Follow along on our
Western Caribbean cruise aboard RCI's Grandeur of the Seas departing from New
Orleans, LA April 26, 2003 with ports at Cozumel, Progresso and Key West, FL and
back to N.O. on May 03,2003.
We then headed
on the Key West. We arrived about 12:00 pm (ship time, 1:00 pm EST) but because
of customs weren't able to get off the ship until about 2:30. The good news is
we didn't have to be back on until 4:00 am! I was looking forward to seeing
sunset at Mallory Square or anywhere there was a view.
First on the
list though was the Conch Train tour to check out Key West. It was a pretty cool
tour and the guide was informative in spite of his "bad" jokes. The bad news is
that after the tour it started pouring down rain. I mean it literally dumped for
about an hour or more without let up. No sunset this trip! We made the best of
it anyway (read: we got drunk!).
We were able to
do the Duval Crawl, bar hopping down Duval. With the rain we didn't hit many
places and it was more of a "stagger" and less of a "crawl" but we had fun. We made down to JB's Margaritaville for dinner (and a few
more drinks!).
After JB's Ralph insisted
we go to 801 Bourbon on Duval. They had a great show upstairs! Sorry, no
pictures you'll have to check it for yourself. It was about
midnight by that time (we did start at ~ 4:00PM!) so we headed back down Duval. It was pretty quiet except
for a few people at the hot spots like Sloppy Joe's, Rick's, Fat Tuesday's, etc.
We got back on
the ship for a nightcap at the "Schoonabah" and then to bed.
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Key West |
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A wider shot of the pier |
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Gypsy chicken |
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These chickens are protected in the Conch Republic (aka: Key West). |
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More Gypsy chickens |
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A hen with her chicks |
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Key West house |
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The houses are really cool. There were a lot of restorations going on too. |
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Mile zero |
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The starting point of Highway 1. I don't know who those people are. |
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90 miles to Cuba |
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The southern most point in the U.S. |
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What a fashion statement! |
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It started pouring down rain right at the end of the Conch Train tour. We were stranded in a gift shop across from Billie's bar on Front St. |
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Raining in Key West |
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It's still better than being at work. |
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Splish Splash |
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This is what we had to "wade" across to get to Billie's. |
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The Duval River |
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It was flooded for most of the day and night. |
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The gang at Rick's |
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"Hey, get your hand outta my face". |
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The gang at Rick's |
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"Say what!", "Have another Caribbean Breeze". |
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The gang at 218 Duval |
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This place was great even though it was flooded at the back. Guess they're used to it here. |
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"Ain't this fun!" |
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Jerry enjoying himself at JB's Margaritaville. |
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Saxy Guy |
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This band was pretty good, even if they were from Boston (LOL). |
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LINKS:
Key West
Clyde's Key West
Margaritaville Key West
Click on the ship to the next page
