This is the African Queen from the movie. The challenge is to keep it in a state that looks dilapidated (as per the movie) when it isn't!
We had a wonderful brunch at a little place called Robbie's in Islamorada. For just $3 you got a bucket of small fish. Some people laid down and these monster fish 'swallowed' half their arm. There were signs asking you not to lift the Tarpon out of the water. They get to 7 feet long and have a mouth like a Barramundi.
If you threw the little fish in the air you got seagulls trying to catch them mid-air and if they missed a mass of smaller fish 'boiling' the water as they all competed for the fish. It was great fun.
Just a picture of the road across the Florida Keys. Long and straight with long low bridges and water either side a la True Lies with Arnie Scharzanegger.
We visited Key Largo & Key West. While having coffee we noticed chickens and a cockerel wandering about. It seems in the 50s cock fighting was made illegal and many of the fighting birds were just released. Due to the way the law was phrased they are protected and now are a pest. The people collect the eggs that are laid to use so that the population is controlled.
Key West is a laid back place. Made us think of places like St. Andrews. It claims to be the southern most point of America and almost is except a military base is a few miles further south. It is just 90 miles from Cuba, as a result they have a problem with illegal immigrants.
Hemmingway spent a big part of his life in Key West - house in photo 2. I'm not quite sure how many of his 4 wives lived here but the place had a reputation as being party central and he was most certainty never faithful to any of his wives. He must have been very charismatic as two of his wives chased him down. Interesting that as a war correspondent he suffered 267 wounds to his body with the Italians who helped his recovery.
As we arrived in Key West we were very surprised to find we couldn't find anywhere to park. It turned out that there was a major international speedboat race going on. Nice to watch for a short while but a bit like the Grand Prix, you see the action for a few seconds as they go past noisily.
Frank nearly became a radio star. 3 guys, well over 60, were running their own radio station from this beach bar. It was about 1pm and there was an unusual aroma in the air that I think was assisting them in their rapport, I don't think it was tobacco they were smoking. When they found out we were from Australia they wanted to interview Frank on air but after a couple of records it slipped their mind they had asked!
and that was mainland USA and we loved it.
We did struggle at times with the tipping, especially when you've paid a lot of money for something and you find out the driver doesn't get paid by the company but only gets the tips. That is such a bad model.
Loads of extra taxes added all over the place. We'd forgotten just how many great things America has added to this world.
Most people were incredibly well mannered and very friendly.
While there are a great number of fast food outlets you can find great food outlets.
Didn't think much of their wine :)
Next stop: Cancun Mexico
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