Summer On Duval

Walking down Caroline I saw the first sign of summer: water mist chilling the lunch time crowd at Fogarty's.

It's  Spring Break so the city is crowded with people not used to the heat. So they chill out with alcohol which may not be their best option but they will only find out about that later in the day.

 Marching two abreast down Key West's most famous street:

I liked this view of the crowd checking the menu as it were at the strip club. I have no idea what the hesitation was about, either you do or you don't.

The new CVS resplendent in the afternoon sun. It was actually quite hot.

The pirate's dog was yapping. I can hardly blame the animal but I wonder how people can sit next to barking dogs and ignore them. 

 There are always lots of people trying to make a living on Duval:

 Personally I don't see the joy in it but I am averse to crowds and noise.

Another bunch of people pondering the strip club. I think they were actually weighing the benefit of going to hear music at Smokin' Tuna up the alley.

A ninety degree day and I enjoyed my walk, even without Rusty. And then I had a meeting to go, which was why I left him home.

Rusty At The Bat Tower

Rusty came looking for me; it was time for a walk.

We went to the Bat Tower on Sugarloaf Key. Bat Tower History Link

I wonder how much longer it will last, untouched and battered by all weather:

It remains photogenic and largely ignored except by those who know where to find it, near Sugarloaf Lodge.

The old rat guards are almost worn through. Those would be the bits of rusty metal above Rusty's head:

They needed bats to eat mosquitoes in the surrounding swamps which never were developed:

The parachutists from the nearby airstrips land here:

Nowadays the land is all roped off. Very efficient and severe.

My favorite piece of wiggly road in the Lower Keys, a quarter mile of asphalt between the trees on the way to the Bat Tower.

Rusty had fun.

No Outlet, Truman Waterfront

I feel a little absorb but I cannot deny I feel an almost daily need to come down to the Inner Mole at Truman Waterfront and see what's going on. 

And and every day the city promises to start digging and transforming this open space.  Into what it shall be changed is not yet clear and the subject is supposedly up for discussion even though development is planned.

There are rumors of a 60-foot tall hotel being built on Truman Waterfront but these buildings at the opposite end of the open space were built decades ago to house Navy officers. This land was once a Navy Base.

These "No Outlet" signs look rather absurd especially as this dock is only open to bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

The city has been pleading for years with the owners of the Westin Hotel and Marina to open up this section of the waterfront and allow the city to put a foot bridge over what is known as "Admiral's Cut." That would allow pedestrians and cyclists to pollute the stately waterfront of the Westin, currently traversed by cruise ship passengers from time to time and a few hotel guests. The idea would be to open a path all the way from Fort Zachary Taylor to Trumbo Road following the city's waterfront. But the Westin says no, and the city caves.

Thanks to the Westin who bought all this land and Sunset Key (formerly Tank Island) from the city for a mere eleven million dollars, Key West selling itself short as usual, this really is a no outlet waterfront. A pity.

400 Whitehead Street, Night

I don't use the main Key West Post Office much, if at all. Postal Service like the Department of Motor Vehicles and other  public offices seem to work much more smoothly the smaller the community they serve. I always deal with vehicle registrations in Big Pine and the post offices at Summerland and Big Pine have shorter lines and less kerfuffle than this office or the other Key West office in Overseas Market where Winn Dixie is located. But this place looks intriguing by night.

It's too bad it has to be locked. 

But one can't imagine anything good coming of leaving these spaces open after dark...

Welcome! - during daylight hours...

If you want to see a Key West chicken in the wild, or pay to park your car during the evening in a secure lot, this is where you come.

Sun And Water

The recent cool winds have brought a clear blue dome of sky overhead, waves where they would not normally be expected and a chance to go out and see things under a stark winter light.

It was an opportunity to play with the camera and enjoy the warm sun and cold breeze while Rusty played.

The winds blow up this weird foam off the water. It looks like a washing machine gone wild but it is just salt water froth and you will see it whenever there are strong onshore winds.

