Key West

As promised yesterday, today we arrived earlier into Key West. It has been several years since we've been here, and it's definitely one of our favourite places.

After breakfast, we were fortunate to join the much smaller non USA residents queue, meaning the disembarkation didn't take long at all. The weather was surprisingly cool here which was more pleasant than the humidity of the Bahamas. What was also a surprise is how well the place looks after the recent hurricanes that were here last month. Walking around the streets exploring was half the fun but seeing the locals ended up being most of the entertainment.

When we stopped for lunch, we went to a local shrimp restaurant and sat on the upstairs balcony. Whilst there, the appropriately named Frenzy Fest was starting. Basically it was like the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, but with more straight people. If you wanted to be totally nude and just wear body paint you could do it. If you wanted to dress like the Cat in the Hat (like one local) you could do it. If you wanted to ride on a Harley Davidson topless you could do it. Ted thought I was offended by what I saw. He was partly right considering the people that chose to wear just body paint didn't exactly have the bodies to make it appealing!

Ted had been in pain for a few days from sciatica so we found a local masseuse hoping it would help. Even though it was expensive, we didn't mind supporting local business after their recent tourist slump. Whilst this was happening I happily sat in the bar across the road with the locals and a few beers.

Ted had considered hiring a motorcycle but I wasn't really sure if the outlying areas would be that appealing after the damage they've suffered recently. We ended up finding some markets down by the water which we looked through before returning to the ship.

For dinner that night I was lucky to have shrimp again. One of the things I will miss about the cruise is the amazing food. There was meant to be another GLBTQ gathering tonight but once again it was just ourselves, the two American guys and the guy from Peru! Although at least this time the venue was much nicer, namely the rooftop bar overlooking the deck. Tomorrow we head back to Los Angeles and then onwards to Australia. The end of another cruise!Read more