This past weekend the first Lionfish Derby was held in Key Largo.  There were prizes for the most, the largest and the smallest lionfish brought in.  Over 500 were caught and killed, hopefully helping to rid the area of this toxic and invasive fish.  The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary has recently blossomed with lionfish, so more derbies are expected in the following months.

Lionfish are found all over the Caribbean and Bahamas now, where they are also invasive.  Unlike most tropical fish, Lionfish are resistant to cold temperatures.  They eat important baby reef fish, like grouper and snapper.  Of course they also compete with native fish for food.   They also have long spines which are toxic to humans if touched. Spearfishers and anglers are encouraged to kill them whenever they can.

Here’s one that was caught via Hawaiian sling in Key West waters on the reef.

Located on the south side of the island of Key West, Higgs Beach begins around the White Street Pier, winds along the edge to the West Martello Tower then opens up again to Higgs Beach part two, ending at Casa Marina.  At this point, the beach is closed off, and becomes Casa Marina resort’s private area.  After that is some military beach, then Fort Zachary Taylor State Park.

Higgs Beach includes Salute!, a restaurant serving Italian food al fresco facing the beach.  Nice.  There’s a raised platform for morning yoga fans, picnic tables shaded by palm trees, and yes worth mentioning again, free parking right next to the sand.  Not much, but some spots for beach-goers who choose this over Smathers beach.

There’s a second pier, not as large as the one at the end of White Street, that’s fun to walk out onto.  You can look back at the beach or over to West Martello Tower.  One of the pictures below shows that view.

At the southern end of White Street, there’s a long pier that’s good for getting a fresh perspective on Key West.  You can often find people trying their luck at fishing from White Street Pier, but they don’t usually seem to have much luck.  Since the pier is right at the edge of Higgs Beach, it’s a great spot for looking back on the beach.  Kiteboarders love to launch from the end of Higgs Beach, right where the Pier starts.  This also makes it a great spot for watching them jump and fly during windy weather.

On the dunes behind Higgs Beach next to the Pier there are picnic tables, small palm trees, and chickens.  The tables often have “all-day” inhabitants who’ve set up camp on them, but you can sometimes find one that’s free.  As you can tell from some of these pictures, chickens are camera shy.  The trick is to bait them with oatmeal or bread crumbs, then snap a picture.  Chasing them does not work and eventually you feel like you’re harassing the poor things if you follow them too long.

There’s a large open space on the pier, which is nice because Key West is all about tiny tree-lined streets and small cottages and lots to see and do on a small island.  The large open space on the pier is a great place to be if you need a break from coziness and small places.  It’s wide open and unencumbered, you can check the visibility of the inshore waters, watch boats zip by to and from from Stock Island, or just watch the water lapping up on the jagged rocks.

A seven foot pie

Next we went to the waterfront to view the bloody battle. Ships cruised the harbor spraying water into the water. Yeah, don’t really know what spraying water into the water was doing. From what I understand there used to be a big water and fruit fight on the water between boats. My neighbors have lived here forever and used to participate in the battle until the water sports company he worked for was banned from it. He says it used to be very rowdy, but it’s not anymore. In fact I didn’t see any of the boats hit each other with any fruit or even water. Although due to the crowd I couldn’t see everything.

Bloody Battle?

People dressed up in period military outfits fired cannons off of Mallory Square . WOW are they loud. It was kind of awesome actually watching the crowd shudder with each blast. You could just feel the vibrations running through you. To add to the scene bi-planes where overhead dropping “bombs” of toilet paper which created giant streamers sailing down on to the crowd and the harbor.

Boom!

The usual vendors and performers whre present at Mallory Square and the usual performances looked like they were starting on time. There was also some new silver people. There was also a lady dressed up as a sunburned tourist complete with red skin and fanny packs. This didn’t really look like it was a big crowd pleaser.

Mallory Square Vendor

Local Flavor

Weather was perfect yesterday for a bike ride around Key West. We started our ride in new town and headed south west to South beach. The throngs of spring breakers that we saw on Smathers beach the other day were absent here.  It didn’t look any more crowded then any other nice day in season.

Some street “artists” of some sort had some sort of stands, not really sure what they were selling.  A single stand-up paddler was tooling around the pier enjoying the flat calm seas.  We see more and more people doing that. The cold inshore water kept most people on the beach but a couple did venture out into the water.

Pier at the Reach Resort

After riding past the Southernmost Point we rode into Bahama village to check out the community pool, which was totally empty.  We haven’t gone to it yet but it is free and we wanted to check it out.  It seems like a really nice pool.

