I was correct in thinking I’d be awake early because of the early docking. I hadn’t predicted, however, what a short night it would really be.
I think I was finally asleep around midnight. Once asleep, I slept well, but it was a short night. The thrusters kicked in just barely after 6 for us to dock in Key West, so at that point, I was awake for the day. Well...that part of the day anyway. I’m glad I went out on the balcony when I did, because it meant I got a brief view of the town, before we spun around to dock.
I spent quite a bit of time on the balcony, while Nick continued conducting the snorechestra. It was a good morning for picture taking, complete with a Royal Caribbean ship passing within what felt like a couple hundred feet of us. PS, my ship has a better butt! I saw some dolphins too, this morning, which was wicked cool, but there’s no photographic evidence of that.
Pretty soon I was starving, because the food smells from Cabanas were wafting down onto our balcony. I decided to leave the balcony door open for a bit, and see if that would wake Nick up. That did the trick! I think we were on our way to Cabanas for breakfast around 8.
We made it to Cabanas shortly before the breakfast rush, which was a big plus, especially since they now have a sink for handwashing instead of handing out wipes there. I have a feeling that probably backs up a bit during the biggest rush. There were plenty of open faucets when we arrived though.
We hadn’t gone to the main buffet on the Wonder for breakfast at all, so we were blown away by the variety of food available for breakfast. I was particularly excited to see turkey sausage...and of course...hash browns! I also located the POG juice. POG juice is passion fruit, orange, guava, and it’s known as lillikoi juice at Kona Cafe, and something else at Boma. I’m a sucker for it. And, as luck would have it, someone in a group on facebook had posted about it being in Cabanas on the Magic about a week before our trip. It’s in exactly one juice dispenser in the place, near the door to the outside seating, and it’s labeled “Orchard’s Best”. I was a happy girl!
Nick had found a table by the windows so we had a great view. He was pretty confused when he saw the juice I showed up with, and then needed more specific directions than his father to find it himself when he discovered what it was.
We enjoyed the food, and the view.
While we were eating, we saw Kim and John arrive. We saw them getting food, and then they disappeared. By this point, the place was quite busy and we were nearly done eating. We finished up and then went looking for them, me pausing to take a picture while searching for them in the outdoor seating area.
We found Kim and John on the other side of the buffet, thoroughly enjoying their breakfast. We made plans to meet up in a bit, and then headed back to our room to get ready to go ashore.
Pretty soon after we left Cabanas, we were ready to go. We headed down to deck 1, and scanned our way off the ship.
Because we had docked at the Naval yard, there were gates up, and we filed down to the entrance to the gate, close to the front of the ship, to board a trolley. We were then shuttled into town, after a reminder to not take any pictures until we were off the Naval property.
I had read a lot online about what an inconvenience it is to dock at the Naval dock. It truly was no big deal, and, in some respects, added to our experience. The shuttles are the same tour trolleys and trains that are used all over town, and our driver acted as a tour guide while we were on board. And we were dropped off right in Mallory Square. And our resident engineer appreciated being on a Naval yard he hadn’t been on. Most of his work is done in Rhode Island, Maine, and San Diego. We also had an ok view of the ship right after we exited Navy property.
So, as I mentioned, we were dropped off RIGHT in Mallory Square. Nick and I had been to Key West on our last cruise, and Kim and John have been here a couple times on bus trips, so we had super lofty goals (NOT) for today. We wanted to check out the aquarium and get some key lime pie. Oh, and Kim wanted another charm for her Pandora bracelet.
As luck would have it, the entrance to the aquarium was a couple hundred feet from where the trolley dropped us off, so it was a no-brainer as to what to do first.
The Key West Aquarium was actually the first ever attraction in Key West. We pretty much hit an aquarium or a zoo on every vacation it seems, with preference going to aquariums. This place looks like a total hole in the wall, but we’ve found that those are often the best aquariums. While this one was certainly nothing awe-inspiring like the Georgia Aquarium (Go there, just do it!), it was impressive in its own way. They’ve packed a lot of exhibits into a small amount of space, and the lady that was leading all of the “tours” and talks while we were there was incredibly knowledgeable. We were there for well over an hour, probably closer to an hour and a half. As aquariums go, it’s relatively inexpensive, and it was well worth it.
Nick and I exited the aquarium a little head of Kim and John, so he found a place in the shade to hang out, and I enjoyed the sunshine for a few minutes.
Eventually, we headed back into the area where the trolley had dropped us off. There was a stand advertising key lime floats, so we needed to try that out. I got a key lime float (lemonade, lime sherbet, and sprite), Nick got a key lime smoothie, and Kim and John got a big pretzel and a can of Bud, because it was the only place we’d ever seen where alcohol costs less than a bottle of water.
The smoothie, float, and pretzel were all really good. Once they’d been consumed, we poked around the open air “stores” and carts a bit, and then we headed onward for key lime pie!
We didn’t have to go very far. Kermit’s Key Lime Pie has a store very close to Mallory Square. And we had loved Kermit’s last time. I think everyone else got the frozen chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick. I had a regular slice of key lime pie. It was all delicious!
High on sugar, we headed to Duval Street to wander. We ended up poking around a few shops. Nick got himself a hat that made him a “typical American tourist”. And Kim and I both got charms.
Shopping done, we decided we were tired, hot, hungry, and ready to head back to the ship. We did consider hitting one of the many Key West watering holes for food, but in the end, decided to just go back to the ship. After all, our food is paid for there!
We walked back to the area in front of the Customs House, where there was a trolley actively loading to go back to the ship. Kim and John decided to find a restroom and grab a later trolley, but Nick and I boarded. We waited another 5 minutes or so until the trolley filled, and then we were off. This ride was a bit more boring, but still quick, and pretty soon we were stopping at the entrance to have our IDs checked by the gate keepers (seated at a table under a tent...our tax dollars at work!), and then we were on our way back to the ship.
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