The Conch Republic

Friday, January 30, 2026

I feel the presence of Jimmy Buffet’s ghost. 

We finally made it to Key West, and it’s love at first sight. This town is full of history and charm. There are restaurants, bars, and restrained gift shops. There are museums, and cigar shops, and tidy white houses, and rock and roll. The ghosts of pirates, writers, presidents, poets and musicians haunt the imagination of visitors. People ride bikes and scooters and drive around in golf carts, as well as cars. It’s busy, but not especially crowded.

The view from our balcony

Coast Guard Cutter Ingham was the most decorated vessel in the Coast Guard fleet. She is now a museum.

Birds stood in formation on a dock for hours.

We started our morning with some geocaching in a small park, the Key West Historic Memorial Sculpture Garden. The garden was full of monuments dedicated to former distinguished citizens of Key West. The centerpiece of the park is a large sculpture called “The Wreckers.” The wreckers were the men who saved lives and cargo from the vessels that were wrecked on nearby reefs. Wrecking was Key West’s first economy. The city became the richest city per capita in the US in the 1800 as a result of the salvage fees earned by wrecking crews.

There were interesting blocks of local limestone throughout the park. I completed an earthcache about the properties of limestone that enabled it to function as an aquifer.

Two very different limestone blocks

Of all the memorials here, the memorial to Sandy Cornish was, perhaps, the most remarkable, and most gut-wrenching.

The photo of the plaque associated with this bust did not turn out well, so I have transcribed it below. Warning: The following paragraph describes self-harm.

Sandy Cornish

C1793-C1869

Sandy Cornish (Uncle Sandie) was born a slave in Maryland about 1793. He migrated to Florida in 1839 where with his wife Lillah’s help he was able to buy his freedom. In the late 1840’s his free papers were lost in a fire. Six unprincipled men captured him with the intent of selling him at the slave market in New Orleans. Uncle Sandie escaped and to prevent recapture he inflicted severe injuries on himself. In the public square of Port Leon, he cut the muscles of his ankle joint, plunged a knife in the other hip joint, and cut off the fingers of his left hand rendering himself unfit for labor and thus worthless as a slave. In the late 1840’s he came to Key West where he and Lillah bought a farm on what is now Truman Avenue near Simonton Street. Uncle Sandie supplied fresh vegetables and fruit to the island’s inhabitants. During the Civil War many Union soldiers visited Sandy’s fruit orchard. He was by all accounts a highly successful farmer, one of the richest men in Key West and a leader of the African American community. In 1864 he established the ongoing Cornish Chapel of the African Methodist Episcopal Church at 702 Whitehead Street. Uncle Sandie died in the late 1860’s, a wealthy, respected, and free citizen of Key West.

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After the sculpture garden, we walked around the town center  and looked at some of the shops.

Cute crocheted creatures

There are chickens all over the place here. They just wander around wherever.

Next we found ourselves at the Little White House, where President Harry Truman maintained a home. He made eleven trips here during his presidency. The property is now Truman’s presidential museum (but the main Truman Library and Museum are in Missouri). 

Truman’s 1950 Cadillac limousine

The Little White House

While in Key West, President Truman signed a bill establishing the National Weather Service. The original NWS building is now an Inn.

We walked past a large park where they were getting set up for a big “red dirt” music festival called Mile 0 Fest. We then made our way back to the ship to join a food tour we had booked through HAL.

The food tour was great. Our guide, Mike, provided a lot of historical commentary in addition to shepherding our group of 16 to a series of memorable eateries. We started with some background on two nearby buildings - the Customs House and the Mel Fisher Museum.

The Customs House is a beautiful example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. It is now a museum and art gallery.

Mel Fisher was a man obsessed with finding a sunken treasure ship. It’s an interesting story, but too long to get into here. Fisher did eventually find a sunken Spanish ship, the Atocha, in 1975, after decades of hunting. After a U.S. Supreme Court case, Fisher’s company got to keep the treasure, worth over $450 million at that time. If you want to know more, Click here. If we ever get back to Key West, we will definitely plan a visit to Mel Fisher’s museum.

Our first food stop was Garbo’s. This restaurant started out as a food truck, but it now has a nice location on a lot with a large building for a bar and tables inside and outside. We could have a mahi taco or a Korean beef taco. I chose the mahi. The sauce and vegetables were good, but I could tell the fish had been frozen. It had no taste and an awful texture. 

