| Although Key West is an island, the really expensive houses have
to have a waterfront for their boats so these estates have canals for the
folk who have everything! |  |
 | Lesser mortals
keep their boats in the marina. This is Key West harbour with several
million dollars' worth of yachts. |
| In amongst them is the odd tourist trap like this former torpedo
patrol boat for that particularly special trip. |  |
 | But perhaps you
just want a bit of posed fishing. The lines of these sort of boats just look
so sleek, not that they would have much effect on speed, or fishing! |
| For a more adventurous sailing experience then you need a
catamaran. Most of these boats can be hired for your party or even wedding.
There were all sorts of tours available to take you sailing, fishing, or
snorkelling on the reef. |  |
 | I
think you have to be a corporation to afford this, it is at least three
times the size of anything else in the harbour except for the ferry to the
Tortugas. |
| This is a little more affordable, just the job for a little
fishing. |  |
 | There are some
working boats, I'm not sure what this does but I don't think it is a
pleasure boat. |
| This is a lot more obvious. This is the catamaran which acts as a
ferry to the Dry Tortugas. We didn't go because the ferry left too early in
the morning, we couldn't get there in time. In addition the choppy surface
had spoiled visibility on the reef so it was not worth going for the
snorkelling. |  |
 | The harbour is
full of fishermen but these are just lazing in the sun, not that the others
seem to do anything different. |
| There are some of the original schooners still at work but these
days they take parties out for trips either fishing, snorkelling or just
sailing. Sunset cruises are very popular. |  |
 | This is another
of the schooners but is moored on the other side of the harbour and so makes
a more complete photograph. |
| One of the cruise yachts setting off to wherever. Most of the
tours only seemed to be a couple of hours and so can't have gone far. |  |
 | We went into Key
West three times. One day had one cruise ship in, one had two and the third
had none. The town was very quiet on that day. |
| You can hire these wave runners by the hour. It isn't the sort of
thing which appeals to me but I think Jan would have liked to have gone, but
not on her own. You need to be in a group for this to be fun, and safe. |  |
 | For some, this is
more fun. This is available to hire for a party of eight or so. |
| One day the weather came in so we elected to have lunch whilst it
poured with rain - if briefly. It got really dark and when it rained you
could not see the island. |  |
 | That means this
island which must be one of the most exclusive places in the world to live.
This is about half a mile off the harbour at Key West. |
|