March 13 - Key West

We woke up the next morning in complete darkness. Oh... I didn't mention that we had an "inside" room. (Not a window cabin.) It was really disorienting. CaraLee went up early to do her devotions, I slept. As became our morning tradition, she came back to get me and we'd go off to the Buffet Belagio for breakfast. All the traditional staples were there. Waffles, pancakes, bacon (lots of it) and eggs. I got used to about a pound of bacon - what?... we're on a cruise! - and a couple of bagels with cream cheese. Needless to say, it made for a sweet bathing suit body for the rest of the day. CaraLee was a little more experimental.

Today we were docked at Key West, Florida. It was our first stop, but we never really got more confident with our plans for going ashore as the trip went on. Each stop was an adventure. We started with two, small goals. We wanted to get some sand - for a friend of CaraLee's - and put our feet in Florida water. Our goals expanded to include: taking in the cool houses of the area (specifically Earnest Hemingway's) and finding the "Southernmost point" in the USA.

We did a lot of walking. At one point, we were strolling along a "harbor walk" when I spied a large shadow moving through the water. Just about 15-20 feet away from us, it looked like a shark, probably 6-8 feet long, was cruising through the water at the same speed we were walking. After closer inspection, it wasn't a shark, but a very large fish. When we asked later, it was guessed to be a Tarpin. (Not very good eating, apparently.)

We sat down for a more "proper" lunch today. We ate in the same restaurant that we have our dinner in. We ordered a 4-5 course meal and enjoyed it - and our new company - thoroughly.

Speaking of eating and our company, our dinner was a formal one tonight. We all dressed up (it wasn't so bad) and spent our second evening with the other two couples from our table.

The first couple was from Gatineau, Quebec. Lillo (Italian name) works for the government while Joanne is "retired". They were such a nice couple. They've been married for over 21 years. Lillo was my resource for trying to figure out what all of the things were on the menu. He knows his food! Joanne stole the menu each night... she's a scrapbooker.

Andrew and Amanda live in Guelph, Ontario, but are originally from the west coast of England. They were a very quiet, but enjoyable couple who have been married for 5 years. He works for Nestle and Amada is a speech therapist. Andrew had a fancy camera and put it to good use on their excursions. They were the one couple who really got involved in all of the options ashore.

We were all dressed up this night as well. Again, the food was so so exotic and there was plenty of it. Every once in awhile I'd get burned by the language barrier and had to eat things like raw meat and anchovies.

The "gala" show was a musical tribute to magic from over the years. The group who performed was so talented. We went to bed stuffed and entertained.