Friday, June 4, 1993

Key West! We're back in the U.S. of A.! Good marinas! Laundromats! Super markets! Instant oatmeal! English muffins! Raisin bread! Junior Mints! Parts for the boat! Charts! Anything we want!
And high prices.
If travel does nothing else for you, it sure makes you appreciate home.
Our birdy friend stayed with us all night. He snuggled down on the aft deck, out of the wind. But when I went back there to get the lines and fenders ready, he flew away, which is just as well, since it's illegal to bring a bird into the United States without a permit. By then, we were within a mile or two of land, so he shouldn't have had a problem making it.
We arrived in Key West about six o'clock our time, which is eight o'clock Eastern Daylight Savings Time, so now we have a two-hour time difference to adjust to.
We had planned on tying up at the A & B Marina, but they didn't have any side ties, so we splurged and went to the Galleon Marina instead. We were flabbergasted when we found out they charge $2.15 a foot! That's over $80 for our boat! We thought Cabo San Lucas was ridiculously high at $1 a foot, but this is preposterous!
Roy phoned Customs, as required. Pretty soon an agricultural inspector came to the boat. He confiscated our oranges and lone onion, but he didn't take our potatoes, which was surprising. He said we could keep the eggs if we hard-boiled them, so I promptly put them on to boil. The immigration officer came and checked our passports. Customs cleared us by phone. So now we're free to go wherever we want to. No more Port Captains!
We walked to an ATM machine and popped out some money, as we were completely out of U.S. money. Had lots of pesos, lempiras, and colons.
Ate a good breakfast at a nice, air-conditioned restaurant. Then we walked to a drugstore and bought some cough syrup. On the way back, Roy bought a nice pair of sandals.
Back at the boat, we ate egg salad sandwiches. Then Roy carried a mountain of dirty clothes to the laundry room. There were only two machines, so I couldn't wash everything, but I washed the most essential stuff.
I phoned Lincoln School and found out my 50th Class Reunion was May 7th. Oh well, maybe I'll make the 60th.
Took refreshing showers. Boy, did that feel good!
Roy assembled the bicycles, and we rode around. Unfortunately, we managed to lose each other. Roy stopped to listen to some music. I turned right at the corner, as was our custom. When I saw that Roy wasn't behind me, I got off my bike and waited. After a few minutes, I went back to where I'd last seen him, but he had vanished, so I rode around looking for him. He was riding around looking for me. We looked in the same places, but at different times, so we never found each other.
By seven o'clock, I was totally lost. I didn't know where Roy was, I didn't know where I was, and I didn't know where the marina was. Since I wanted to get back to the boat before dark, I decided my number one priority was to find the marina, so I rode back in the general direction I'd come from, but didn't see anything familiar. I figured if I followed the waterfront, I was bound to find the marina eventually. Sure enough, I finally reached it, much to my relief. Roy showed up a little later.
We left the bicycles on the boat and went to Burger King for supper. Then we crossed the street and ate some ice cream.
We've been experiencing some strange symptoms. We don't know if they were caused by the barracuda or what. The tops of our tongues burn. Mine's been doing it for two or three days, but Roy's just started today. The bottoms of Roy's feet have been itching like crazy. He's practically scratched off the skin. He couldn't sleep for the itching. He put all kinds of medication on his feet, but nothing helped. Finally, he took an extra-strength Tylenol. The itching stopped, and he was able to sleep.