Key West can be a drag

The intrepid crews of several boats hiked to the bus stop (outside the infamous Brass Monkey) for a trip to Key West on Saturday. In celebration of the independence of the Conch Republic, two weeks of festivities are underway. The bus trip is about 2 hours each way (since we circle the hospital a few times and change buses at Publix and stop along the way for pickups and dropoffs), but it's an excellent chance to people watch and hear some remarkable conversations -- including a seminar loaded with not-so-historical facts on the way down by a rasta in the back.

After the required stop by the Raw Bar for lunch, we hiked to the race track (otherwise known as Duval Street). The drag races were performed by some lovely (and some skanky) drag queens in the highest heels imaginable. They included timed trials, navigating through a maze of tires, all while pushing a shopping cart. It wasn't like Tennessee drag races, but well worth a trip to see (photos included later; our batteries conched out and we hope to get pix from friends). We weren't a bit surprised to see that the races had been invaded by....the Gypsies! It was nice to see them again, and they introduced us to some of their favorite watering holes, El Alamo for a cool place to rest and Green Parrot with a great blues band. It was a long day, but fun for all.

No one voted off the island yet!

When we had the rum punch party on the dock last week we missed Survivor, which is the one show we try to watch when we have reception. Even though we found out several of the attendees were taping the episode during the party, we weren't among them. We were able to catch up on the computer the next day, and were warned by John and Susan (Alchemy) that they'd be on our boat the next week for the show (they have no reception in the mooring field). We were then kindly invited by our neighbors Fred and Candy to join them on their boat house (Sunset Dance, described in a previous post) for Survivor evening. Happily, we were all allowed to stay on the island and enjoyed a lovely evening of watching scalawags try to outwit each other. Thanks to Fred and Candy for their hospitality!

Sad to say goodbye

It's always hard to say goodbye to new cruising friends. When you meet other boaters you get to know each other quickly and well, since you know your time is limited. You also have an instant rapport because you have a lifestyle in common and an obvious love of boats and water. The best part of our travels is the people. With very few exceptions (you know who you are), we've met wonderful friends from all different locations and walks of life and have had loads of fun and new experiences with them.

That being said, we had a goodbye party Friday night at Sombrero Resort for the three boats leaving this weekend (September Song, Floating Stone and Sea Pearl). Our favorite performer (Tommy Santelli) was there, and since the ladies made some lovely commemorative purchases on our shopping chick trip Thursday (7 of us in Stephanie's rental car) everyone was properly adorned.

One of the evening's highlights was an invasion of gypsies. We'd heard about the crew of Gypsies in the Palace (Doug and Tammy), and it was good to finally meet them (even though we'd been warned of their tactics). They drove up from their lair in Key West to help with the sendoff, since they'd cruised with September Song for several months on another trip. A good time was had by all, with fun and dancing and lots of promises to stay in touch.