The Dinghy Life

They live out there, at anchor, some on vacation, some retired and many making their homes afloat so they can afford to live and work in Key West. 

The difficulty with living at anchor is finding somewhere to land, especially if you are living in one area long term. If you plan on living on your boat away from land you need a base to leave your dinghy and preferably drop your trash and picture up fresh water. Several marinas around Key West and Stock Island offer these services to anchor outs, as they are known. 

 Watching the entrance to Key West Bight (The HIstoric Seaport in tourist talk) morning traffic consists of fishing boats leaving and residents arriving.

 There is of course a peanut gallery to observe and critique boat handling in the crowded harbor.

 Pirates are part of the scene too of course:

Rusty is not a fan of being on the water though he has adapted to walking the docks with me. He is a keen observer:

 Full service marina:

Typically marine fuel has no ethanol and costs a lot more than regular fuel. But energy is energy and everyone needs it. 

 The parade continues...

 Everyone fancies themselves a pirate. 

 Rusty was not ready to remove shoes he wasn't wearing to go on board a boat. Obviously.

Key West Fish And Chips

Businesses come and go in Key West. I was walking Rusty down here early one day and saw the sign advising all he world there are fish and chips to be had here. Last time I came by it was a pizza truck...I think...

 It is a food truck parked where they are always parked here, whatever food they may be selling. I was encouraged to see the owner of the original food truck back on the spot and serving customers.

In March 2014 I came across a South African Food Truck operated here by a  South African business woman by the name of Helena. She and her husband were food truck pioneers and like all pioneers they were less than warmly received by a community that clings to its traditions and brick and mortar restaurants. 

They struggled with the bureaucracy but Yebo as it was called had to close. My favorite lunch, the strangely named Bunny Chow left the island.

 But the redoubtable entrepreneur is back offering what no one else does, as well as foodstuffs that others do sell:

 I took a few pictures while I waited for my fish to fry.

 And then I loaded it in my cart and took the two lunches to go back to my wife's office.

 Light fresh and piled high with real fries. We both agreed we'll be back.

I've wanted fish and chips for a while and I'm glad I found them.

Roadside

On my most recent trip to Miami for another doctor's visit my wife, who is protective of me in these strange times insisted I not drive. Normally on our road trips I am always the driver while she navigates and organizes lunch stops and hotel rooms and all those other critical details. For me to cross the Seven Mile bridge in the passenger seat...well, that's a rare thing indeed.

 My nap ended somewhere near Islamorada and when I struggled back to complete consciousness I looked around for something to do.  With accommodations and an evening out with friends already planned all I could think was to test some manual settings on the camera. Lobster traps! Done:

Then I thought to myself: here's a challenge. Let's see if I have the speed and the wit to capture faces as we buzz along between 45 and 55 mph. Let me tell you, if the quality of the pictures doesn't speak for themselves, it's not easy. 

The Upper Keys are a world apart from the Lower keys. This part of the world has no central focus, there is no Mallory Square, the homes are scattered alongside the highway and the land may be only a few hundred yards wide. Around here you are within an hour's drive of the great metropolis and laborers can be hired and bused here from Homestead easily enough. There is much less of that sense of isolation that you get in Key West.

It's more manicured here, neater, with vast vegetation allowing only occasional ocean glimpses. For all that there is very little dirt here in some ways it feels more removed from the ocean to the casual passer-by.

 Driving through here and trying to actually look at the passing scenery put me in mind of the TV show called Bloodline which was I thought an excellent representation of life in the Keys. It also managed to show me a bit of life in the Upper Keys, life constricted to either side of the road. From an outsider's perspective you could see it as claustrophobic and when I think about that I make myself life. I live on an island two miles by three miles bisected by the same highway.  

No helmet no gloves and sandals on his feet with an innocent passenger. I see this differently now, I wince instead of remaining indifferent. I wonder how little they value their lives?

