Caribbean Day 2 (Key West, FL): Touristy Stuff, A Lot of History and Seafood

Last night my grandma said we had an early excursion planned so I woke up early. Guess what?! Our excursion wasn’t scheduled until later this afternoon! Ugh… What to do, what to do?

Since we had a lot of down time the only way to properly use that time here would be to eat! Right? Room service it was! We got a couple of salads, a fruit plate, orange juice and lounged around until breakfast. That’s right… Breakfast before more breakfast!

We ended up at the breakfast buffet later than I anticipated and we didn’t take too long to eat. My mom went to see if we could change our excursion time to an earlier one so she left a little earlier than us to the purser’s desk. No such luck! We had to wait until our scheduled time so we went out to explore Key West on our own.

While we were out we discovered many bars, gift shops and establishments of questionable credibility. A couple of the major land marks around here are Mile Marker 0 and the Southernmost Point of The US. We made an effort to take pictures at Mile Marker 0… I’ve never felt like more of a tourist in my life! We didn’t make it out to the Southernmost point of The US yet. There’s also a Senior Frogs here but I don’t think it the same as the one in Ensenada. We wandered around the immediate vicinity and made it back in time to have lunch on the ship and head out to our excursion.

Our excursion would be best described as a tram ride around Key West. Key West is only 2 miles by 1 mile, but there’s a lot packed into that space. We started out in Malory Square drove by Truman’s Little White House, Jackson Square and the Kpoc Tree, Sandy Cornish’s Church, Bahama Village, Ernest Hemingway’s House and Museum, and a lighthouse.

We learned that the oil from the Kpok tree is used to make soap and how a slave named Sandy Cornish became one of the richest men in Key West. He bought his freedom and sold produce to residents to make a living. He was a leader of the black community and founded the Cornish Chapel. Key West was originally called Cayo Hueso by the indigenous people. The original name was lost in translation and became Key West. Ernest Hemingway’s house is home to 60 polydactyl cats. Key West has to import sand because the coral reefs prevent waves from forming. No waves, no sand. The coral reefs caused shipwrecks and everyone rushed out to the scene when it happened. The first person out was the Wrecking Captain and they got to keep 80% of the wreckage. At this time Key West was a republic, The Conch Republic, united by José Martí, and became the richest city per capita until the Great Depression. The governing body gave the deed back to the federal government but they didn’t know what to do with it. Key West was worthless. Tourism was supposed to save the city but the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 happened and everything was destroyed. Freeways were built by out of work veterans to stimulate the economy and bring trade to the city. Henry Flagler also built an overseas railway. Everyone told him he was crazy but he succeeded and it led to the construction of 29 other railroads. Key west is the home of Jimmy Buffet’s original Margaritaville. Our guide also told us that Key West’s cemetery Is located in the “dead” center of the town… Sounds like a Disneyland Joke.

Our tour ended right where we started at Malory Square. We did some more shopping at the $5 souvenir shops and headed back to the ship for dinner.

Tonight is seafood night! One of the best nights on any cruise line! We pigged out on crab, caviar and sashimi. There wasn’t any lobster… I wonder why...

After dinner we explored the ship, ordered room service and went straight to bed. We learned a lot today!