Our next stop was Cuban Coffee Queen where we had a very delicious Cuban sandwich. Sorry, but the photo of the food did not turn out. Here’s the inside of the shop and a photo of Mike, our guide.

At the Rodriguez Cigar Company we watched people hand-rolling cigars. Mike told us an interesting story about the history of cigar production in Key West.

Next door we visited the Kino Sandal Company where they make leather sandals that you can only get if you visit the store. I didn’t think they looked very comfortable, but people that had them raved about them.

Street scenes in the uncrowded town center

Capt. Tony’s is mentioned in Jimmy Buffet’s song, Last Mango in Paris

Inside Capt. Tony’s the ceiling is papered with money

Inside another part of Capt. Tony’s, license plates and bras

Then it was time to go to the Tiki House for cocktails. We could choose one of three types. Most of us chose the Zombie, a rum drink which was set on fire and which the patrons had to blow out. It included a home-made liqueur I had never heard of called Falernum. It had a cinnamon flavor.

Flaming Zombies

The cocktail menu

The ambience

At a place called Bagatelle we enjoyed Florida lobster mac and cheese in a historic house turned into a restaurant.

Finally, the dessert. You have probably guessed what it was. Hint: Our final stop was the Florida Key Lime Pie Company. Yes, we had key lime pie, but it was made without eggs. Mike explained that in the 1800’s sponge fishermen would be gone for a long time on their boats, and they did not have refrigeration, so they came up with a recipe using canned sweetened condensed milk (Borden’s), local limes (Key limes), and bread. And I am glad they did.

I enjoyed Key West so much! We did not have conch fritters, but I didn’t really want them. The food tour was quite fun and interesting and a perfect introduction to this historic town. At the end of the tour we walked back to our ship and sailed off into the sunset. (Sailing off into the sunset sounds better, but we actually sailed to the east, so we sailed away from the sunset, which means we had a spectacular view of the sunset from our aft balcony.)

Shabbat shalom!

Today’s fabric is Conch Shell by tendertextile for Spoonflower.

Art Deck-o

Thursday, January  29, 2026

Art Deck-o

Today we are just sailing along at sea. It’s a relaxing time. I felt lazy and didn’t go to any of the “official” daytime activities. To some extent, we made our own activities: reading, taking photos, blogging. Here are some of the featured activities today.

• On Deck for a Cause - a 5k charity walk
• A City on the Sea - a behind-the-scenes look at life aboard
• Ask the Captain - Q & A with the captain
• Game Show: The Game of Love - How well do you know your other half?
• Chocolate Surprise - I wanted to go to this, but I forgot to
• Cake Me Away! - I did go to this at lunch time. I tried two kinds of cake. Yum.
• English Afternoon Tea
• The Caribbean Up Close: Roots & Rhythm

There were lots of other activities, including arts and crafts, exercise classes, pickleball lessons, music, lectures, games, and dancing. 

Here are some photos of our room. We have a Neptune Suite. It is very comfortable, and it is hard to leave the quiet atmosphere of our room. It is an aft corner suite, so we have a wraparound balcony. There is a lot of storage space here - we haven’t even used it all. The desk where I write is in the corner by the window.

This is a small dressing room between the bedroom and the bathroom, with mirrors,
good lighting, and a lot of closets

The bathroom has a whirlpool tub and a shower

We have an illy coffee maker, a small refrigerator, a pair of good binoculars, a phone charger, and a big orange umbrella.

I have peeked into other types of rooms. The standard balcony rooms look a little larger than average, and even the inside rooms are larger than most inside rooms we have seen.

Now I am going to take you on an art tour of Deck 1. We will tour other decks later. You may recall that I described the style of this ship as “quirky Art Deco.” This ship is 23 years old. The newer HAL ships have a more modern style, but often with a little quirkiness still going on. 

Deck 1 has a number of staterooms and is also the location of the Guest Services desk. There isn’t that much art here. Some of it was too ugly to take photos of (e.g., larger-than-life clown sculptures with tiny heads). I mean, I don’t want to break my phone. OK, so I am opinionated about art.

This is in the elevator lobby. Why? I can’t even.

