Picnic Benches over looking harbor

There is a bike path around the park, although in some areas you are supposed to walk your bike. Some of the sculptures were kind of disappointing, they look like something you could make yourself. There is a big metal “if” painted yellow, and a big circle made out of driftwood. By the water there are 4 squares with some reflective stuff in them. There is also a house outline made of metal. My favorite ones were some furniture made out of musical instruments.

Shiny Squares

IF

The circle of driftwood

Musical Chairs

A bunch of driftwood stuck in a tree with a wind chime, don't strain yourself artist

A gome head?

Even if some of the sculptures weren’t that impressive the beach is. I think it’s by far the nicest beach in Key West. The small entrance fee keeps out the sand bums and it is clean and large. There are plenty of picnic tables and great ocean views. You can watch the boats go in and out of the harbor while you are there. There is a jetty and there is fishing allowed on the west edge of the park. With all the current and the rocks there, there are probably some decent fish.

Fishing section

As you can see we  took a bunch of photos. The only negative of the experience was a morbidly obese park ranger in a golf cart gave us hard time because apparently Catherine leaned her bike against the base of a native tree. We didn’t let it bother us. There is also a snack bar and an umbrella and chair rental station. I think the chair and umbrella rental was $30, what a bargain!  We decided against renting one.

Beach Section

House Boats in Key West

There are a bunch of house boats docked there, along with a number of pleasure craft. We looked at a couple of house boats that were for sale there. It seemed like a cheap way to live in the Keys. Well, not the boats that we looked at, they wanted like $250-300k for the houseboat, seems kind of expensive considering you can actually buy a place on land for that price. A place that is not going to blow away in a hurricane or flood also. Do houseboats even have a motor?

On the other side of the bight is charter boat row.  The old sign called it “historic charter boat row” but they have new signs now. It was a nice day when we were there and most of the boats were out to sea. Several bored and very tan mates called to us to ask if we wanted to go fishing but we had to politely decline. There are large sport fishing boats and what is known as light tackle boats. I’m not sure why they call the center console boats light tackle? They seem to use the same type of fishing gear as a big boat. Perhaps the actual weight of the boat is considered lighter? The grey hound party boat was leaving when we got there, full of excited people. Party boat fishing is going fishing on a big boat with a bunch of other people. It’s much cheaper then chartering a boat yourself, but hey you have to fish with a bunch of people you most likely do not know. They actually catch some big fish off those boats believe it or not.

Manatees

There were some manatees hanging around the dock, soaking up the sun. Probably enjoying the warmer weather, many manatees died this year from the cold weather.

Thai Life

On the southern edge of the bight there is a floating thai restaurant called Thai Life. We had Pad Thai and It is actually very good.  Thai Life replaced a place called Captain Runaground’s Floating Restaurant which was terrible.

Party Boat Fishing on the Grey Hound

The harbor

Along the harbor is full of boats offering a variety of marine experiences. There are fishing boats ranging from small to huge, there are small private snorkel boats, large water sports boats, parasail boats, scuba diving boats and a bunch of private yachts. Some of the yachts are off the chart in terms of buying price. A small yacht or sport fisher can cost often a million plus brand new, but there are boats common in the harbor which would cost 50 to 100 million to buy. The amount of gas it takes to move some of those boats is pretty incredible as well.

Conch Republic Seafood Company

Anyways, fishing, diving, snorkeling, dolphin tours, bird watching you name it you can get a boat to take you from the harbor. In addition to the boats along the harbor there are a number of kinds of iconic places to eat. There is the Half Shell Raw Bar which is known for their deals on oysters during happy hour. Oysters aren’t really native to the Keys, so these are shipped in from the gulf fresh and they are delicious. Turtle Kralls is another water front restaurant, they have a pretty cool area to sit on the roof where you can look out over the harbor. Then there is the Conch Republic Seafood Company, and A & B Lobster house. All are known as good restaurants.

wack graffiti

There is also Schooner Wharf bar which is a popular drinking establishment. Behind Schooner Wharf there is a little lane called Lazy Way. It is home to a bunch of hole in the wall shops. More recently it became home to the failed harbor walk condo project. Some developers bought the land there and built one example town house and went tits up and bankrupt, leaving a huge empty lot right by the waterfront. The area is surrounded by a white fence and locals apparently have taken to covering the fence with graffiti . Not really much of a theme to the art though, I was kind of hoping it would be anti-development or something . I did read one spot that said “give pease a chance”, there were some kind crappily drawn peace signs and mushrooms, the graffiti looked like something maybe a 14 year old hippie girl would do on the back of her notebook in study hall. It was like family friendly graffiti and it almost looked like it was all painted by the same person.

Check out the bubbles this buy made using only two sticks and a rope or net. The bubbles are gorgeous, especially highlighted by the beautiful setting sun.

The Vandenberg is About to Sink!

The actual day of the Vandenberg sinking, dozens, maybe hundreds of boats made the six mile trip out (5.8 miles from Stock Island). There were so many boats headed out, it made the seas choppy! Even tiny boats and a few jet skis made the trip out for the Great Vandenberg Sinking Event. We all had to keep about a mile away, although some VIP boats got to get in a little closer. This included Key West Express, a ferry boat that makes trips between Key West and Fort Meyers (also Miami Beach in Summertime). It blocked views of a bunch of boats, and boy were those boats mad!

The scheduled detonation of explosives was for ten am, and it actually took place around 10:20, and then everything happened so fast it was over before we knew it. It took just under two minutes after the explosions, for the Vandenberg to sink all the way under the surface of the water.

There was a lot of smoke, as you can tell by this picture. The picture was taken just seconds after the detonations began, and this was only the beginning of the smoke. After another thirty seconds, the Vandenberg was completely obscured by the smoke and we didn’t really see it sink all the way, there was such thick smoke. But it was still exciting and we were proud to be a part of Key West history.