Downtown Under Gray Skies

I saw a burst of sunlight as Rusty and I passed but all too soon it was gone.

 The day was one of gray overcast skies, heavy cloud and intermittent rain.

It's unfortunate for visitors who usually put a brave face on it describing snowdrifts and limited hours of daylight and no sunshine Up North. Then they come here and are greeted by something less than tropical weather. 

For me it's a pretty good deal as the clouds bring cooler weather and rain isn't that bothersome in Key West as it tends to come and go and is never too terribly cold (unless you are on a motorcycle).

 A child's shoe. Just one. No idea why it was left on Whitehead Street:

I took refuge under the awnings on my side of Front Street near Clinton Square just like the stranger in the picture below. I watched the rain come down for a while with Rusty sitting at my feet enjoying the scenery. He loves to people watch. 

We walked through Mallory Square in the gray half light, shade from the momentary appearance of the sun through the clouds. It's an automatic reaction when you've lived in Florida: see shade, walk in it.  A few days later a violent moment swept through the homeless denizens of Mallory Square and one guy reportedly beat the other guy not with a bat or a knife or a gun butt or something more conventional. Apparently the offensive weapon was a glass tip jar shaped like a fish, and  one man ended up in the hospital. The other was arrested.

That sort of news will force some sort of reaction by the city. You can't have bums fighting at a major tourist attraction and not have consequences. 

The La Concha Hotel above and the old Kress Building below on other side of the Fleming Street intersection at Duval. La Concha's claim to fame is this is where Ernest Hemingway lived when he first came to Key West and got struck here for a few weeks with his wife..

The Kress building used to be the eccentric department store called Fast Buck Freddie's. Now its a chain pharmacy and so Key West keeps evolving.

Dinghy Life

I was surprised to see small boats making progress through the harbor yesterday and when I realized how many of them I photographed I saved the pictures for a separate cold front essay.

Technically the winds have not produced a proper gale as the winds reported to 35 miles an hour have been mere gusts and not sustained, however these are mathematical calculations and merely standing on land facing the wind you could say it feels like  gale.

Sailors like all humans have a tendency to exaggerate, thus in a  sea story waves have the ability to get taller and deeper and winds increase in strength exponentially in the telling. What may not be proper reporting makes for much better storytelling.  Being securely tied up in a marina makes for a crappy story but much more comfortable living.

Note the tightly wrapped black plastic garbage bag in the bow. Unromantic but critical device for the average liveaboard who wants stuff to travel and remain dry. I cannot imagine this boater's return journey in a  small inflatable with an equally small outboard. It would be a long slow wet ride.

There are those who eschew outboards altogether as instruments of the devil, naming no names Webb Chiles, who takes pride in rowing his inflatable. Who can argue with the health benefits and general manliness of a pair of properly sized oars? I can. It's too much hassle for daily living at anchor. I am in the mainstream here.

A nice hard dinghy with a big motor. Naturally that makes towing or storing the thing difficult for the average modest sailboater so a dinghy in this work boat style usually  indicates a sailor who sails less and anchors in one spot more. But he commutes mostly dry in the heaviest winds.

I was trying to capture wave action. always modest in these shallow waters, along the breakwater protecting the Bight and to my astonishment another small rubber doughnut dipped  and bobbed into my viewfinder.

That was the best I could do to illustrate massive overwhelming seas submerging the north shore of Key West. I have to admit I didn't look really hard as my digits were numb and my brain was following suit.

I had, as reported elsewhere, a slow intermittent exit from Key West around four post meridian as vehicles struggled to find alternatives to North Roosevelt. Traffic snarls don't bring out the best in people and I saw lots of pushy car drivers and distracted phone operators. I was at least inside with the heater on. Then I noticed a gaggle of cyclists at the light at South Roosevelt. It didn't look much fun but I thought perhaps it was better than bouncing around and taking a shower in a dinghy.

Whichever way you look at it travel yesterday in the Lower Keys had it's challenges.

Gusts To 35

The National Weather Service on White Street wasn't messing around. They spoke of the coldest air mass this season, strong winds and wind chills possibly into the 30s. All of which may sound like small beer to people wading through snowdrifts to their cars but as we shall see my winter "gear" is a windproof jacket and a pair of socks. I find it hard to explain but temperatures this low are reserved for people from Up North with lily white legs (they are the ones in shorts) and minimal sun exposure; for everyone else it's simply very cold.

For normal people around here a projected wind chill of 36 calls for strong Cuban coffee at least and anyone lucky enough to have heat will be firing up the coils while enjoying the smell of singed cat hair given off by long disused heating elements. Anyone needing to air out those parts long since given up to heat and humidity has only to splay themselves out in one of many locations exposed to the northwest winds and all memories of humidity will be blown away. See below.

Life goes on and tourists expecting a blistering summer in January will be disappointed by these conditions. Food will continue to be served even in places like Conch Republic Seafood, a restaurant that usually offers the full seafront experience by not having gauche window panes between diners and the salt water.

