Key West Intermezzo

This morning began at a very early hour. So early that the sun wasn’t even up yet. I get no pleasure from getting up that early. However, that’s what today’s plan called for so that’s what I did. If all went well today, I would be arriving in Key West by noon. If things didn’t go well today, I wouldn’t be arriving in Key West at all.

The Key West Express from Fort Myers Beach to Key West was scheduled to depart at 8:30; however, they require passengers to be there 90 minutes in advance. Probably a bit much but nobody asked me. I figured getting up at 6:00 would leave me enough time. It did.

I arrived at the Key West Express terminal shortly before 7:00. There were a few other people already there but certainly not a big crowd. The only question that remained was whether my fully loaded bike was going to be an issue. According to the rules posted on the website, “Bicycles must be single, standard size with no attachments”. Clearly I have a few attachments.

As I cycled through the parking lot – past a handful of staff and crew – I tried to assess if I was getting any strange glances (stranger than usual anyway) indicating that my bike wasn’t welcome here. There were no raised eyebrows or other signs that my loaded bike was an offensive sight. My optimism level was on the rise.

At 7:00 the ticket windows opened. The moment of truth had arrived. I had already paid for my passage so, if all went well, all I would need to do is show my confirmation number to get my ticket. All went well. However, since the ticket agent couldn’t actually see my bike – and all of its many attachments – I went with the full disclosure approach. I figured if I was going to be denied entry it might as well happen sooner rather than later. I don’t know if it was because it wasn’t a sold out crossing or if the “rules” are more flexible than they appear but there was absolutely no concern over my fully loaded bike. Key West, here I come!

By 7:15 my bike and I had boarded the Key West Express. By 8:30, the engines were roaring and we were leaving Fort Myers behind. I’ve lost count as to how many times I’ve taken a ferry on this trip but this one was certainly different from all the others. There’s a reason it’s called the Key West EXPRESS. It’s fast. Very fast. When standing on the open-air top level of the ferry, it was remarkable how much force the air had.

Fast-forward 3.5 hours later and the engines had lowered to a gentle purr as we neared the southernmost city of the continental USA. Clearly this is a popular place to be as there were three very large cruise ships already docked by the time we arrived. Side note: I’ve never considered myself a “cruise person” but the ships are definitely impressive. Maybe someday I’ll give it a try. Just because. But not today.

My first task after disembarking from the Key West Express was to make contact with my Warm Showers host, Sara. Thanks to some minor technical difficulties, this took a little longer than expected but we eventually connected and met up at the official southernmost point of continental USA. Sara was great. Super friendly, enthusiastic, and just a lot of fun. She was on her bike so, as we made our way to her place, she led me on a tour along the south shore of Key West. The views were beautiful – even Sara commented on how blue the water looked today. Having never been here I had no reference point but it was definitely a beautiful array of blues.

Key West is pretty small – especially when travelling by bike – so, even with the scenic tour, it didn’t take long to arrive at Sara’s place. As Sara opened the gate we were immediately greeted by Porter, her roommate’s dog. Spoiler Alert: We would meet up with her roommate (Rachel) later. After a quick tour of the house, I moved on to setting up my tent. Shortly thereafter James arrived – another cycle tourist whom Sara offered to host. He had cycled from Boston and this was the end of his journey. By coincidence, James left Boston on the same day that I arrived in Boston.

Sara had to run off to do some work but suggested that we meet up later for Happy Hour somewhere. She also recommended that I check out Mallory Square where they have a daily sunset festival with buskers, merchants, food, drinks, and of course, the sunset. That sounded like an excellent plan. And it was.

Thanks to a bit of procrastination (and conversation with James) I found myself having to rush to get to Mallory Square in time. But I did. It was definitely a fun atmosphere. It sort of reminded me of the festivities in Ottawa on Canada Day. Some of the Key West buskers were even doing similar performances to those in Ottawa.

After sunset I met up with Sara at Turtle Kraals for a beer (or two). We were later joined by Sara’s friends Shayna (not sure of the spelling on that one!), as well as Julie and, uh … I’m suddenly drawing a blank on the other friend’s name. Sorry! Anyway, when Turtle Kraals’ happy hour ended we decided to move on to another bar. This became somewhat of a pattern as the night went on. At the second bar we met Sara’s roommate, Rachel, who had brought James (the other cyclist) with her.

There’s no need to go into the details of the rest of the night but what started as a couple of happy hour beers at Turtle Kraals turned into a night of bar hopping that didn’t end until 4:00 at The Green Parrot. Fortunately, it didn’t end like my sunset cruise in Africa!