The Zuiderdam I, outbound from Holland in the 1940’s,
by Captain Stephen J. Card, Bermuda, 2002
(technically not on Deck 1, but in a stairwell between decks)

One of a pair of ugly neo-classical urns

This was in our room tonight:

Towel elephant

Today’s fabric is diamond piqué. Piqué is a durable, medium-weight textile created using a specialized weaving method that creates raised, textured patterns. The napkins and tablecloths in the Pinnacle Grill here onboard are made from a diamond-patterned piqué.  

Tablecloth in Pinnacle Grill

Touchdown

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks and Caicos is a British Overseas Territory. The currency is the US dollar. The population is about 60,000. According to Wikipedia, in 2024, the Turks and Caicos Islands had the highest murder rate per capita in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Territory consists of two chains of islands - the Turks Islands and the Caicos Islands. The Turks Islands are named after the Turk’s cap cactus, which is thought to resemble a fez. 

Turk’s Cap cacti, photo: Gardenia.net

 The Turks Islands include two inhabited islands, Grand Turk and Salt Cay. The population of the Turks is about 10,000.

In 1962, John H. Glenn, Jr. became the first American to orbit the Earth. After circling the Earth three times, he splashed down near Grand Turk. A replica of Glenn’s capsule, Friendship 7, can be seen next to the shops at the end of the dock.

I was amazed by how tiny the capsule is.

The entry/exit hatch (on top in this picture) is impossibly small.

I did a little geocaching, completing a virtual cache and an earthcache about salt.

There was a geocache in the vicinity of this whale sculpture

Then we went to the beach for a few hours. It was a very nice beach, but not as nice as the one at Half Moon Cay. But, ever so convenient.

In the evening we went to see a comedian called Rikki Jay. He wasn’t my favorite comedian. His routine was mostly shouting at us. A man we had dinner with, who is a retired high school choral director, said the comedian had ruined his voice by shouting so much.

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Amber Cove, Dominican Republic 

The Dominican Republic is green and mountainous. It shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. The population is 11.4 million. DR has had a tumultuous history of colonialism, civil wars, failed invasions by Haiti, dictatorship, and a coup. Christopher Columbus landed here on his first voyage, in 1492.

We signed up for a “deluxe” sail and snorkel tour on a catamaran. It was not “deluxe,” IMO. We started off with a 45-minute bus ride to the catamaran. We have done several catamaran trips, and they always start at a dock close to the ship. The catamaran was a little small for the number of people on the tour. We did get to see some flying fish, but that was about it.

The second highest mountain in DR

Snorkelers in the water

Statue of Neptune on an islet

After the catamaran tour, I did a little geocaching in the mall at the end of the dock. We were in a region called “the Amber Coast.”  There were a number of exhibits about the local amber. I learned that there is a rare kind of blue amber that is only found in DR. I also learned that amber floats, and feels warm to the touch.  You can use the float test to see if a piece of amber is real.

Tonight the Zuiderdam celebrated its Dutch roots with an Orange Party. This HAL tradition promises a fun evening with most passengers dressing in orange, orange decorations, orange beverages, and more. By the time we had finished dinner, the Orange Party was very loud and very crowded so we decided not to go to it.

The highlight of the day was a memorable dinner at Morimoto by Sea, a pop-up restaurant that is only available once per cruise segment. I selected a cucumber margarita and Ken went with a sake flight.

For our starter we both ordered the sushi plate. It was interesting, beautiful, and delicious.

For our main courses, I had Ishiyaki Buri Bop - fresh yellowtail cooked tableside in a hot stone bowl. Ken had Shrimp Three Ways. We also ordered steamed vegetables with tofu.

For dessert, I chose White Chocolate Lime Ganache, while Ken picked the Dark Chocolate Sphere, a dynamic dessert which demands to be captured on video.

What a dinner! To quote Neil Diamond: “So good, so good, so good.”

The evening ended with a performance by the ship’s quartet of singers. It was called “Sing!” The name was uninspired, but it turned out to be a very entertaining show, with lots of boomer music. 

Today’s fabric is the Turkish towel. Turkish towels are flat-woven cotton towels, often with fringed edges.  They are valued for their softness and their quick-drying properties.

Turkish cotton peshtemal towels, by TheAnatolian for Etsy