To The Lighthouse

The city of Key West got its charter in 1828 but three years before that it got it's first lighthouse on the beach on the southeastern corner of the island.  20 years later a hurricane wiped out the lighthouse and the new one was built inland at the current location on Whitehead Street at Truman. It has been said that it is odd to put a lighthouse well inland but safety was paramount besides which in the 1840s the city itself wasn't that lit up at night so the light would have been clearly visible. You can still see it at sea made visible by revolving even though it is no longer an official navigation light. In the midst of a brightly lit city the flashing lighthouse light still stands out for those that are looking for it.

 From Wikipedia:
 The first Key West lighthouse was a 65-foot (20 m) tower completed in 1825. It had 15 lamps in 15-inch (380 mm) reflectors. The first keeper, Michael Mabrity, died in 1832, and his widow, Barbara, became the lighthouse keeper, serving for 32 years. The Great Havana Hurricane of 1846 destroyed the lighthouse; the USS Morris, which was wrecked during the storm, reported "a white sand beach covers the spot where Key West Lighthouse stood". Barbara Mabrity survived, but fourteen people who had sought refuge in the lighthouse tower died, including seven members of her family. (The same hurricane destroyed the Sand Key Lighthouse, eight miles (13 km) away, killing six people, including the keeper, Rebecca Flaherty, another widow of a previous keeper.) Barbara Mabrity continued to serve as keeper of the Key West Light until the early 1860s, when she was fired at age 82 for making statements against the Union (Key West remained under Union control throughout the Civil War).

I last checked out the lighthouse in distant 2008 so I was glad on the recent visit to Key West by my sister in law to show her the sights including this one. She was fascinated by the Seward Johnson statues that crops up around town: 

The lighthouse keepers light is a cool air conditioned museum dedicated to the life lived in 19th century Key West.

I took the picture of the spiral staircase in 2008 and nothing much has changed. I was much fitter this visit and bounded to the top in reasonable shape squeezing past the down bound visitors. Coming down is a bit more tricky as the steps are quite vertical and the unpleasant sensation of falling straight down can only be avoided by stepping with ridiculous attention to detail and daintiness.

The view has been enhanced by the removal of protective wires that used to be installed around the viewing platform.

 It used to look like this,and not very aesthetic:

Nowadays the views are unobstructed and my Lumix FZ300 telephoto made for a chance to get some pictures:

The camera has a fixed lense that copes from 25 to 600mm allowing for wide angled shots to quite powerful telephoto pictures. It's also compact and dust proof and rain proof. For a one and a half pound burden I get a camera that does all I want and fills in the shortcomings of the phone lense, which even on the iPhone 6 model is quite a remarkable camera considering it is "just" a smart phone. The twin spires of the Minor Catholic Basilica of  St Mary's on Truman Avenue:

 The Hemingway House is always a souvenir photo opportunity to take home:

Key West Harbor looking west to the Lakes, a shallow bowl of sea water surrounded by mangrove islands:

 The view south (Cuba is still not visible!)

That is Sand Key light, a tower about seven miles southwest of Key West and marks the entrance to the channel into the harbor between the reefs for smaller boats.
From Wikipedia:
As both lighthouses serving Key West had been destroyed in the 1846 hurricane, a ship, the Honey, was acquired and outfitted as a lightship to serve as the Sand Key Light until new lighthouses could be built. Due to efforts to reorganize the Lighthouse Board, Congress was slow to appropriate funds for the new lighthouses. The new tower for the Key West Light was completed in 1848. It was 50 feet (15 m) tall with 13 lamps in 21-inch (530 mm) reflectors, and stood on ground about 15 feet (4.6 m) above sea level. In 1858 the light received a third order Fresnel lens. In 1873 the lantern was replaced (it had been damaged by a hurricane in 1866), adding three feet to the height of the tower. The growth of trees and taller buildings in Key West began to obscure the light, and in 1894 the tower was raised twenty feet, placing the light about 100 feet (30 m) above sea level.

 This contraption if original would have been used to lift freight to the top of the tower:

 From this height the homes below look like dolls houses:

After we struggled back down the tight spiral stair case we paid a visit to the Lighthouse Keeper's home on the property:

A worthwhile tour of a property that offers great views and insight into historical living.

Friday Sunrise

I keep telling myself that I don't really need to be lugging the handful of camera that is the Lumix FZ300 because I've been here before, on this island at this time of day. Yet when I leave it at home or in the car I miss something that I can't capture with my iPhone. And the iPhone 6 camera is very good. I got the Panasonic because I wanted a telephoto lense and I got it in a camera that is weatherproof and has built in Wi-fi to download the pictures to my phone very easily. I am not interested in paper prints or getting paid to take pictures so for digital posting here and on Instagram the Panasonic Lumix FZ300 is ideal I find. 

When I was younger I had a Single Lense Reflex camera, a Minolta, with a huge telephoto lense a doubler and a tripod etc...Nowadays with the electronic gimcrackery of 21st century digital not only do I not need a dark room I rarely miss a tripod as the camera is beautifully stabilized.  I carry a spare battery but the power pack lasts for hundreds of pictures and I bought the refurbished camera for $350 which gives me a photo package with iPhone processing in one amazing gadget. 

 So while Rusty walks I test what I can do with my camera, learning how to use a handful of buttons for a variety of functions to mess with aperture, shutter speed, ISO and all combined into Full Manual Mode. Phew! I look up and Rusty is sitting patiently watching me peer down the hole of the camera's view finder.

