Key West part two

On Sunday afternoon we drove into town to witness the sundown at Mallory Square. There were a lot of people in town and we soon found the reason. There were two large cruise ships docked at the waterfront and hundreds of the passengers roamed the streets. We enjoyed a Mexican meal at Amigo’s restaurant before joining the throng of people at Mallory Square to see the pre-sunset entertainment. The headlining acts were two different acrobat/flaming baton juggler/comedians who had very similar acts at different locations in the square. They both worked shirtless and were tattooed which made their acts even more alike. The slack rope walker was not there; neither did we see any animal acts. There were fortune tellers, musicians, and lots of vendors selling stuff.

Watching all the other folks was just as entertaining as the performers. Judging by the many languages we heard, folks from all over the globe gathered to watch the earth roll away from the sun. We secured seats at the bulkhead about 45 minutes before sundown and watched the boats going by. The cruise ships left during this time, maneuvering their immense hulls away from the dock without tugboat assistance. With their side thrusters it probably is not that hard to do, but it is still impressive to see those behemoths in action. 

Many sunset cruise boats packed with revelers passed us during this time; some of them were very nice looking vessels. However, the last boat that passed by was the ugliest boat I’ve ever seen. The ugly duckling was probably placed there because non of the other boats wanted to be near it as they passed the picture taking tourists. 

The sun and the earth were on cue and at the precise time the sun appeared to touch the horizon. From this point on it sinks very quickly. Someone blew a conch horn as the sun disappeared and the crowd applauded. I’m going to go out on a limb and say they’re accolades were for the sun and not the conch shell trumpeter. But who knows, this is Key West!

On Monday we had to leave Boyd’s Campground. I planned the Keys trip late in 2014 and couldn’t get a reservation of any length in any of the campgrounds. It’s actually better this way, moving about we get to experience more of the Islands. Mondays stop is only about 15 miles up the road from Key West; we are at the KOA campground on Sugarloaf Key.

The campground is ok; it’s nicer than I thought it would be. There is no grass, just gravel but the sites are wide and we’re not packed together like some of the other places we’ve been. The campground had a Marti Gras parade on Fat Tuesday and later in the afternoon a rock band that you could hear throughout the park. At 10 pm the music stopped and the partiers went home or someplace else because it got quiet after that.

Sugarloaf was just a two day stop for us and we didn’t do anything other than ride our bikes. Next stop is Easterlin County Park in Fort Lauderdale.