Schooner Wharf Bar, also a north facing waterfront eatery solves the problem similarly with plastic windows. Not exactly tropical but they do the job for the souls brave enough to abandon their frigid rooms.

All fishing I am told goes down the commode in this weather. The weather service was screaming about Small Craft Advisories last I looked in an effort to stop even  the most determined from setting forth to do battle in inadequate vessels.

The operators of the most seaworthy craft were taking yesterday to do maintenance. Nevertheless we can rely on some few stalwarts to try to face. high seas and strong winds in center consoles and heaven forbid pontoon boats. They've done it before but one hopes wisdom will keep visiting pirates safely ashore in winds this strong.

It was a funny day yesterday which I only worked a half shift so I had a chance to wander before going to the gym. After that interlude my efforts to leave Key West were thwarted for about 45 minutes by a. serious accident involving a scooter apparently on North Roosevelt. After I got over my PTSD (and I trust without much hope a helmet was worn) I found myself in an endless slow moving line with the smart people pushing and cutting in. The wreck pushed everyone onto Flagler Avenue which I had previously chosen as my escape route from the city merely to avoid the usual crush of crazies on the Boulevard. It turns out everyone else was clogging up my "private road." Very funny. At least this time it wasn't me on the helicopter so I was able to take the inconvenience with equanimity.

Then two trucks had a meeting on Ramrod Key and closed Highway One but that only prevented me from taking Rusty to his favorite afternoon walk. What it did to the lives of those involved I don't know but I have an idea.  So by the time I did arrive home an hour late he was just glad to see me. Equipped as he is with a  thick fur coat he was ready for a walk whether I was or not...

Key West was looking lovely under bright blue skies with puffy white clouds pushed fast across the sky.

Walking the docks made me glad my home is well anchored and secure. Which is not say the wind didn't howl around the building all night and getting up before dawn was a trial today. A fifty degree morning with 30 mile an hour winds is crippling when you are used to finding 70 degrees a bit brisk. I jammed the zipper on my jacket with cold fingers and Rusty mocked my  fumbling by frolicking and dancing in the cold. 

All this wild weather is a reminder as if I needed it that I need to get used to temperatures other than tropical if retirement is to be taken anywhere north of Lake Okeechobee...Last weekend at the RV show I looked around Tampa and it appeared wintry to me, bare trees, leaves on the ground and gray skies even if there was no frost. I saw it snow once in Tampa when I lived there around 1990. Stuff you don't see down here though rumor has it flakes were seen in Key West in the 1970s. Walking Rusty at 4 am was COLD even if frost and snow free.

So you want the romance of living at anchor? Get used to plunging and rolling on a few cold nights. A wet ride to shore and an even wetter ride home at night is on the cards this week.  Not I would say, the time to be using a dinghy.

I have to note the Ft Myers ferry was moving through the harbor rather gingerly, though that may have been my cold infused imagination. I am guessing the ride down was wet and fast but the ride home in the evening against the wind would be something rather rougher heading into strong north winds.

It was windy but not unpleasant under the sun on the fishing pier and boardwalk in front of the Galleon resort.

I tried to smile for a selfie in my windproof winter jacket. Its also pretty good against rain which happily I didn't need in this winter cold front.

I love that it rains mostly, usually, in the summer around here. In a normal winter a quick shower is followed by sunshine after the clouds blow over. Not quite so cold would be nice.

Looks lovely: feels cold. Sorry - it just does even if you are used to sub zero days. Enjoy your snow. I hate snow. And I'm not crazy about cold fronts if that wasn't obvious. Rusty loves them. 

Eaton Street

I walked and I took some pictures as I followed Rusty and his nose.

This house at 616 Eaton caused a lot of bother when some people bought  the old wreck that it had become and then announced plans to not only restore the house but also to build a massive modern family compound in the back completely outside the historic construction guidelines mandated by the city. In the end the incomers gave up and now there is only work to restore the original house in the historic character as required. The defeat of the proposals by popular vote quite surprised me. Never thought they would pull it off.

 The Methodist Church at the corner of Simonton Street is a never ending source of pictures:

 I love the Polynesian swoop of the roof of the hall:

 On guard!

White Street Pier

The White Street Pier used to be described to the gullible as the stump of the old bridge to Havana that was torn down after the revolution. It is possible to get a vehicle on it but that is an activity reserved for emergency vehicles as a general rule. Bicycles pedestrians and dogs are welcome.

 Higgs beach generally is a good spot to contemplate the meaning of life.

 Th waters south of Key West offer refuge for shrimpers in strong north winds:

 While the pier offers refuge for people ready to sit and contemplate the view:

 Views like this:

The seaplane flying to the Dry Tortugas:

 The view due east toward Smathers Beach:

 Lines and shadows:

 

And the abominable jet skis which happily are not allowed too close.

 A short walk through the Aids Memorial to White Street:

 Higgs Beach, the eastern section: