SUNDOWNERS

MALLORY SQUARE

No visit to Key West would be complete without a visit to the Mallory Square Dock for the Sunset Celebration. It is perhaps the island’s most popular activity. Daily, when the weather cooperates, hordes descend on this lively area about 2 hours before that day’s sunset to watch the sun sink into the Gulf of Mexico, its brilliant orange and red hues swirling and illuminating the clouds in a brilliant afterglow. As the sun slowly slips away, the revelry that surrounds the Sunset Celebration, for the square is alive not only with crowds tittering as it awaits this celestial event, but a myriad of street performers, seems to quiet in reverence as the sun completes this inspirational journey and hope they are blessed with a rare green flash. The scientific reason for green flashes is a  refraction of the sun’s light where the upper rim of the sun can turn green, but to behold such a rare phenomenon would probably turn the whimsical town on its head.

SUNSET CELEBRATION

Conchs, as the citizens of Key West are known, never need a good reason to party, and the setting sun is a great reason to gather to see this heavenly display. So beloved is this celebration that Mallory Square’s website posts the time of that day’s sunset, and according to a local ordinance, a cruise ship that may be docked at that pier has to leave port an hour before the sun sets so the view is not impeded.

MALLORY SQUARE KEY WEST 

BUSKERS GALORE

The setting sun is not the only entertainment. Street performers like acrobats, jugglers and singers are everywhere, plying their trade and looking for handouts. There is such a proliferation of them; from some guy in mime face paint telling bad jokes as he eases his entire body through a tennis racket, to a heavily tattooed man juggling knives while balancing on a three-tiered balance board, to a pair of wacky and very talented jugglers who employed several men and a young boy culled from their large gathered crowd to help them with their act, to name just three.

We finally got to experience the Sunset Celebration the day of our trip to Dry Tortugas. The ferry brought us back to Key West with enough time to walk over to Mallory Square. We caught a couple of acts, laughed along with the crowds, oohed and aahed in wonder at the sun, booed lustily in unison with the crowd when a yacht knowingly passed in front of us and momentarily blocked our view of the sunset and when it was over, we found a place to go for a couple of drinks.

OUR SUNSET

IS IT A PARTY IF IT HAPPENS EVERY NIGHT?

KEY WEST REVELRY

This humble scribe is a light weight when it comes to partying. If I lived on Key West I would have to adapt or die. We have friends who have lived here for a while and had to leave because it got to be too much revelry…and they are heavy hitter, swing for the fences types.

Yesterday was Thursday, and we only scratched the surface of the available antics on Key West. The night started when we met friends for an incredible meal at Little Pearl where we shared appetizers like Bangkok Octopus and Spicy Tuna Tartare Burlee before moving on to our meals of Sauteed Local Snapper, Grilled Swordfish and Grilled Wahoo. It’s difficult to get a table at Little Pearl, but we had an inside connection.

LITTLE PEARL RESTAURANT KEY WEST

 

MARY ELLEN'S KEY WEST

Then it was on to vibrator races at Mary Ellen’s. Yes, vibrators. The girls had bourbon drinks while we had some local beers.

MARY ELLEN'S BAR KEY WEST 

Then it was on to Tropic Cinema the local bijou for a sing-a-long to Little Shop of Horrors. Many in the crowd were dressed appropriately. There were several Audrey’s, one wearing a tight-fitting leopard skin dress, an Audrey II with a big head who asked if my name was Seymour, and one guy in leathers looking like Steve Martin’s character in the movie. We got drinks before we entered the theater. They served 90 Minute IPAs from Dogfish Head! We sang and laughed along with the crowd.

Then it was on to the Green Parrot. It was bustling. A band was playing. The bass player looked like Borat and the crowd swayed to the music. We were drinking Coronas infused with Patron tequila. Eventually we left and we weaved along the fairly quiet streets passing places like Better Than Sex, a dessert restaurant until we happened upon a bar with karaoke blaring from the open doors. It was already past midnight and our friends offered us a ride back to the Coconut Mallory Resort, so we didn’t stay. I was drunk anyway.

BETTER THAN SEX DESSERTS 

I told you I was a light weight.

AND...THEY ARE OFF!

.

CONTACT HIGH

KEY WEST FIRST IMPRESSIONS

From the beautiful rustic lower Keys we drove in the dreary rain towards Key West yesterday afternoon. Our dive planned for the morning at the Looe Key Coral Reef was cancelled because of the horrific downpour and lightning. But nothing prepared us for the shock of Key West. As rural and wild and soothing were the lower keys like Ramrod, Little Torch and Big Pine Keys, the bustling, weaving traffic along North Roosevelt Boulevard in rain slicked Key West that brimmed with commerce was disturbing. We traveled all this way, over a hundred miles from Miami, and it felt like the Jersey shore.  

Having gotten an earlier than usual start on the day because we couldn’t dive, we had lots of time to kill before we were able to check into our accommodations, the Coconut Mallory Marina & Resort. Located on A1A just on the edge of Key West Janet got us a great deal through Bookings.com with a steep discount.

COCONUT MALLORY RESORT 

Undaunted by the bad timing and the seemingly bad destination, we used our time wisely with a tour of Key West via Old Town Trolley. We always like taking a tour of a new place. It’s informative and often a hidden nugget of information about a place is learned. Also, there is an option of hopping off and on all day with these tours, but we used the tour as a way of getting in out the rain, and to see a lot of Key West.

OLD TROLLEY TOURS

WHY A DUCK?

Why not a chicken? Oh, the things we learned while on our tour.

Like why there are chickens all over the place? Answer: Legend has it that Cuban refugees love for cock fighting supplied the game cocks for this blood sport that is now illegal. The birds were released and are now protected and have full run of Key West.

Like, why do all the buildings have metal roofs? Answer: A city ordinance was passed after a devastating fire burned most of the city in the early 1900’s requiring this roof style, evidently as a way of suppressing fire.

Like, Key West was once the richest city in Florida because of wrecking.

Before the advent of steam ships the coastal waters of the keys were treacherous for sailing ships and when a ship ran aground and foundered it was big business to salvage as much of the cargo as possible, and even the wood of the ship itself. This was called wrecking and there was a whole hierarchy system among the salvagers and everyone involved made a lot of money. When the steam ships technology started ships were no longer pushed about by the capricious winds and the salvaging market stopped abruptly. Key West went from a booming town to a nearly abandoned ghost town. It remained this way for a long time before actively becoming a tourist destination point.

 HISTORY OF WRECKING ON KEY WEST

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

We parked at Mallory Square to catch the Trolley. The square is in old Key West and is famous for its Sunset Celebration where crowds gather daily to see watch the sun set. Music and dancing are part of the antics. I was there years ago to experience the revelry, but this day with all the rain the party was not to be.

SUNSET CELEBRATION

We instead went for a beer at the Green Parrot bar on Whitehead Street, a block from Route 1’s Mile Marker 0 sign. It is a lively, friendly place and a favorite of friends who visit Key West frequently; we had to make a point of visiting. While sipping our Cigar City beers we more than once fielded the query “where are you from?” It wasn’t prying, but almost like a secret handshake between fraternity brothers. It seems everyone in Key West is from somewhere else, and everyone was very happy that they were here and not where they were from. Whether it was for a few days, a few months or a few decades it became very obvious that being in Key West was for everyone.

THE GREEN PARROT 

The Green Parrot does not serve food, but next door, Charlie Mac has the BEST smoked chicken wings. It’ll make you jump up and slap yourself.

CHARLIE MAC'S KEY WEST

Thanks for reading, another question... Why DIDN'T the chicken cross the road? She was waiting for happy hour at the Green Parrot! 

CONCHS KUNAS AND BSD

NEW HORIZONS

Okay, Team VFH is serious now with the traveling. Janet has retired and my work has been thankfully sporadic. Life is good, but our time in this Garden of Eden is measured, and so your humble sojourners are going full monty with the destinations. New horizons are in the works and though we will continue to seek out the jewels amid the mundane, the world is waiting and in 2019 we plan to see a fair amount of what she offers.

HOW ARE WE GONNA PAY FOR THIS?

Truthfully, I don’t know. Hopefully the ghetto stock market (lottery) will help, but if not that whole adage about spending your children’s inheritance is ringing true. (I keep dropping hints that they should call more often…). I realize this may seem to be hedging on vindictive, but truthfully the sea change attitude of enjoying my life now, because the future is unwritten, has been a healthy dose of living for me. Too long for too many years I’ve plowed through work and Saturdays and Sundays were just two more opportunities to earn. I earned and earned, afraid an indeterminate future would not take care of me and my family. 

