Woke up, as usual, at eight o’clock this morning to find that Borealis was tied up in the picturesque port of Key West, a U.S island city situated in the archipelago of the Florida Keys. Key West is also the most southern point in continental America, lying about 90 miles north of Cuba.
We hadn’t been here before and, as it looked as if we were docked practically in the town, we hadn’t booked any excursions today, preferring to do our own thing and explore on foot. I was pleased to report that my left knee seemed to have settled down and hadn’t been giving me any pain for a few days; long may it continue. 😊
It was a lovely sunny day and the water had that gorgeous vivid aquamarine colour you see in tropical and subtropical places. We could see many boats and interesting white apartment buildings; what a lovely place it would be to live here.
We disembarked about 9.45am and strolled along the boardwalk and pier towards the town. I was able to get several photos of the Borealis against a flawless blue sky, and we could also see another little island which looked to be full of expensive-looking individual houses; I believe this was one of the private islands in the Keys.
We browsed in the windows of the shops, which all seemed to be selling beach wear and the usual holiday ‘tat’. There were also many bars and restaurants. As we stood there pondering on what to do, one of those little tour trains went by, and we thought it might be a nice idea to give it a go. However, when we enquired at the nearby kiosk how much a ticket was, it would have been over 100 dollars for us both to ride the little train. We thought that was too expensive and declined.
Wandering through the colourful, cheerful streets, we came across a bar called “Captain Tony’s” which was supposed to be one of the oldest bars in Key West. It was originally built in 1851 as an ice-house (that doubled as a morgue!) and had been a favourite watering hole of celebrities such as Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, to name a few. We decided to go in for a cold beer. 😊
We found ourselves inside a traditional old saloon with wooden floors and a long wooden bar, at which we took a seat. Hundreds of dollar bills had been tacked to the walls, pillars and ceiling. We each ordered a cold beer from a taciturn barman; the beer came in a 22-ounce plastic mug which you could keep as a souvenir. Music blared from a speaker and there was a large TV screen, on mute, showing a ball game.
After we’d finished our beers, we emerged back into the sunshine, which seemed very bright after the dimness of the bar. I decided to have a look at the GeoCache app and see if there were any nearby caches; we saw that there was one near the harbour, so we set off in search of it, navigating from the app.
On the way, we passed many bars and pubs, and all of them seemed to have live entertainment going on; singers, keyboardists and guitarists. Most of the pubs were doing a roaring trade; it was obviously popular with locals as well as visitors.
Our search took us through an attractive, quiet residential street, full of large houses set back from the road. We had about 700 metres to go to reach the cache. The route took us through a park with manicured gardens towards the harbour. We could see the coastguard vessel moored up; it also acted as a veteran’s museum with an admission fee of $15.00 per person if you wanted to go on board and have a look around.
As the distance on the GeoCache counted down to only a few metres away, we started searching in earnest for the cache. A guy on board the coastguard vessel, looking down at us, remarked “She’s getting warmer… warmer… hotter, very hot”. We asked him if he knew what we were looking for, and he said that we were the third couple that day! Soon we found a small plastic box hidden in a metal hollow near where the vessel’s electricity supply was, and we completed the details on the app to show we’d found it. 😊
We could see the Borealis further along and decided it would be pleasant to walk back along the harbour. However, as we got near, we saw that it was all fenced off and there was no way back, other than the way we’d come.
Eventually we arrived back, around two o’clock, and went up to The View for a late lunch and another cold beer. Looking at the Daily Times, there wasn’t a lot we fancied doing, other than the afternoon trivia which we didn’t win as usual. 😊
During this time, the Borealis got ready to set sail again, and we watched as she glided away from the quayside. Returning to our suite, we stood on the balcony and watched as the island of Key West receded into the distance, the faint outline of the ship’s wake in the foreground. Several yachts, their sails and masts gleaming whitely against the vivid blue of the sea and sky, sailed serenely by. We enjoyed the rest of our opened bottle of cava as we made the most of our spacious balcony.
Bye, bye America. We had another two sea days to look forward to now as we made our way to the Panama Canal.
I decided to give dinner a miss again tonight, as we’d had a late lunch and Gilbert, the canapé man, had been at 4.45pm with some more of those tasty little treats, so I didn’t feel particularly hungry. I told Trevor I’d see him at 7.30pm, at the coffee-and-liqueurs stage of the meal. 😊
After getting washed, changed and sorted out, I took my laptop and sat in the Piano Bar, enjoying the sound of the music as I did some of this blog. It was only when my battery showed only 15% that I switched it off and sat there sipping a glass of rosé wine.
After meeting the others on table #87 I enjoyed a cup of coffee and a glass of port, and we caught up with the gossip. Then we took the laptop back to 7063 and plugged it in to charge, before making our way to the Neptune Lounge for dancing. We got up and did a square tango and a cha cha cha then, when the show was about to start, we moved into one of the front row seats vacated by the dancers who were off to their dinner on second sitting. 😊
Tonight’s entertainment featured a singer called Guy Melidoni. Apparently, he was a former hospital porter in Burton-on-Trent who used to sing to the patients to keep them entertained, and now he was singing on cruise ships. He sang his tributes to the likes of Matt Munro, Barry Manilow, Frank Sinatra etc. He had a decent enough voice with a lovely tone, but he had the annoying habit of putting “ah” at the end of every pause “Born free-ah, as free as the wind blows-ah”, you get the idea. In the end, we weren’t really listening to him sing, but instead counting the number of times he went “ah”. We did see one or two people walk out, but we didn’t think he was bad enough to do that. 😊
After the show, it was quiz time once again. Nope – no prize for us tonight. 😊
Then it was up to the Observatory, where deputy entertainment manager Tom McGarrity was hosting a game show called “Higher or Lower”. It was based on the television game Play Your Cards Right, but they’re not allowed to call it that because of copyright. In order to have a go, part of a tune was played and you had to name the tune as well as the artiste. The first person up only got as far as the end of the first line, then it was time for someone else to have a try. I correctly named the tune as Barbie Girl by Aqua, so it was my turn to get up to try to win some prizes. If you got to the end of the first line, you won a Fred Olsen Cruise Lines mini-pen, if you got to the end of the second you won a bottle of cava, and if you completed the whole thing you won a goody bag full of FOCL merchandise.
I only managed to win a mini-pen, before I predicted a lower card would come out. It was, in fact, higher, so that was the end of my game.
Only two players did actually go on to win the goody bag; you also received the bottle and the pen too! We remained in the Observatory until the disco music came on at midnight, then we returned to 7063 and sat out on the balcony for a short while before turning in for the evening. Tomorrow we had another relaxing sea day to look forward to, and once again we slept very well.