A WILD LOOKING GUY, A CAT JUMPS THROUGH A FLAMING HOOP AND OTHER IMAGES FROM OUR VISIT TO KEY WEST!!

As you may have guessed I really love living in Florida. As a photographer what is not to like? We have the ocean all around us    (well at least on three sides), beautiful birds, great seascapes, sunny skies and almost everyday with wonderful sunrises and equally beautiful sunsets. What I have found in the year and a half that we have lived here is that of all the places in Florida we have visited, Key West is very special. 


Our second day started out early with me being alone roaming the piers looking for images at sunrise to ending with everyone watching the sunset once again in Mallory Square. I was hoping for another great sunset and Key West did not disappoint! I also saw one of the street entertainers that I briefly photographed on our last trip: a man with a heavy french accent, a unique hair style and his cats! I only watched a few minutes last time because the sunset was coming and I had to find a spot from which to photograph it! What I did see left me puzzled. This man took a cat out of a cage, actually he attempted to but the cat would not come out, and then acted like that was the trick???? Well this time, I caught the end of his show, literally the last minute, and I was behind a large crowd that was watching him. I took three images and actually saw something that was quite surprising and worth the stop to watch him. You will see it near the end of these images. I hope you enjoy seeing the rest of our stay in Key West.

   Then it was back to the hotel for breakfast with the others but not   
   before a grabbed a few shots from the hotel's pier!

  The hotel had a turtle pond with beautiful orchids hanging in trees 
  surrounding it!

 This was the view while walking down the street. Key West is a  
 stop for many of the ocean liners and it's really funny to look down 
 a busy city street and see this looming behind buildings!!

 There are plenty of souvenir stands selling trinkets like these strings 
 of sea shells !!

   Just one example of the colorful style homes in the city!!

I thought this shot was interesting. It was standing atop a restaurant. I was shooting upwards and composed to not see the building just the white statue against the beautiful blue Florida sky.

 Key West is a very colorful place, in many ways, filled with very  
 colorful people.

                       The ocean liner we saw earlier!

These are a few of those colorful people I mentioned earlier. This first gentlemen saw my camera and asked me to take this particular picture of him!! When I showed him the results he loved it. I might be wrong but I think his judgement might have been impaired!! Actually I am pretty sure it was !!!! 


The other two images are friends of his; the young man in the hat was busy rolling a very organic cigarette. I think those cigarettes contributed to the first guy's impaired judgement. I am told nicotine will do that to you!! The three of them were really fun to meet and just a part of the reason Key West is such a colorful place to visit.

                      A few last images of that night.

Back at our hotel as we were walking to our room, I took this image of one of the staircases. The patterns intrigued me. I like the results.

                                    Sunrise the next day !!

This is Sunset Island which is off the coast from Key West. I am told that among other celebrities, Oprah has a home there. You can only get there by shuttle boat. The island consists of 48 single family homes and 21 vacant lots, all of which are valued at over $1.5 million. I didn't see Oprah but if you know her, please let her know that I would love to photograph her on her island!! I will be waiting to hear from Oprah!! Patiently!!!!!!!

One of Key West "Feral Roosters", I kid you not. The city has these wild chickens walking around. I read that when the people came over from Cuba they brought their chickens. Then because of hurricanes or just chickens being abandoned, they are now wild  walking along busy streets as this one was. Really beautiful isn't he!! Early in the morning you will hear them welcoming the sunrise!

         This brown heron was resting on a boat in the harbor!

                  Another beautiful Key West sunset!

After the sun set this Disney ocean liner left the dock headed out to sea!!

After this, I started walking away and saw a crowd standing around  the cat man!!! As I wrote, it was at the end of his show and standing behind the crowd, I grabbed a few shots.


            Sorry for the person's head in the front of this shot.

Phyllis and I have two cats that let us live with them and I can tell you this did impress me. To train a house cat to jump through a flaming hoop is amazing!!

     Might be a really nice man but he does look a little umm 
     interesting!!! But he does seem to work well with cats!!

                            Another beauty of a sunrise!

You do a lot of this when you're in Key West!! Just staring up at palm trees from your lounge chair, with a cold drink sitting beside you.

 A few rocks off the shore! I once told you I am always shooting lol.

 On the way home we stopped at a small inlet and I saw this gentleman net fishing. In the short time I was there, he didn't have any luck.

So when you're looking for a beautiful place to relax and have a lot of fun, come to Florida and enjoy the beautifully colored ocean and the SUN !!!