A Trip to Key West

We started our journey to Key West on May 16th at about 7:30 P.M… Ten of us in a Chevrolet Express with latest Tamil songs, “Nakumukka” being the favorite of the majority. I tell you I am among the minority.

Anil, my hubby was the driver and Keerthy the navigator. We were playing ‘Anthaakshari’ on our way. It was fun and Archana’s brilliant voice was icing on the cake. Badri and Pranav were busy discussing Tamil movies and eating Cookies (NB: made by me:)). After traveling for about 2 and a half hrs through I-75 S, we halted at a Gas station. We had our home cooked dinner there. It was a wholesome meal with soft idly and chutney, puttu and kadala and delicious curd rice. After fueling ourselves and the car we resumed our journey, this time S.V driving and Mala navigating. Sharp at 12:00 S.V reminded us to wish Mala ‘Happy Birthday’ and S.V gifted a gorgeous Watch to her. Anil and Badri, the other married guys in the trip made sure that their wives didn’t have a glance at it. :)

We reached the ECONO Hotel; in Miami on the way to Key West at about 1:00. Rooms were decent. We had 3 rooms. Mala’s family stayed in one room, rest of the guys in the second and the ladies in the other room. Sleeping for few precious hours we got up at 5:30 in the morning. After feeding ourselves with the too average ‘free continental breakfast’ in the hotel we set forward to Key West at about 7:30.

We were traveling from the Miami to Key West through the so called Overseas High way, a Highway that connects to the sea. It was a beautiful drive. We allowed ourselves time to enjoy the beauty of the seas on the way.

Soon we were traveling through the Seven Mile Bridge. It connects the Middle Keys to the Lower Keys. There are 2 bridges running parallel. The old bridge was badly damaged by the Hurricanes of 1935 and 1969. The present bridge was opened in 1982. The bridge is spectacular with its center arched to provide clearance for boat passage. Remember the bridge in the last scene of ‘TRUE LIES’. :) We stopped at a point on the bridge for a while. It was very sunny, not an exceptional thing in the Sunshine State. We took some snaps. We happened to see a strange thing, so many dead fishes in the sea. A portion of their flesh cut off and the other portion and eyes intact. Something fishy!!!

We resumed our journey with the AC in the van turned on. We reached Key West by 11:30. After struggling for a while we got a parking lot for 20 $ a day! The initial entry to Key West reminded me of our own Pondicherry!

Key West is the southern most island of the Florida Keys. It is also the southern most city in the continental U.S. Prior to Spanish explorers Key West was occupied by Native Indian Tribal groups. Being closer to Cuba than to Miami, Key West always had Cuban presence.

Key West has something for every one. Key West has lot of history and a lot of museums to show it. Many novelists and playwrights including Hemingway and Tennessee Williams had made Key West their home.

We went to a tour agent to search about the various attractions and the costs. There were a lot! We can take a tour train for a 90 minute journey through Key West and the person will relate stories of different buildings, museums etc. Umpteen water sports like Snorkeling, Jet skiing, Scuba diving, Para sailing… Even Plane rides were there. We were short of time and many of us were not good swimmers for sports like Jet skiing.
And some sports were very expensive too. So we settled for a few. Parasailing, a Cruise out from the harbor to the sea to watch the reef without getting wet and finally the Spectacular Sunset. That guy also gave us some free meal coupons, free bag coupons...we were not able to take benefit out from any. Hmm!

We had some time left to refuel ourselves before our activities. The minority non-vegetarians Pranav, Anil and I decided to go to a Sea food restaurant. The others had Veggie Burger from Burger King, the most popular survival technique of vegetarians in U.S. In the non-vegetarian group I am a partial non-vegetarian, only fish no meat. The restaurant we went to serves food as well as alcoholic drinks. My hubby had an eye on some cocktail drinks. Since Pranav was not very interested, we settled for a Fish sandwich, a Smeared Fish and French fries. These guys – the embodiment of cruelty wanted to try a Dolphin grill. Oh God! After my long lecture on dolphin’s beauty, friendliness and intelligence they agreed not to have it. The food was pretty good. The main attraction was yet to come, a dessert- Key West Lime Pie. I swear it was so delicious. You can’t afford to miss it.

