Days 96 & 97 - Southernmost Point — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $133, daily high temperature 83*f, daily low temperature on 77*fOn Saturday Priscilla and I attempted to take the dingy to Hurricane Hole for lunch. We made it most if the way but the final leg was across a wide stretch of open water. The wind and waves were whipping up. There was no speed we could go that that did not splash seawater into the dingy. This was no fun at all so we turned around and will attempt this trip another day. We had dinner at the Conch Republic and headed over to Margaritaville to listen to the Bubbas.Live on stage at Margatitaville - one night only.If you need to use the restroom at Margaritaville, you better plan ahead.On Sunday Sam and Denise Soranno arrived at noon on the Key West Express from Ft Meyers. We had lunch at the Half Shell Raw Bar and spent the afternoon in the pool. Denise invited her friend Lisa over to the boat for docktails. Lisa and Denise met during college when they both volunteered to be missionaries for the Seventh Day Adventist Church in the Caroline Islands. The Caroline Islands are in the South Pacific north of New Guinea. They taught school for a very strict headmaster. Unfortunately they chose the only island in the South Pacific without a beach. Lisa has lived in Key West since 1992 and is a child welfare inspector for the state of Florida. Her husband is a police sergeant working at the Key West jail next to the Florida Juvenile Detention Center on Stock Island. He is right next to the Sunset Marina.Sam, Lisa and DeniseThe Caroline Island group consists of about 500 small coral islands, east of the Philippines, in the Pacific Ocean; the distance from Manila to Yap, one of the larger islands of the group, is 1,200 miles (1,900 km). Most of the islands are comprised of low, flat coral atolls, but some rise high above sea level.We had dinner at the Two Friends restaurant and then wandered down Duval Street to Margaritaville to listen to the Bubbas.Dale and Andy escaped from Chicago just before they shut down the airport due to severe winter storms. They have returned to our tropical paradise.The sailing yacht Sophie departed for Cuba today. According to our dock master 16 new boats will arrive at the marina in the next 24 hours for the Key West New Year's Eve celebration.One of the biggest attractions in Key West is a concrete replica of a buoy at the corner of South and Whitehead Streets that claims to be the southernmost point in the contiguous United States. Erected in 1983, the famous brightly painted and labeled "SOUTHERNMOST POINT CONTINENTAL U.S.A.", it is one of the most visited and photographed attractions in Key West.The claim "90 Miles to Cuba" on the monument is close to correct, Cuba at its closest point has been measured at 94 statute miles.Bonus photoCarl (Chef) Wooden - quote of the day“my family's going to eat as long as anybody eats. What they're trying to do is starve you Key West Conchs out of here so they can burn down the shacks and put up apartments and make this a tourist town. That's what I hear. I hear they're buying up lots, and then after the poor people are starved out and gone somewhere else to starve some more they're going to come in and make it into a beauty spot for tourists.”― Ernest Hemingway, To Have and Have Not