Most of these communities are a blur to me, I drive by on my way somewhere else, but the the problem is, were I to stop I wouldn't know where to go. 

There are places you can catch a decent view but the Upper Keys to me represent the flow of people and traffic.

And pretty soon I was in Miami, as usual.

Duval Night

I was glad to see sidewalk cleaning on Duval Street. The fog it created pleased me as well.

Bicycles, white picket fences and Rusty: another morning in Key West.

A not completely obscene t-shirt in a shop window. 

Usually I study the texture of bark in the woods where there may be little else to photograph. 

In this case the tree was outside the Bourbon, an unexpected location.

And then I assembled a few pictures illustrating our walk. 

After the bars close and before people start showing up is the best time to wander.

People  ask if its safe to walk the streets in the dark. Honestly I have no idea. I'm an old fat white man armed with a dog. No one bothers us. That's all I know for sure.

Every step practically leads to another photo opportunity ion this extraordinary town.

Check them out:

Vignettes

One of the apartments loaned to me during my time living in Key West was close by the newspaper building on Northside Drive. I was aware the building is for sale but that knowledge did not decrease my distress every time I drove past the sign. For some years now the Key West Citizen has been printed in Miami and since Hurricane Irma the paper has appeared only six times a week, making it no longer the daily paper of the Keys.

I was actually surprised the paper returned at all after the hurricane but it has though it is not a dynamic institution at all anymore. Enterprise journalism in the modern era requires a certain electronic flair but the Citizen fails hopelessly at updating or following news online. Weekends are barren as the Sunday paper is gone and reporting is now essentially a Monday through Friday operation.

The building is decaying in front of our eyes, and when I stepped inside momentarily there was no sense of bustle or liveliness. I have never been a newspaper reporter but I have spent time in newsrooms in newspapers in my capacity as a radio reporter and the state of the  Citizen saddens me. We all know newspapers are in a  parlous state and reporting is suffering but the newspaper I remember as a dynamic afternoon paper printed in town and on the streets daily is shriveling before my eyes and seems to be going down without a fight.  Perhaps its the best we can hope for in this day and age, but I want to avert my eyes from the tragedy. 

In 2012 the Art In Public Places program of the City of Key West started posting poems on the sidewalks of the city. Apparently this brilliant idea didn't originate in Key West but in Minnesota but has been enthusiastically adopted here. I confess my photograph was not brilliantly executed and the writing is a bit hard to read but Rusty was tugging at his leash, always a good excuse...

...so I have included a note from the sidewalk poetry page by way of explanation:

Location 8 it turns out is across the street from the Banyan on Whitehead Street. It's between Eaton and Caroline Streets.

Just up the street is the Custom House Museum of Art and History. Sometimes it is misspelled as the Customs House but either way it has benches on the shaded porch and I enjoy people watching from the top of the steps. Steps that aren't easy to climb in my current physical state but I do love the view.

I posted this picture below on Instagram. Is it to obvious an irony, the flag flying high and proud over a closed circuit observation camera? 

I was discussing air conditioning with a friend and he said he doesn't need cold air even in summer. Me? I love my a/c especially in my car. Even at home I enjoy spending time outdoors heating up and then retreating to the cool indoor shade from time to time. And as for sleeping night or day a cool dark bedroom is the only way. I like air conditioning so I feel some considerable sympathy for the Conch Train drivers  protecting themselves from the winter sun:  

And yes, its every bit as warm as it looks.

Back at the museum I was peering through the eye of a fish statue when quite by chance I got a rather decent little picture. 

I though the tandem bicycle photo was cute but the steel fish was rather more robust actually. What possessed me to look through the eye with my camera I'm not sure.

Every winter you will see certain vehicles hanging around town for days weeks or months depending on the snowfall Up North. This winter it's this yellow metric cruiser overloaded with the kitchen sink. I suppose it's an adventure for the lone rider but I don't know how long I could hang around the same old  places without purpose. It works for him.

Higgs Beach at the African Cemetery. Monochrome art.