And So It Begins

January 7, 2016 on board M/V Silver Whisper en route to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.

We departed Honolulu Sunday evening, January 3, and after the usual indignities of check-in and TSA as well as waiting a couple of hours in the Delta lounge at Honolulu International, we boarded a non-stop Delta flight to Atlanta.  (Always arrive several hours early at the airport, because you never know when a flight leaves before its scheduled departure time.)  Eight hours later, we are in Atlanta changing planes for Miami (the city that cocaine built).  Arriving in Miami, we were herded into a black Suburban and taken to the Miami Mandarin Oriental.  When the black Suburban picked us up at the airport, we were not sure if it was a  hotel limo or the TSA wanting to get even for all the snide comments Jerry made about "hopeless security," etc.  

After sleeping all afternoon, we attended that evening a Silversea-hosted banquet for World Cruise guests.  The banquet reminded us of some of the charity events we attended in Honolulu, only with better food - rubber chicken replaced by lobster and filet mignon.  But the round tables were the same.

Welcome Banquet Menu

The morning of January 4, we had breakfast at the hotel and loafed around until 1:30 pm, when we were taken on our first, of many, tourist bus rides to Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale.  Boarding the ship, check-in for the voyage was relatively painless.  The big question of the day was did we have our WHO vaccination card with a current yellow fever inoculation.  Guess yellow fever is rampant on cruise ships these days -- and you thought Norwalk Virus was bad!  Boarding completed, Eloise "organized" the suite by 5:30.  

Then it was time for that most bizarre ritual, the boat drill.  Wearing or carrying our bright orange life vests (some of the fashion police ladies didn't approve of the color), we shuffled to the boat deck.  There we were the victims of a very lengthy and incomprehensible lecture on ship safety, abandoning ship, and related topics.  Given the demographic on this ship (average age probably around 75), and the fact that most of the lecture was garbled by bad speakers and wind, the exercise for us was a waste of time.  However, the Coast Guard inspector on the pier undoubtedly heard every word.   Anybody know how to get walkers in a life boat?

We departed Miami about 6:30 pm bound for Key West, which may be the USA's number one tourist trap.  We docked at the pier on the US Navy base.  At one time, the USN occupied 70% of Key West, but that has been reduced to about 25% since 1980.  Space abandoned by the Navy is now taken up by overweight American tourists, and ultimately, the area will not be submerged by global sea level rise but will sink under their weight.  Actually, Key West makes us feel better about Waikiki, because Key West relieves Waikiki  as the number one tourist trap in the USA.

 Beyond the tourists, if you can see the residential and commercial buildings, the architecture is very appealing, especially the pre-WWII housing on the Naval Base.  Naval officers lived well ashore in those days.


Main attractions are the Truman Summer White House, Audubon House, and Ernest Hemingway's House with the six-toed cats.  Jerry took some exterior shots of the notable attractions, except for the Hemingway house and cats.  Our interest in things Key West dropped rapidly after seeing the crowds.  For the sake of the record, included are images of the Truman Summer White House and the Audubon House.

Truman Summer White House

Audubon House

A sample of the early commercial buildings shows local concern for hurricanes.   Note the heavy walls and buttresses of the old customs house below and the Caribbean influence in the iron fret work on the balcony of a restored commercial building.

Customs House, Key West

Heavy Buttressed Construction, Old Customs Shed, Key West

Iron Balcony Rails and Posts, Restored Commercial Building, Key West

 Excluding the bars, which all swear they were Hemingway's watering hole (of course, in his case it could be true!), the 40 plus t-shirt shops seem to make up Key West's commercial district.  After walking for about two hours around the residential and commercial areas, being rained upon, and overrun by tourists in their masses, we decided to retire to the Whisper for a nap and tea.

As we sat in the lounge having tea, the Silver Whisper sailed at 4:30 pm for Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.  If we ever really had Key West on a Bucket List, it has been checked off.  Maybe Key West is where all those TSA agents go on vacation!

Aloha, Jerry and Eloise