He likes the mangroves as there aren't many people or strange noises to startle him

Florida Keys Wilderness.

Long abandoned truck of some sort. Pretty much decomposed in a matter of decades at most.

All this loneliness lies within a mile or less of US One where the light poles are. If you know where to look!

Posted with Blogsy

Nuclear Water

By Sara Matthis from Keys Weekly this astonishing admission of  peril to our own South Florida water:

Turkey Point powerstation, Biscayne Bay

Drinking water is safe for now; experts worry about Biscayne Bay

Wednesday’s news of radiation contamination emanating from the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant leaking into Biscayne Bay alarmed Florida Keys citizens on every level. First, the Keys drinking water comes from the same neighborhood as the plant. Second, the affect to the fishery — so close to home waters — could also have an enormous impact.

“There is no tritium [a radioactive isotope of hydrogen] in our water supply,” said Kirk Zeulch, executive director of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority. Zeulch said there are numerous monitoring wells around the well field that pumps water from the Biscayne Aquifer and none of the tests show a trace. “But this needs to be kept on the front page to keep the issue from fading away. We need help from the state and federal authorities that regulate nuclear power plants and the studies need to continue.”

According to news reports about the leak, the high levels of tritium are a result of changes made to the plant in 2013 to increase energy output. Critics allege the reactor’s canals ran too hot and too salty. The result, they say, is a “saltwater plume” underground that is headed inland. Although it’s five miles away from FKAA’s freshwater well field, Zeulch described it as a “threat, but not an imminent threat.”

Several times, the plant has received special permission to pump freshwater into the canals to relieve the salinity. However, University of Miami hydrologist David Chin has said that doesn’t alleviate the problem because evaporation rates exceed natural rainfall and it may also increase pressure on the saltwater plume causing it to expand further.

Tom Walker, deputy executive director of FKAA, said the utility is not aware of any tritium in the saltwater plume and said that two weeks ago, the power plant was ordered to place extraction wells into the heart of the saltwater plume by a Tallahassee judge.

“Florida Power and Light will start extracting the hyper-saline water and then injecting it into deep wells into the boulder zone of the Floridian Aquifer,” Walker said, adding that the plan to extract the water from the saltwater plume is due in April.

Zuelch said the court-ordered measure could halt the saltwater plume’s progress, or even cause it to retreat. FPL has issued a statement saying the public and drinking water are safe and that improvements are a continuing effort.

According to a study released by the Miami-Dade Commission this week, over the last five years levels of tritium found in the canals ranged between 1,500 and 16,500 pCi/L. (Natural levels in Biscayne Bay are 20 pCi/L and the legal limits for tritium in drinking water are 2,133 pCi/L in the United States.) Because some of the canals are as deep as 24 feet, experts worry the tritium (as well as high levels of saline, phosphorus and ammonia) collected in early January from the bottom of the canals at rates of 2,600 to 3,400 pCi/L are reaching tidal surface waters connected to Biscayne Bay. Miami-Dade County has asked FPL to address these new findings.

The report does not address how increased levels of tritium might impact the public or marine life. According to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, everyone is exposed to small amounts of tritium everyday as it can occur naturally. It enters the human body through food and drink consumption and half is excreted within 10 days. By comparison, a CT scan delivers almost 2,000 times the amount of tritium considered safe in drinking water.

Florida Keys Commercial Fishing Association’s Bill Kelly said he called on Nick Wiley, the director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, to study the problem on Wednesday.

“We need to test the lobster, shellfish and finfish in Biscayne Bay,” Kelly said. “We need to know if there’s any concern about public consumption of any of those products collected in that area.”

Kelly said it might impact 150-175 commercial fishing operations in that area, not counting restaurants.

“The product value of the spiny lobster alone in that area is more than $40.6 million,” he said. “I’m anxious to gather more information on this. The news is not good for man or beast.”

Turkey Point was constructed in the early 1970s. It supplies more than one million homes with power in South Florida.