West Summerland Key is known as Scout Key these days thanks to the presence of a camp on the island. I prefer to call it West Summerland as I enjoy the serendipity of its name considering the main Summerland Key is 12 miles to the west....of West Summerland. In any event it is an island that offers photographers opportunities to see clear sunrises, a s[spectacular old bridge to photograph or an iconic palm waving over water...been there done that I have:

So faced with a bunch of tripods and cameras and earnestly debating nerds Rusty and wandered off to see what new view might strike us. I found a bunch of sponges pushed up onto the seaweed high tide line:

 Rusty hunted for iguana:

We walked past the massed tripods at sea level over the hill that was created to give road access to the top of the Bahia Honda Bridge in 1938. On the other side I looked across the "deep bay" (= Bahia Honda) at the state park on the other side. Another spot another palm!

Using the telephoto and mixing in some lighting effects in the camera I took one more picture of the old bridge and liked what I got.

Behind me I made the coral rock wall of the old pump house glow in the rising sun. Photographers are advised sometimes to see what effect the light phenomenon is having. So instead of the sun coming up I tried to see how the low angle light affected the structures behind me. Like this:

It was an exceptional low tide so I figured to take advantage of that fact and captured some sand ripples, the sort of beach at low tide effect not often seen in these rocky islands:

Rusty was resting in the grass and I was downloading the pictures into my phone and deleting the ones I didn't like when a voice called "Rusty" and wasn't I surprised when a body descended from the camper and it was a guy I met here a month ago worried about Rusty being off leash. He and his girlfriend were leaving the Keys headed to New Orleans to make money doing magic with their two new dogs partly trained and doing much better he said. He was surprised how relaxed his dogs were off leash compared to how tense they are when leashed which I don't find surprising.His plans are to go south from New Orleans and find his way to South America. We exchanged pictures he mysteriously covered as shown I smiling gormlessly into his phone with Rusty behind me and we went our separate ways.

Walking the dog is an excellent way to relax after spending all night answering 911 calls.

Bahama Village

The big ferment in Bahama Village, as reported in the newspaper is the plan to build a music venue in the waterfront park that is taking shape next door to Bahama Village. The amphitheater planned for Truman Waterfront is the cause of much annoyance. 

Truman Waterfront is under the knife these days and there is no access to the open space anymore. There are paths for cars to travel through between fences and there is access to the Ingham floating museum, but the open space as we knew it has gone. Now the city is waiting to see what will reappear on the 34 acres of land deeded to the city after the Navy declared it surplus and withdrew.

For some reason I cannot fathom, crony capitalism I dare say, the city entrusted plans for the park to the rapacious Spottswood family to design. That may sound like an exaggeration but it isn't. The developers decided to build a marina and use the  revenue from that to pay themselves a fee for managing the property for the city.

Happily the Navy killed that plan telling the city there is no room for marinas in the Navy Basin which the Navy shares with the city on a case-by-case basis (sailboat or  powerboat races typically) but the Navy objected to a moored fleet of private craft in their waters. Exit the marina plan.

Nevertheless the air hanging over the project is redolent of the serving oneself mentality of the worst of government though I'm not sure that's accurate. The thing is the plan to build a marina to make money has created a stigma for the amphitheater which is now viewed by skeptics as the source for money to be made from the park. 

Mayor Cates, the man responsible for the rather well done new City Hall on White Street was vehement in the newspaper arguing that the park will be designed as a public facility not as a profit-making proposition. The citizens are revolting all the same...The question now is how do the narrow lanes of Bahama  Village cope with the flood of cars that will go and come through here to get to the waterfront concert? And secondly how much noise will be created by the amphitheater? 

The architects say it will not produce much noise as it will be designed to deflect the  sound away from the residents. But the anger is there and simmering and the comments in the paper spell mistrust loud and clear.

I suppose it's too much to expect a 34 acre paradise on the waterfront but still I wonder how concertgoers will drive to and from the corner of the island. 

Perhaps it's all a storm in a  teacup. We could hope that the venue will attract talent and perhaps the architects are right and noise won't be deafening. Perhaps all it takes is a little trust.

Trust is a difficult commodity to come by these days and people would rather not trust and not verify. 

So the Truman Waterfront will devolve into a shouting match and we shall have to wait and see what happens.

I don't live in Bahama Village so I am not affected. If I did live there I too would be apprehensive about these issues of noise and traffic. All I know at this point is that I already miss the unregulated wide open grassy spaces that have been torn up ready for cement. I knew it was coming of course but that doesn't alter the fact its not a change I much appreciate one way or the other. 

Much better to have a  field than an amphitheater. Try telling them that.

Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park

It is one of the lesser known state parks in the Florida Keys and for the absurdly small fee of $2.50 you can enjoy wandering around here any day except Tuesday and Wednesday. It's worth a stop when you are driving through Islamorada.

I took my sister in law who was visiting to escape the fearsome cold of Appalachia and she took the time to study the quarry operations that created the park.

From the state parks website:

Formed of Key Largo limestone, fossilized coral, this land was sold to the Florida East Coast Railroad, which used the stone to build Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad in the early 1900s. After the railroad was built, the quarry was used until the 1960s to produce exquisite pieces of decorative stone called Keystone. Today, visitors can walk along eight-foot-high quarry walls to see cross sections of the ancient coral and learn about the quarry and its operation- an important part of Florida's 20th century history. Samples of the quarry machinery have been preserved at the park. Visitors can enjoy the natural attributes of this island while strolling five, short, self-guided trails. Picnic tables are available. The Visitor Center, open Friday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., features educational exhibits about the history of this site. Located at Mile Marker 84.9 on Windley Key near Islamorada.

Aside from being on a leash Rusty had a pretty good time. Every time I stopped to admire the trees he started whining as though bored so it was a bit of a forced march.

I slowed him down a bit to admire the cuts in the coral rock quarry:

Windley Key is a great place to take  a walk:

Rusty worms his way easily into any stranger's affection: