Saturday, July 07, 2012

This Week on the Island 07/08/2012

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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Weather: HOT everywhere but here. In the 80’s day and night.

This week I finished ‘D. C. Dead’ by Stuart Woods.


Hope you had a good July 4th.


The Mohawk, the WWII ship that sat at the Truman Waterfront, was sunk off Sanibel Island! It will live on as a dive location for many years to come.


For all you Jarheads, in 2011 this monument was moved to the corner of Whitehead and United.

--------------Keys Bridges---------------------
When you leave the mainland at Florida City you will cross 42 bridges on your way to Key West. It is about 130 miles and is a 3 to 4 hour drive so enjoy the view.


The Jewfish Bridge is the newest bridge. It is at the end of the 18 mile stretch just before you get to Key Largo.


The 7-Mile Bridge is the longest bridge and you will cross it leaving Marathon at MM47.


The Harris Gap Channel is the shortest bridge and is about MM17.


The Bahia Honda Bridge is one of the few 4 lane bridges in the Keys. It is after the 7 mile bridge, so drivers like to speed and pass the vehicles they were behind on the 7-mile bridge. The cops are almost always waiting on the other side of the bridge. Lots of speeding tickets.


The old 7-mile bridge at one time was considered the 8th wonder of the world. It is still standing after 100 years of hurricanes. When it was converted to a roadway it was too narrow. They cut the railroad rails and laid them across the road and concreted the new surface to make it wide enough. It was still very narrow in 1971 when we drove to Key West on our honeymoon.


The most interesting bridge to me is the old Bahia Honda Bridge. It was built within a cage system; therefore they could not make the railroad bed wider to convert it to a roadway. They put the old roadway on top of the cage system.

Come on down, it is a beautiful drive.

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

You may join this group by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ThisWeekontheIsland/

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