We rode through the low income housing, projects-looking area at the south west corner of the island. Not the prettiest part of Key West but not dangerous. When we first moved to Key West some locals we talked to talked about the Bahama village area like it was Compton or something.  Of course the first thing I did was go walk around the area at night  to see if it was scary.  In opinion it wasn’t scary.   If you are younger and look like you want be looking for drugs, you might have a saggy pants teenager try to sell you something but other then that I doubt anyone would give you any hassles.  Probably one of the great things about living in Key West is lack of violent crime. We looked at the outside of some rentals and a couple of the other places that were for sale.

Stand up paddling gaining popularity around Key West

We took a back way into the harbor next to Truman Annex.  We stopped and took a couple photos of the coast guard cutter docked there.  It’s a huge white boat, apparently there are paid tours of it.  We didn’t check to see how much they were.

Coast Guard Cutter, Ingram. Located in the harbor, you have to go through truman annex to see the ship . There are tours of the ship which are not free

The Eco Discovery Center was open and looked deserted.  It’s free and it is surrounded by free parking but every time we go past it looks like no one is there.  I don’t think very many people know about it. Its got FREE parking, and it’s FREE, just thought I would let people know.

After that it was getting hot, so we rode back through Bahama Village and then on to White street. We hit the Dairy Queen and got vanilla cones dipped in strawberry flavored transfat dip, they were delicious.

]]> http://www.kwflausa.com/blog/2010/03/15/some-recent-photos-of-key-west/feed/ 0 http://www.kwflausa.com/blog/2009/07/11/duval-street-shopping-spree/ http://www.kwflausa.com/blog/2009/07/11/duval-street-shopping-spree/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:55:27 +0000 admin http://www.kwflausa.com/blog/?p=81

Whether you’re searching for the perfect flip flop, a designer bag, or the most awesome souvenirs to take home to friends and family, a Duval Street shopping spree will take care of everything. Set aside a morning, afternon or evening (most shops are open at night, too), and stroll up and down Key West‘s hub of shopping, eating, entertainment and catching the scene. Yes, Duval Street has its share of tacky t-shirt shops and souvenir vendors, but it’s easy to identify them, and therefore easy to avoid them if you want to.

Starting at the northern end of Duval, near Mallory Square and Front Street, work your way up Duval and then back down on the other side of the street from where you started. Since the Mallory Square area at lower Duval is near where cruise ship passengers disembark, this end of Duval is much busier and the density of tacky t-shirt shops is much much higher. As you walk further and further, the crowds thin out and the stores even get a little nicer in some cases.

However, lower Duval is also where you find some of the more famous Key West attractions. You get Sloppy Joe’s Bar, Captain Tony’s Saloon (not right on Duval but within spitting distance of it), and some of the more famous eateries like Hog’s Breath. The Bull & Whistle is worth hitting too, three levels of rustic bars, each with its own flavor (especially the rooftop bar…we won’t spoil the surprise, you’ll just have to visit and find out for yourself).

Best Soft Serve in Key West

At the 300 block of Duval Street take pause and have some homemade soft serve at Kohr Bros. They have soft peanut butter ice cream, need I say more. In fall, they have special flavors like pumpkin. For winter, there’s peppermint. Simply Divine. Look for the neon sign in the shape of an ice cream cone.

By the 500 block of Duval, you’ll notice some higher end chain stores like Coach, Banana Republic and Biton. You’ve probably heard of Coach and BR, but not Biton, which is not really a true chain store although it does have multiple branches all over the country. Biton sells fully upscale clothing by designers you’ll see in Vogue. Beautiful and pricey. It’s also in this area (and a few other areas of Duval, since they have a few branches) that you’ll see Crazy Shirts, a very gimmicky yet irresistable (for some) store. Their t-shirts are dyed and smell like whatever you choose, and you can choose from beer-dyed, money-dyed, and more.

One of the best places to get original, thoughtful souvenirs of Key West for folks back home is Artisans, and Aria. They sell costume jewelry, handbags, decor items, and fine jewelry. Their offerings are very carefully selected and staff is very friendly and helpful. The souvenirs would be the costume jewelry you can buy, from $4 to $12 for earrings, necklaces, and bracelets and hundreds to choose from. It’s an emporium of jewelry and bargain prices. You can take home something much more original and thoughtful than a mug from Margaritaville or a t-shirt from Hog’s Breath.

After the 600 block or so, it quiets down and there are lots of nice galleries. This upper end of Duval has great dining, too. Locals’ favorite La Te Da has outdoor dining. Nine One Five has award-winning chef. Upper Crust has the best pizza in Key West. Take the time to make it to this end of Duval. You’ll be glad you saved your money when you see the great artist wares for sale at a myriad of galleries up at this end.

We had a pod of dolphins come to check us out when we were snorkeling, which was pretty amazing. Its illegal to purposely swim with the wild dolphins but what can you do when they come from no where to swim with you.

On the way home we found a turtle trapped in a crap pot line and where able to cut it free.

The motorcycles where amazing with many custom builders showing some of their best creations.