Key West Aquarium
The view from Room 212 - Thursday morning
Above is my
daily morning photo from our room. Two big ships are in port. The streets
will be crawling with people today... but the ships usually leave early in
the afternoon. Of course, Key West LOVES the cruise ships - the passengers
come to town and spend money! It is going to be about 77 degrees
today!
We spent the morning near the wharf area of our hotel. After Dave's run, we
walked over to the Pier House Hotel for a leisurely
breakfast on their dock. It was so nice to sit in the sun, after the chill
of yesterday. Then we visited the
Key West Aquarium.
We walked around the tanks, viewing all the fish Dave has been dining on all
week. They had a great "petting" tank:
Lisa with a Horseshoe crab
Dave with a Hermit crab
A marine biologist led a tour and fed the nurse sharks, rays
and lemon sharks. The aquarium is also home to a snow-birding heron - he
shows up each winter for regular feedings of shrimp during the shark
feedings at the aquarium. We were actually able to touch a nurse shark - the
biologist was very knowledgeable and answered every question - including one
from a little boy: "Did you go to college?" See, kids? Stay in school.
Juvenile Brown Pelican
Lisa went back to the room after the aquarium visit for a
sleep, but Dave and I had a mission: to have a Margarita at the
Margaritaville Cafe. No matter that it was the middle of the day! We are on
VACATION! We walked back up Duval Street, which was chock-a-block with
passengers from the cruise ship (Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas),
to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe. We walked in, got a seat at the bar
and ordered a margarita. Margaritaville began playing on the sound system -
and well, guys - it just doesn't get any better than this. (When I said to
Dave, "Honey, it just doesn't get any better than this, does it?" he
replied: "I hope so.") We had two margaritas - made with Jimmy's own brand,
Margaritaville Tequila, then staggered back to our room for a nap! It was
one of those been-there done-that moments! Delicious!
This afternoon, we had to enjoy the Sunset Celebration down on the pier
below our hotel upper terrace - because the Majesty of the Seas was
blocking our view! The day was so warm and the pier was very busy with the
usual street performers and throngs of happy tourists. Dave snapped this
pretty photo of the sunset, and just after sunset the huge ship left port.
Sunset Thursday
Majesty of the Seas leaving Key West - with street performers at the Sunset
Celebration
DT, below Room 212
Dave and I have both recently read Gumbo Limbo by
Tom Corcoran. Corcoran lives in Key West and his mystery takes place in
local bars, restaurants, hotels, etc. His favorite restaurant is
Mango's,
one of the top-rated restaurants in the Keys, so we gave it a try tonight.
Mango's served wonderful food, but our waiter was terrible, and he put a
damper on our evening. Mango's is the winner of the "Best Key Lime Pie in
Key West" - voted by three very picky judges - The Taylor Three. Dave had a
delicious conch salad - before he had only tried conch in fritters. (After
seeing a conch at the aquarium today, I am surprised he could actually
stomach the slimy critter.) Mango's is also a very pretty restaurant,
exactly as described in Gumbo Limbo. The restaurant has an extensive art collection.
We highly recommend Mango's - we just hope you don't get our waiter - we
really inconvenienced him tonight by dining at Mango's