This Week on the Island 05/08/2011

'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 1st picture this week (click to enlarge) is ‘HOB’ locally known as Horace O’Bryant School. See HOB below. The 2nd picture is Timothy Dalton in ‘License to Kill’ at the Barrelhead Bar. The bar was Harbor Lights and is now Thai Island Restaurant and is on Palm Ave. The 3rd picture is the plane at MM17 that was used in ‘License to Kill’.

Weather: I am amazed every year about how long it stays really nice here. We have a little bit of winter and then it warms up. The temperature gets in that 70 to 80 range and then works it way up to the 75 to 85 range. We are in the dry season from December until June. So Dry and a nice day after day after day after day does NOT get old for me. May is a transition month where it gets warmer and a bit more humid before the rainy season (Hurricane Season) starts in June. In the summer we get lots of rain and lots of humidity but it rarely gets above 90 degrees and I like it warm. Did I ever mention that I really love living here.

The book this week was ‘Metro Girl’ by Janet Evanovich.

Pat Croce is now 2/3 owner of the Green Parrot Bar. He owned the Pirate Museum on Front Street, but moved it to St. Augustine. I hope he doesn’t do anything to change the Green Parrot.

Divers have found more treasure from the Santa Margarita. This time it is a gold and emerald ring. The Santa Margarita (1622) was the sister ship to the Atocha that Mel Fisher found. So far they have recovered over $450 million in gold, silver and precious stones.

This has been an interesting week. It started with the death of Osama bin Laden and ended with Mother’s Day. In-between, Jo and I were invited to 2 meeting about the hotel that is planned for the vacant lot behind Schooner Wharf. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo and we had 20 whales beach themselves at Cudjoe Key. As of Saturday morning 13 of the whales have died.

HOB! We are regulated to death here in Old Town Key West. We have a tree commission (don’t do anything to a tree without permission). We have the Historic (Hysterical) Society that say’s what you can and cannot do to your house, including color. We have a Parking Tsar, which decides all things to do with parking. We have Commissioners that are only voted on by their district, but make decision, along with the other Commissioners, that affect other parts of town. Etc, etc, etc.

HOB in the picture above is not in Old Town, they are in-between Old Town (think Sloppy Joes) and New Town (think Sears and Kmart), and so they are in Mid Town. They still have lots of regulations, one of which is their buildings can not be above 25 feet tall. The new HOB is almost 60 feet tall. The School said they were not regulated by the city and could build whatever they wanted. A big fight is at hand. The people in the neighborhood are a bit upset and are banding together to get something done. More later.

Michael McCloud has been on vacation this week and Schooner Wharf Bar is just not the same.

Key West, You have got to love it
'Living the life that others dream'
Doug Bennett
Lat 24.5591N, Long 81.8016W

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Sassi dancing to Schooner Wharf Bar Dog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbxD3D-rPqo