Now, in hindsight, I realize how we all suffered from my devotion to labor, but the past is gone and I must abide by the tenet taught well by my wife Janet, that life is good, but is fleeting and the Garden of Eden awaits us.

I’LL SIT HERE IN THE DARK

There’s a joke: “How many Jewish Grandmothers does it take to change a lightbulb?” The answer: “Don’t worry, I’ll sit here in the dark.”

Okay, I don’t mean to simply wave off my family. I have struggled mightily with how to atone for my imbalance over the years. I can continue to guilt myself and beat my chest and bawl. I can attempt to guilt my children and become a nuisance and show up on their doorsteps and constantly hover. I can sit in the dark and wait, to no avail.  

Or, behind door number three, there is the road. It’s a big world out there you know, and in the words of Dedalus, a character in my second novel, “The Music Made Me Cry”, “someone’s got to see it.” As they have the right to live their life, so do I.

SPENDING THE INHERITANCE

  

“KEYS” TO SUCCESS

Team VFH has resolved to travel somewhere every couple of months and we’re not talking about trundling over to the mall. In this still young 2019 we have planned three major trips: carousing in Key West, sailing in Croatia, and lounging in the Bahamas.

1) GOD’S WAITING ROOM

In February, Team VFH will call the Florida Keys home for a few weeks. We fly to Miami, rent a car and drive to Looe Key Preservation Center to either dive or snorkel for a few days. Nearby is the incredible Bahia Honda State Park, considered one of the best beaches in the country, and on Big Pine Key, The No Name Pub.

LOOE KEY

 BAHIA HONDA STATE PARK

NO NAME PUB

After a few days we will stay in the Conch Republic, Key West and enjoy the revelry down there for a week. We've both been there before and though we're not sure what will greet us on this wacky island, I'm sure there will plenty for us to squint at.

One side trip I had always wanted to go on was to the Dry Tortugas National Park a 70 mile ferry ride out into the Gulf of Mexico, to see Fort Jefferson. DRY TORTUGAS

 

FORT JEFFERSON

We’ll be in the Key West area for about a week. On our return we will stay a few days in Marathon key.

2) BUCKET LISTS AND DEAR FRIENDS

A long time ago in a galaxy far far way I worked the Sarajevo Winter Olympics for ABC and since then I have often wished to return. I still have dear friends there and I suffered greatly when the former Yugoslavia was wracked with extreme violence when the republic broke apart after Communism fell. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was crippled by the longest siege in history. When I visited Sarajevo, I was impressed by the myriad of peoples living cohesively. Sarajevo was renown for all the Muslims, Catholics and Jews living together in peace. The war changed all that. One fellow I worked with at the IBC (International Broadcast Center) fled Bosnia before the siege and settled his family in Zagreb, Croatia. Over the years we've kept in touch through social media and last summer he invited us out to visit. We’ll be out there in July.

 GEMS OF THE ADRIATIC

DALMATION ISLANDS, CROATIA

We will fly in and out of Dubrovnik and stay with Mr. Z and his clan in his villa in Trpanj, but before that Janet and I are sailing through the Dalmation islands for 7 days. We depart from Dubrovnik and visit islands like Korcula, where it is said Marco Polo was born, and Hvar. The trip ends in Split. We explore that area for a day or two before taking a ferry back to Trpanj. We won’t be traveling in-land to see Sarajevo, but I’ll bet my bottom Kuna there’ll be a lot of hugs and much pivo swilling. I have always wanted to sail through these beautiful islands and so here we go!

CROATIAN BEER

 

CROATIAN KUNA

IT'S BETTER IN THE BAHAMAS

We enjoyed our honeymoon at the Antigua Sandals enough to give this adults-only, couples-only, all-inclusive luxury resort company another swing. This time we’re off to their Royal Bahamian resort in Nassau in late November of this year. We were able to save a couple of BSDs (Bahamian Dollars) because we booked the trip very early, almost upon our return last month. 

SANDALS ROYAL BAHAMIAN

BAHAMAS DOLLAR

                                             

It may seem a bit anti-climactic to be lounging about instead of exploring new horizons, but this particular resort boasts their own private island to go along with the pampering that Sandals offers.

Thanks for reading. Keep checking back for updates on these and other trips that crop up.

Oh I realize I've mentioned my book in a shameless plug earlier. Here's where you can buy it:  THE MUSIC MADE ME CRY by Greg Dunaj