Island Hoppers

In the morning, we packed up quick. I noticed someone who looks like an authoritative figure but a block away, pulled over checking on something and he saw us coming out of the woods. I figured it is time to get the hell out of there. So we drove out the other way and back onto US1.

I was trying to find the Stone Castle that was in Key Largo but I couldn't find it. The only other thing I wanted to see was the real African Queen boat from the movie that was somewhere onKey Largo. Google maps took us to a hotel.  After scoping out the piers of the hotel, we found the boat. There at what is the actual African Queen. It was tied up high because they just had a really big storm. I did hear that they do tours but we didn't have time to do it. Snapped some pics and walked back to the hotel.

We wanted to see if we can sneak in the hotel and get a free breakfast seeing that most hotels come with it free breakfast. I picked the wrong hotel. The hotel only had a cafe that had you buy food. Hello. The clerk at the front desk called me out, so I kind of admitted that I wasn't staying there. It's okay, sometimes my pride walks out the door. We got some breakfast there even though it's too expensive. D'oh! Food was still good though.

Next island thatwe went to was Islamorada Key.  We found the 30-foot Lobster and I used my Lobster bib, props likes fork and knives to make a funny picture. J.J. did a funny picture of it trying to eat him .

We drove through all the keys and noticed the Bahia Honda State Park sign and thought we'll look at it on our way back. We got to Key West and we caught up with our friends Matt and Ashley on the end of their Key West honeymoon week trip. Had lunch at Kim's Kuban And JJ and I had counch fritters with iron beer and yerba mate. Interesting sodas! After having a nice chat and lunch, we went our separate ways.

We parked at a parking garage and the first location we went to was the Key West Aquarium. I went to the Key West as a kid with my family, that was one thing we didn't do, so I made sure it was on my list today.

It is the only open-air aquarium in the United States.it's a pretty neat place. They can't really renovate it seeing it's a historical building. We participated in all three tours. First tour was the touch tank. I got to pick up and handle a counch,  a horseshoe crab, a sea cucumber, a hermit crab, a starfish and a sea urchin. It's awesome, my favorite was the horseshoe crab. J.J. picked them up too.

The second tour with the nurse sharks. We fed them squid and fish. More like dropping fish into their chubby faces. Neat to see them eat. The woman also shown the other sharks feeding. The last tour was the Big Florida Fish Feeding. Sheepshead, Grouper and others. We feed them. It was really cool to see them go at the food. Turtles, tortoises, pythons, a rescue hawk , jellyfish and Florida Reef fish. Next up was the Shipwrecked Pirate Museum.

It was all about the ships that wrecked off the coast of Key West and how the citizens got rich off of it. It showed lots of treasure. We both enjoyed it but J.J. really like seeing all the pirate stuff. I'm really glad he's getting into things. By this time, we called the hostel in Key West but they were full.And all the other options were  $170 - $300. I told J.J. not to worry and that we'll figure something out.

Next stop, we walked to Truman Little White House. This is where some of the presidents stayed for winter. It had a few interesting free exhibits. We learned a good amount about Truman.

We did a lot of walking and we got turned around, trying to the Hemingway House in time for the tour before it closed. We went in one long circle and I noticed this so I actually hailed a cab. A cab driver gave no fucks about stop signs and stop lights. He just kinda rolled through and pretty much pushed everyone out of the way. I couldn't help but laugh.

We got there but they took only cash so J.J stayed there at the fountain as collateral while I had to find an ATM at the bookstore inside. It was a pain to find but we got in the last tour. We enjoyed the history and the house. We saw the six-toed cats and someone was having a wedding there that night. Very beautiful location.

After that, we walked to the southernmost tip of the continental United States. It's a big buoy and it marks that we are only 90 from Cuba. We were closer to Cuba than mainland Florida. We joked on how it be cool to visit Cuba now that we're allowed to travel to the country.

There was a coconut vendor and we jumped at the chance to enjoy some coconut juice. It tasted great and it was exactly what we needed to keep going.

We got in line to take photos and noticed five ladies dressed the same and one different. It was another bride's bachelorette party. One of the ladies asked if we would snap a pic of them together and we said yes and they said they do the same. We got all our photos we wanted, always a good time.

We started to walk back north because we heard there was a sundown party every night at Mallory Square.

We stopped at the Cork and Stogie and we enjoyed our first beers there: Funky Buddha Floridian - brewed and Fort Lauderdale. Smooth and tasty specially when you been walking all day.

After that, we started walking again up the street. Came across a marine-themed decorated truck and snapped the picture.

We found the Green Parrot Barand it was really hoppin!

The bar was full of happy dancing people and a live band was playing. We ordered some White Russians and watched a couple songs then started to leave. We noticedthat they have a lending library outside. That is super cool!

We got back to the parking garage and I switched from flip flops to sneakers. We re-parked on thetop outside floor, figuring we'd just get drinking and end up passing out up there. There would be a nice breeze out and if we get up there before the doors close, we'd only have to spend $30 and save $200.

We heard cheering in Mallory Square by the time we went down from the parking garage and we caught the party. There were food vendors, art vendors and lots of street entertainers.  We got a Czech bread roll dessert with Nutella and a lemonade then watched the cloudy sunset.

We then watched some entertainers. I heard salsa music coming from the bar not far from us. When the shows were over, we moved to El Meson de Pepe and danced to some Latin music.

After a couple songs and one mojito later, they called last call. Last call? It was only 10. We felt good though so we thought it was time to walk back to the garage, up the four flights of stairs and rest. One awesome thing, no bugs! I could have had the windows open maybe a little bit more for the breeze.

I was parked near the edge and that gave us a surreal feeling of falling so I moved up to the middle. I went straight to sleep after. Around midnight or so,  everyone was leaving the garage and the ground shook underneath me. Kind of of freaked me the hell out but I figured after they left, it would be quiet. I was right. Actually, out of the 8 cars that were on the top floor, four stayed. The car near us had a young man sleeping in it, so apparently this is a common thing to do.