The Conch Republic

Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday.  We had a long day, getting up at 6am to head off for the Florida Keys, and we didn't get back to the hotel until 10pm.  43 islands are connected by 42  bridges. The 7 mile bridge shown here is well known from movies like "Fast and the Furious" and "True Lies".

I learned some fascinating facts about the Florida Keys area (otherwise known as the Conch Republic).  In 1982 the police set up a roadblock to try and catch drug traffickers and illegal immigrants coming from the Keys.  This caused 25 mile tail backs and it was taking 12-13 hours to get into or out of the Keys, which was ruining the local economy.  So the mayor of Key West decided to put together legal documents saying that if the police were going to treat them like a foreign country they were going to become one and declared independence.  They also declared "war" on the US.  Hostilities included throwing stale Cuban bread at the US Navy ships in Key West Harbor.  The "war" lasted one minute. After which they "surrendered" and asked for a billion dollars of foreign aid. They didn't get the aid of course, but the huge amount of publicity generated did succeed in getting the road blocks taken away again.

Key West is home to the Southernmost point in the USA (only 90 miles to Cuba as Kennedy was fond of saying during the Cuban Missile Crisis). Also it's home to Key Lime Pie (of course we had some), one of Ernest Hemmingway's houses, a whole lot of cigar manufacturers, and some chickens roaming the streets.  We went down to the sea front and had a great view of some pelicans fishing.  

We left Key West at about 6pm, but it took a good 3.5 hours to get back to Miami. 

Later today we board our ship, Norwegian Jade, to start the cruise part of our trip.