Key West and Hurricane Irma – September 27th 2017

Key West and Hurricane Irma – September 27^th 2017

Before I lived in Key West, I lived in Cutler Bay, Fla. Cutler Bay was about a thirty-five-minute drive from Key Largo. Consequently, Key Largo was a common weekend jaunt for me. I used to joke and say The Caribbean Club was my local bar, thirty miles from home.

My sister-in-law came over one Sunday afternoon and stated “I had such a great time yesterday! We went down to Key Largo!” Naturally, I asked where she went.

“The Tiki Bar!” was her reply.

My head shook from side to side rapidly and my eyes blinked several times. The Tiki Bar is not even remotely in Key Largo, it's two towns further south than Key Largo, in Islamorada (say: ISLE more ahdah). Here was a college educated RN, who lived in the area for decades and didn't even know where she was.

Every island in the Florida Keys has its own personality and identity. A town like Islamorada is actually a group of islands, each one different.

I run into similar things with folks from out of town, since I've been in Key West.

Friend A “Oh! We were down to Key West but we missed you!”

Me “Oh? When were you down and where were you staying?”

Friend A “We stayed at Glunz Resort!”

Me: “Glunz Resort? Nice place indeed! Glunz Resort is in Marathon, not Key West though. It's fifty miles north of Key West”.

I bring this up for a reason. I recently heard many people outside the Keys are saying “I saw the horrible damage and destruction in Key West”.

For starters, the eye of the hurricane landed around twenty miles north of Key West, not on Key West. The Keys that were greatly affected were Summerland Key, Cudjoe Key, Big Pine Key, Sugarloaf Key, No Name Key, Marathon, as well as bands sweeping down into parts of Islamorada.

(Homes in the Cudjoe Key - Big Pine Key area)

Many of the people in these areas lost.... everything.

A friend of mine who is displaced from her home in Cudjoe Key said “Thank God Key West didn't take the brunt of the hurricane. We will still have jobs!”

These people need soap, paper towels, water, food... everything. They also need prayers.

Key West did sustain quite a bit of hurricane damage, though nothing on the scale of those north of us.

I walked down Duval Street two days ago and I'd say 35% - 40% of the businesses were open. Cruise ships started arriving on Sunday.

Honestly, we do need a bit of recovery time. There is a lot of downed trees that need to be attended to, however, we do have water (thanks to the desal plant!) and power. We do not have internet, but most here in Key West do.

Rumors start, naturally. Someone told me that the eastern part of Fleming street is destroyed. Houses had collapsed. They said. I went there and no houses had collapsed at all. There was a very large tree down, however.

In Closing:

Key West did not blow away. Key West is, in fact, still solidly on the map and should be functional within a week or so.

Damage in Key West. Trees down mostly at this point. Businesses are opening back up.

The Cork and Stogie, 1218nDuval Street is open! This shot was taken on Sunday, September 24th

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Key West! The MOTM Adventure 2014 Part 2!

MOTM Part 2

Continued….

We left Key Largo for our next stop down the Overseas Highway which, as I’ve noted before, everything in the Keys is measured by Mile Markers (MM) which start in Key West with Mile Zero. That next stop was Robbie’s. at MM 77.5. Robbies is a must stop in the Keys! Old time Keys place where the main attraction is a rickety old dock, where you can purchase a bucket of small, dead fish and feed the large Tarpon there! Tarpon are a large fish, native to the Keys, Florida, and the Caribbean. Here’s a good video I found on Youtube from there!

There are other arts, crafts, and locally accented novelties (T-shirts, hats, …) available there as well. Our friends from New Mexico, Brian and Michelle, had never been there in previous trips to the Keys and were thrilled! Robbie’s is highly recommended!

Having spent about an hour there, we continued on our journey south to Marathon and and off Overseas Highway to MM 54. We took a right at the light where there’s a Publix Supermarket and drove just past it to the first street on the right and then about ¼ mile to The Dockside Bar at Boot Key Harbor.

FYI, Boot Key Harbor is where Bogart was heading at the very end of the movie “Key Largo” on the boat when he radioed the Coast Guard! ;-)

The Dockside Bar, owned by Eric and Kim Stone was the site of our second Pit Stop Party en-route to Key West. The Dockside was voted one of the ten best bars in the Keys a couple of years ago in this blog and rightfully so! Loads of Keys character! Naturally, there were loads of people attending and it was also one of the events that was a Beachfront Radio event! It was also broadcast live on the radio!

I had to be careful. The last time I played the Dockside, this happened!

The Dockside is a true blast and is highly recommended!

Dani Hoy and I were fortunate enough to do a few songs too! We did Dani’s “I like It Hot”, a steamy jazzy song which can be found on her latest CD “Songs of Love and The Ocean”. As well my song “Liveaboard” (© 2006 Christopher R. Rehm BMI), which was actually inspired from events that occurred at the Dockside Bar in 2006!  Additionally, we did Dani’s song “Mallory Square” and my song “The Beach!!!!”. We finished it off with a new original song “Sometimes We Tote The Load”, which is a duet that Dani and I have been singing together and getting great compliments on! That always is wonderful on a new song! For performers, it’s like heading out on thin ice when you do a new song. Getting a great reception certainly takes a load off the shoulders. For all of our performances of this song, thanks to all who complimented us! It really means a lot to us!

Half of the Dockside actually sits out on the water with the view of the Boot Key Harbor mooring field.

A big thanks to Eric and Kim for hosting this great event and also to Bob Jaeger for handling the sound!

After several hours, lunch, hearing a bunch of great performers like Rick Schettino, Eric Stone, Brian & Michelle (B Man and the Miss Beehavins) and many others, it was time to head further south to Ramrod Key and the final Pit Stop Party at Boondocks hosted by Tammy and Marc Hollander of the Southernmost Coconut Castaways!

Another great event, as is everything that Tammy and Marc put together is! A great turnout over their two day event, as well with musical host Steve Tolliver and his band TheTtrop Rock Junkies!

(The Shanty Hounds at The Pit Stop Too event at Boondock’s)

(Rick Schettino at Boondock’s Pit Stop Party Too)

Tammy and Marc are good, personal friends and I know that the organization that they put into it started about six or seven months before. It puts things into perspective of all the work that goes into these affairs and can easily be taken for granted by the rest of us who just attend.It short, they bust their tails!

So a very big thanks to Marc and Tammy, ( Bondocks), Eric and Kim The Dockside Tropical cafe, Ray Yu (The Original Pit Stop Party in Key Largo) for all of the three Pit Stop Parties!!!!!

From there we were off, dashing to Key West for our beer show “Key West Beer Tales, The Sum of All Beers”. We had the top people from the Stiegl brewery in Salzburg, Austria in specially for us to interview!

We arrived in haste, but nonetheless, on time and ahead of the Stiegl folks! A very big thanks to Robert Schraml, president of Stiegl, who was just a fabulous guest! The show just clicked on every level! It was our finest moment thus far with the beer show, without doubt! A very big thanks to Robert and also Roger Thompson III, the local rep for Stiegl’s importer!!!

I’ll post a link to that show after it airs.

To see Part 1:  http://keywestmusic.blogspot.com/2014/11/fantasy-festmotm-part-1.html

To be continued… keep an eye out for “Part 3” coming soon!

To obtain my music:

My CD is available on iTunes, CD Baby, CD Universe, Rhapsody, and Beachfront Radio.

Search: Key West Chris

Thank you everyone!!!!!

All the best from Key West!

Key West Chris