After the lunch we decided to explore the place before starting our activities. We went to the so called Southernmost Point in continental US. Of course there are other points more southern than this. But this is the southernmost point easily reachable by the civilians. It is only 90 miles from here to Cuba. To check the illegal immigration from Cuba, U.S Border patrol set up road block and inspection point in the Overseas Highway which caused great inconvenience to the residents and the tourists. In protest to this Key West declared its independence from United States in 1982 and the ‘new nation’ was called Conch Republic! Even though the issue was solved and patrol was stopped soon afterward, they still use this name as a tourism booster. You can see a lot of southernmost stuff here. Southernmost hotel, southernmost house, southernmost museum… After taking some snaps we left for the next destination, The Butterfly and Nature conservatory.

The butterfly conservatory is a glass atrium filled with large varieties of colorful butterflies and tropical vegetation. There is also a gift shop in front of it. But even after taking a lot of snaps, we could easily finish our business there in 20 minutes. It was not worth the 10$ entry fee. As though to relieve our desperation, the lady there presented all of us paper butterflies. With the paper butterflies on our shoulders, we left the conservatory.

Time is now 3:10. The tour agent had told us to reach the harbor by 3:30. From there a boat is to take us to the sea for Para sailing. We reached there by 3:25. Before boarding the boat we had to sign an agreement that we are willing to risk our lives and they will not be responsible for anything. S.V signed for the minor Keerthy. After finishing that business we were waiting there. It was so hot and sunny. The live music from a nearby restaurant somehow helped us in that hot sun. At last a boat came to rescue us at 4:10.

The crew guys were very enthusiastic. They explained to us the different safety measures. They offered us to take the Parasailing pictures with their special camera at a rate of 10$ per person claiming that they are professionals in that. Anticipating poor Para sailing photos from our camera, we agreed to that deal. Two persons are to go in a single parachute trip. S.V and Mala’s mom remained enthusiastic spectators. First to go were Badri and Lavanya. Being an unadventurous person my heart beat was faster at the sight of Badri and Lavanya Parasailing. But it seemed that they were enjoying. It was real fun for us down here and them up there. Next to go were Archana and Pranav.

Next Anil and I. Butterflies in my stomach… The crew guy helped us to tighten our life jacket. They took our snaps before the sail. Then in one minute… we took off… Ha! It was great! We were up in the air at a height of about 500 m above the sea. We had a spectacular bird’s eye view of the magnificent Key West islands. We were enjoying the beauty of the green sea and the sea life. With the twists and turns of the rope the crew member made us wet before landing and made our 15 minute sail more exciting. Landing on the boat was also comfortable and easy. It was real fun for us! Last to go were Mala and Keerthy. After finishing everything, we paid those guys tip money and left the boat.

Before boarding the glass boat we had a coffee. We were roaming around for sometime and suddenly I realized that my sunglasses are missing. My memory brought me to the restroom where I had kept it 10 minutes ago. They were not there. Oh man! Thieves in America!

Soon we boarded the glass bottom boat. As clear from the name, the bottom of the boat is glass which will give us sea life view without getting wet. We enjoyed the sea from the upper deck for sometime. After sometime the crew told us that we can go to the lower deck and have under water view. It was wonderful! Different varieties of fishes including the poisonous jelly fish. Crew provided us information about the interesting marine life and fishes. Then we had the opportunity to enjoy the Coral Reef – North America’s only living coral reef. After sometime I felt like vomiting and I went to the upper deck. Anil and I stayed in the upper deck for sometime. Because of this I could not fully enjoy the under water view.

It’s time for the last item in the menu. The magnificent Key West Sunset. Fortunately the sky was cloud free. Sun had already started painting the sky with magnificent colors. All of us were in the upper deck, many posing for photos. After many attempts Lavanya succeeded to catch the sun. We were all enjoying the Sunset, some of us with the complimentary champagne, not to mention the names. :) We enjoyed as the Sun slowly disappeared beyond the horizon, with a promise to return next day. It was beautiful! I have never enjoyed sunset so much in my life.

The day is over and its time to pack up. After a good dinner at Pizza hut we went to our rooms. Hey we need to get up early tomorrow for another Memorable trip, to Miami.

Gisha...