather protection . On top of that there are strong currents and lots of boat traffic that kicks up huge wakes in every direction. It's hell I tell you, pure hell, but young people do like their adventures, and they park here when they come to town:
Wandering the Boardwalk on a crisp sunny Monday morning I saw bunches of people, some hanging around chatting with coffee in their hands:
Others shopping at the Waterfront Market:
It's a much loved institution, and it recently faced extinction as the owner, the curiously named Buco Pantelis announced his exhaustion with the victuals trade, and his inability to negotiate an advantageous lease with the City, thus forcing him to close. Well, you might as well have suggested the the earth spin in reverse on its axis. Immediately people started to froth at the mouth and demand the store stay open. And apparently some smaller Florida based natural foods chain is interested:
The fat lady has yet to trill but the change over to new management seems likely at this point. And everyone expects Wyland's muriel will stay as well which as it occupies the entire building isn't surprising.
The Boardwalk offers all sorts of excitement to visitors, this is the place you can book a trip to the Dry Tortugas, or a simple snorkel trip to the reef. There are sailboats, fishing boats, excursion boats and there are free offers too:
Though why anyone would offer free genuine Spanish treasure is hard to fathom, and yet some believe the inducement may be worth while. Call me skeptical but I'm not much of a shopper.A trip round this half of the bight wouldn't be complete without a look inside the third of the three long time bars at the Bight. Schooner Wharf bills itself as the "last little piece of Old Key West," and naturally I think there may be other candidates for the title, but that just makes me sound churlish (Hogfish maybe,or Geiger Key Marina?). Besides they are still proud to note the endorsement of the long dead Charles Kuralt and the venerable National Geographic not the first publication that comes to mind when one thinks of drinking recommendations.
The fact is you won't find one of these on the mainland, complete with dogs, dust and total decorative chaos. I took this picture at 10:54am last Monday and there they are, enjoying Paradise at least for their week's vacation. Personally I'd rather be riding my motorbike. 
Across the street from Schooner Wharf development is moving forward. The former Watermark condo project got crapped on by all the neighbors as too huge and after a bitter legal battle the developers, claiming to be locals cut back the dimensions, and the new Harbor House is supposed to be built to more human proportions:
I feel as though I should frequent Schooner Wharf more often as there is an uneasy feeling in town that pretty soon the genteel occupants of these condos will start complaining about the noise and the smell and the untidiness etc.. and money will talk loudest no doubt...But for now all is light happiness and joy on lazy Way Lane. And the Harbor House developers are advertising their neighborliness:
Back at the parking lot a bunch of visitors was enjoying a fine example of Key West funk, in front of Mac's Sea Garden. They got a kick out of the gently decomposing old truck:
The fact is you won't find one of these on the mainland, complete with dogs, dust and total decorative chaos. I took this picture at 10:54am last Monday and there they are, enjoying Paradise at least for their week's vacation. Personally I'd rather be riding my motorbike. Across the street from Schooner Wharf development is moving forward. The former Watermark condo project got crapped on by all the neighbors as too huge and after a bitter legal battle the developers, claiming to be locals cut back the dimensions, and the new Harbor House is supposed to be built to more human proportions:I feel as though I should frequent Schooner Wharf more often as there is an uneasy feeling in town that pretty soon the genteel occupants of these condos will start complaining about the noise and the smell and the untidiness etc.. and money will talk loudest no doubt...But for now all is light happiness and joy on lazy Way Lane. And the Harbor House developers are advertising their neighborliness:Back at the parking lot a bunch of visitors was enjoying a fine example of Key West funk, in front of Mac's Sea Garden. They got a kick out of the gently decomposing old truck:And that brought me back to the parking lot and the as-yet-unticketed Nissan at the jammed meter. Time to go home and polish the Bonneville for the next outing.
