Key West Bight Marina

March 24, 2022

The folks at KW Bight Marina are less than welcoming when we arrive. It takes us a little by surprise to run into Dockmasters so unwilling to help or to smile. Check-in was a bit of a gong show and it took longer than anticipated. When we were finally able to cruise through the marina to our slip, we approached it carefully. The wind was blowing us straight off our designated slip and to add to the difficulty, this was the first time the Jopling crew had ever docked in pilings. Gord approached the pilings and it was a no go. The wind caught us and pushed us away from the pilings. Gord backed up and attempted a second time. This time might have been successful, however, my ability to lasso a tall wooden post is rusty so this attempt was also a failure. Back in reverse we go for our third attempt. I expect by this time, the people safely docked their slips are enjoying the entertainment. Gord sees that the pilings have a mess of ropes on them and asks if I think I can get one with a boat hook to put on our cleat, rather than trying to lasso the piling. This could work! By now it was our fifth attempt, but it was successful. Once the rope was on the midship cleat, Gord could manipulate Holy Cow into place. The wind tried to make it more difficult, and the cleat groaned about the pressure it was under, but it all goes well and we get tucked and tied into our slip. We went about the many chores that are required once the engines are turned off. The entire boat needs to be hosed down because of the amount of salt deposited on it from our travels. There's clean up, organization, retying the boat to account for the tides in the night, getting the dogs to shore etc. etc. etc. We are tired, but Gord and I head out to the Conch Republic for dinner and the kids eat dinner and watch a movie at the boat. Key West is bustling with people, many of them are groups laughing and staggering off their sunset catamaran tours. The air smells like sea water, food and alcohol and Hawaiian Tropic coconut sunscreen.

We had a nice dinner and watched people as they strolled by enjoying the evening. Tomorrow is a busy day, so we find our way back to Holy Cow, tuck the kids in and head to bed. Thursday will be a fun day. We have as little work planned as possible because we could all use a break. We rented a golf cart to buzz around Key West. We load and secure our coolers, umbrellas, chairs and duffle bags into the back of the cart. We have so much to see and not a lot of time to do it in. Our first destination is Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park Beach to swim and snorkel. It's a beautiful day, but still breezy. The kids love the ride in the golf cart. We get to the State Park Beach and unload our things and schlep it all to the lovely spot we find with a tree and a picnic table. We organize it all, set up our chairs and sit down. Then of course, the kids are hungry. So into the coolers and snacks we go trying our best to keep sand out of everything. We see that the waves are fairly aggressive and there are few people swimming and even fewer snorkeling. Gord is comfy in his beach chair and feels a nap coming on. I walk to the water to see what may have washed up. This isn't a good shelling beach but it's worth having a look.

I stumble across something we were warned about by the park ranger when we arrived. I honestly didn't think we'd see one, but a few have washed up. If you know me, you know, I'm likely going to pick it up. However, these are a little dangerous, so I pick it up with debris I find on the shoreline. It's called A Portuguese Man Of War - a jelly fish - which apparently

delivers and excruciating sting. I don't think this one has much sting left in it, but it's really interesting to look at. I show it to the family who are equally as interested in it as they are disturbed that I picked it up.

Back to hunting on the shoreline, I find another creature which we take a picture of as it emerges from the shell. Because it's still alive we put him back. No Jopling is swimming or snorkeling. In fact, the kids are ready to leave and Gord and I are happy to oblige. We don't love the beach. We pack up, load up and race off to the next destination which is the actual historic location of Fort Zachary.

When we first arrive, we find a Geocache hidden in a really cool tree and are excited that it is the most southwest Geocache of Key West. The Fort is really fun with the kids. We are able to incorporate a decent history lesson into our day and they were fascinated.

After pounding the concrete at the Fort, the kids wanted a quick run in the nearby waterpark that has a massive Coast Guard ship as a back drop. When they were cooled off, we scooted down the quaint streets of Key West. Of course we drove past Hemingway's house and beyond the Key West Lighthouse. We drove to Mile 0 and then headed out to the main road, had a quick stop at Smather's Beach and then scooted around to the airport. The airport is a place suggested by the golf cart rental shop where Jaxon could take the cart for a drive and no one would know, wink wink. Jaxon had been excited and patient all day. However, as we rounded the corner to the airport, the golf cart suddenly lost it's gumption. Gord checked the mileage. Surely we hadn't gone over the 20 mile limit the battery had stored in its charge. We were miles from the drop off spot and the cart started to come to a crawl. We had to break the news to Jaxon that his joy ride in the golf cart wasn't going to happen. He was disappointed, but took it in stride. As we slowed to a snail's pace, we waved the cars on to go around us. We cheered 'go cart go," "two more miles" hoping our enthusiasm would get us back to our drop off location. It wasn't looking good. We missed a turn and a couple of untimely red lights were eating up what little battery we had left. We were thrilled when it seemed the road had a slight downhill slope so the cart picked up it's pace to a mere crawl . Things got pretty quiet in the cart as it became more apparent that we may be pushing this contraption the entire last mile. As Gord's GPS counted down we were less and less hopeful we were going to make it. We were finally just meters away and 35 minutes late with the cart we rolled in on whatever momentum we had. The employee came out to greet us and Gord said "I don't think you're getting very far with that one. Sorry buddy!" We told him our story and explained we certainly hadn't gone over the 20 mile battery life that was promised to us. He said the carts get pretty abused and he thanked us for being good natured about it. The Jopling crew loaded up all the bags, coolers, umbrellas and chairs and schlepped it all back to the boat to unpack from the day.

We were all about as exhausted as our golf cart, so when bedtime came were were glad to crawl in and have a great night's sleep. We are supposed to leave the dock in the morning, but you know.....the wind!