The year of the Rooster and January stats

We believe it only fitting that we are in the keys for the start of the Lunar Chinese New Year and the Year of the Rooster. You may be wondering why this is significant to us being in the keys. Once we were secured Thursday at our dock in Marathon, Maureen and I set out for a walk (while Mark washed the salt off the boat) to see what was around the area of the marina. While walking we saw several roosters, which seemed very strange to us but there was a residential area and we thought maybe they got loose. On Friday, Mark, Maureen and I headed to Key West by bus and took the Conch Tour Train where the guide informed us that the chickens are wild and protected. These birds were brought to Key West by early pioneers as a source of meat and eggs and a form of entertainment, cockfighting. In the 1950's many Cubans found refuge and employment in Key West in the cigar industry and they brought their birds with them. As food became readily available in markets and cockfighting outlawed, the birds were set free. There are some 2,000 roaming around Key West and now they are seeing them as far east as Marathon.
These birds are very colorful (a lot like Key West) and certainly do like to crow a lot. We thought they only crowed in the morning just to find out that is a myth and they crow all day and all night. The "gypsy chickens" have caused public controversy, where one side wants to rid the area of these birds and the other side says it is part of the "Old Key West". So far the chickens are winning. After we got the "low down" on the roosters we settled back on the train for a 90 minute informational ride around the island.
It was also explained to us that we could try the "Key West bar crawl". Duval street stretches from the shores of the gulf to the shores of the Atlantic and it can be walked in 30 minutes. However, there are 47 bars in that distance, how long would it take you to walk Duval Street? We didn't make it very far, we stopped at a few and it took the entire afternoon.

There are several looper boats here at Faro Blanco Marina and we are sure to see many come and go within our next month of staying here.

                             January Stats   Loop to Date
Days looping                   31                  263
Travel days                       5                  126
Miles traveled               192               5,089

The Year of the Rooster

Conch Tour Train

 

Mark and Maureen at Sloppy Joe's

Where everyone is a little Irish

Sitting on the balcony gave us a great

view of Duval Street

Trying out the stone crab claws 

Dinner at Burdine's with Becky and Mike from True North

Burdine's is a great place to watch the sunset

You always have to watch where your walking

Celebrating Myron's birthday from Miss Bailey along

with Enterprise, Fins and Mikee Likes It

"Faro Blanco Lighthouse"

"Snowy Egret"