Day Five - 20th October 2016

Day 5 started with breakfast at a little French café we had spotted the day before.  Joe assured me it was just a couple of blocks from where the shuttle dropped us off.  It was about 10.30 by this stage and I was getting hungry, so of course, it was actually more like 20 blocks by the time we found it.  I had some nice healthy orange juice, granola and fruit, followed by toasted artisan bread that I was afraid I would break my teeth on, all washed down by passable coffee.  Joe had an almond croissant, which was pretty good.  Then we went our separate ways to explore the town/shops and get a feel for the place.  Very touristy, lots of bars and restaurants and all with live music, mostly pretty good.  Lots of tourist tat, with Key West plastered all over it, and quite a few with grubby jokes that weren’t even that funny.  A few cigar shops selling fine Cuban leaf, hand rolled in the Dominican republic – not able to buy genuine Cuban cigars made in Cuba – apologies to the cigar smokers !

Had lunch at Pincers Crab Shack, more average and over-priced-for-the-quality tourist nosh.  We caught the shuttle back to the motel just after 4 as we had planned to meet up with David and Laurie – brother and sister-in-law of John and Jeanette.  John we know from Westpac NZ and had met a few times since they also were in Sydney for the last 6 month we were.  David and Laurie live in Key West and have been here for about 5 years, so it was great to get the local knowledge.  They took us to the Green Parrot where the band playing later in the evening did a sound-check one hour gig.  They were pretty loud, but VERY good. They really got the crowd warmed up and were off the stage, mingling with everyone in the crowd.  After that we went to Virgilios for dinner, a superb little hole in the wall type place that is a regular spot for David & Laurie.  The food was fantastic – hurray!!  Joe had Ossobuco (braised veal shank) that fell off the bone, and I had Hogfish, so-called because it has a pig-like snout, used for searching for crustaceans buried in the sediment.  It was a really light flakey white fish, perfectly cooked.  Once we’d had dinner we went wandering through the twon, round the marina and in and out of several historic streets and a few bars that Ernest Hemmingway had once frequented.  Seems we had chanced on the right time to come, as there is a Mardi Gras festival starting tomorrow and the town is beginning to heave with people.  We bid farewell to our new Key West friends (we have friends in Key West you know sweetie) and made our way home after wandering around the harbour and taking in the atmosphere.