This Week on the Island 08/12/2007

'This week on the Island' is written by Doug Bennett and is an update to friends about happenings in Key West last week. Everything is true except for those parts that are lies.
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The picture this week is 'Griffin's Conch Garden' also known as 'The Bucket of Blood' and 'The Red Doors'. It was a rough waterfront shrimpers bar. The rooms upstairs were rented by the hour. I believe this is what Buffett's song 'A Woman Going Crazy On Caroline Street' was about. This house at 800 Caroline Street was built after the Civil War by the Pinder and Curry families. Note the double-gable roof with a valley between. It is now occupied by a shop named 'Commotion'. This house used to be on the water front, but after the dreg and fill days it is now 1 block from the water.

No book this week.

The Weather: A lot cooler than many places north of here.

Sunday was the 14th annual 'Battle of the Bars' on Lazy Lane behind Schooner Wharf. There were 35 teams this year. It is a timed race with 2 teams competing at a time. Each team had 7 members. The 1st one mixes a Margarita, The 2nd one carries it to the table, the 3rd one drinks it, the 4th one buses the table and runs to the recycle bins and recycles, the 5th one roll a beer keg to the table and taps it, the 6th one pulls 7 beers, the 7th one carries the beers to the rest of the team that are now in a line, each member chugs their beer and places the cup up-side-down on their head. The whole thing is timed. If your team does not win you can buy your way into the next round by donation money. All the money ($19,100) went to 'Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Key West. The winning team was the Raw Bar ReHabs from the Half Shell Raw Bar. Their winning time was 2 minutes 10 seconds.

Monday was the first day of Lobster Season. The fishermen can now start pulling their traps.

Saturday will be Lobster Fest on Duval Street.

A friend came by Monday with 4 lobster tails for us. They were wonderful.

This week, the Suzuki Samurai has had a different tire go flat every day. Had to buy new tires, the Goodyear guy said I had pretty much used them up.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Capt Tony. He was 91 on Friday. He moved to Key West in 1946 and has been a fisherman, charter boat captain, owner of Captain Tony's, mayor of Key West, friend to Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Shel Silverstein, and used to pay Jimmy Buffett in beer to play at his bar.

I met some nice folks from my home state of South Carolina this week. They were from Greenville and he used to live in Taylors, a small town between Greenville and Rock Hill.

Saturday we have visitors staying for this weekend and next week, they drove down from Fort Lauderdale. (Way up north in America). We went to Duval Street . They had never sat on the curb in 90 degree heat and eaten lobster.

There was a meteor shower Saturday and Sunday at about 3:00 AM, hope you didn't miss it.

Key West, You have got to love it

'Meet me at the end of the road' - Conky Tonkin'- Jimmy Buffett

Doug Bennett

Lat 24.5597N, Long 81.8016W

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