This Week on the Island 03/02/2008

'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.----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The picture this week is Mel Fisher's son Kim holding another gold bar found off Key West last week. -------I have had some people ask me about the picture last week of Schooner Wharf Bar. The fire happened 7 years ago.

The Weather: Another cold front came thru Wednesday dropping the temp from the low 80's to the mid 50's for Wednesday night. Then it was back to the high 70's for the weekend.

The book this week was 'The Stingray Shuffle' by Tim Dorsey. Serge, the serial killer, goes to New York chasing $5 million. If you have lived near warm ocean water, you know that the stingray will bury itself in the sand. If you step on it, it will fight. If you bump it while shuffling your feet along the bottom, it will swim away. Thus 'Stingray Shuffle'.

Key West has a concern about getting people out of the keys in a hurricane. To help this we have ROGO (Rate of Growth Ordinance), which means you cannot build another housing unit unless you have a ROGO unit. Many people with land have not been able to build and a judge decided that the ROGO law went away in 2002. Key West may be in line for lots of law suits.

The multi-million dollar, 160 foot, yacht Legacy ($16 to $30 million) has been towed to Key West. http://timzim.blogspot.com/2006/06/legacy.html It has been stuck on the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

Big power outage in south Florida on Tuesday. We were without power for about 1/2 hour. Miami was down for about 5 hours.

Tuesday afternoon Jo and I went to the intersection of Duval and Eaton to watch the Junkanoo's band. http://www.junkanoos.com/index2.html If you have never seen them, it is a treat. Lots of whistle blowing, beating on drums, clanking sounds, and in general a lot of noise. South Carolina's Oba Adefunmi, a Yoruba priest and King of the North American Yoruba, was in town for Black History Month. South Carolina is the home to the only traditional Yoruba village in America.

Tuesday night was the release party for Michael McClouds new 2 CD set, 'live as I can be' at Schooner Wharf. http://www.michaelmccloud.com/. Some of his old stuff and lots of his new stuff. Thirteen (13) songs on each CD.

The 18-mile stretch. Leaving Florida City (the last town on the mainland) there is 18 miles of 2 lane until you reach Key Largo. It is in the process of being updated with a better road. One of those updates is a new bridge to replace the old Jewfish draw Bridge. (sorry that would be Giant Grouper Bridge, we wouldn't want to be politically incorrect). The last section of the new bridge (7,500 foot long 65 foot high) was put in place this week and the bridge should be open by summer. The project started in 2005 and should be completed by 2010.

Bob Marley's son Stephen Marley played at Sunset Pier on Sunday.

The 'Boat Show' was on the Truman Waterfront over the weekend.

Schooner Wharf Bar's 'Open Air Music Affair' was on the weekend. Lot's of art displayed on Lazy Lane and on the boardwalk.

I hope your favorite girl invited you to the Sadie Hawkins Dance Friday night (Feb 29). http://ask.yahoo.com/20011115.html

Key West, You have got to love it

'Living the life that others dream'

Doug Bennett

Lat 24.55967N, Long 81.80169W

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