Day 94 - The Eighth Wonder of the World

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $133, daily high temperature 82*f feels like 95*f

Christmas morning in Key West was hot and Sunny. The jet ski tours took off from our dock at 8:30 am as usual. I left our AIS turned on all night so Santa could find us. I am not sure how he got into the boat because we do not have a chimney. He did leave a pile of gifts as usual.

Christmas morning on Changing Latitudes.

Jimmy Buffett’s birthday is Christmas Day. He is 69 years old today.

Jimmy Buffett was born December 25, 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi. After college, he moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a country singer. Having always been drawn to the sea, Buffett moved to Key West in the early 1970s, where he adopted his trademark beachcombing persona. Under this new guise, he signed a contract with ABC-Dunhill and put out White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean in 1973. With instant party hits like Why Don’t We Get Drunk (And Screw), Buffett gained a loyal following who appreciated the laid-back atmosphere of his live shows. Soon, his fans started wearing Hawaiian shirts, traveling Grateful Dead-style to his shows, and calling themselves “Parrotheads.”

The Overseas Railroad (also known as Florida Overseas Railroad and the Overseas Extension) was an extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West, a city located 128 miles (204.8 km) beyond the end of the Florida Peninsula. Work on the line started in 1905 and it operated from 1912 to 1935.

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Henry Morrison Flagler (1830–1913), was a principal in Rockefeller, Andrews Flagler and later in Standard Oil during the Gilded Age in the United States. The wealthy man took interest in Florida while seeking a warmer climate for his ailing first wife in the late 1870s. Returning to Florida in 1881, he became the builder and developer of resort hotels and railroads along the east coast of Florida.

Beginning with St. Augustine, he moved progressively south. Flagler helped develop Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Palm Beach and became known as the Father of Miami, Florida.

Flagler’s rail network became known as the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). By 1904, the FEC had reached Homestead, south of Miami. Despite the hardships, the final link of the Florida East Coast Railway was completed in 1912. In that year, a proud Henry Flagler rode the first train into Key West aboard his private rail car, marking the completion of the railroad’s oversea connection to Key West and the linkage by railway of the entire east coast of Florida. It was widely known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

Much of the Overseas Railroad in the Middle Keys was heavily damaged and partially destroyed in the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, a Category 5 hurricane which is often called “The Storm of the Century”. The September 2, 1935 storm killed more than 400 people and devastated Long Key and adjacent areas. The FEC’s Long Ket Fishiing Camp was destroyed, as was an FEC rescue train which, with the exception of steam locomotive 447, was overturned by the storm surge at Islamorada.

Already bankrupt, the Florida East Coast Railway was financially unable to rebuild the destroyed sections. The roadbed and remaining bridges were sold to the State of Florida, which built the Overseas Highway to Key West, using much of the remaining railway infrastructure. Many of the original bridges were replaced during the 1980s. The Overseas Highway (US 1 which runs from Key West to Fort Kent, Maine) continues to provide a highway link to Key West. Many old concrete bridges of the Overseas Railroad remain in use as fishing piers and pedestrian paths called the Florida Keys Heritage Trail.

Bonus photo

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote for the day.

Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” ― Warren Buffett

Jimmy s uncle Warren Buffett playing the ukulele.