Sunday

We hung around the boat most of the day.  I visited the local West Marine to start working on the lifeline repair but that turned into a fool's errand as they didn't have the necessary parts in to make it work.
Needless to say, IT WAS HOT.  The breeze was calm and even on the water it was hot.  The air conditioner on the boat is working well and getting quite a workout.
About 5 pm we met up with our new friends, J&J, to walk down to Duval to have a few drinks and watch the 2011 Pridefest Parade.  Again, it was hot and while I was wearing one of my Hawaiian shirts before we got to the first bar, it was soaking wet.  Our first stop was on the corner of Duval & Petronia, the corner supposedly of the middle of the parade. 

John, Beth, J , J & the babies

Key West is great for people with pets.  Most places are happy to have you bring the dogs in and we selected bars based on that policy.  While the air conditioning was on in all these places, it was only slightly cooler with all the doors open.  The drinks were great, it was happy hour so that means 2 for 1 here.  This guy started up a conversation with us because he missed his dogs and apparently was very proud of himself as he unzipped and showed us his proudest asset.  This was only the first of many we would see in Key West on Parade day.

After that, we proceeded outside to watch the parade.  The following photos are shots of people and things in the parade.  Feel free to ask, WTF, but I doubt we can actually explain it.

There were guys and girls running around wearing all kinds of weird things as well as guys dressed as girls.  Many were wearing very little or things that left nothing to the imagination.  Everyone was in a great mood, very friendly ( without being overly friendly ) and it was a great parade, I can honestly say the MOST entertaining parade I have ever been to.

After the Parade we all went across the street to 801 to have a few more drinks.  The 801 had karoke that afternoon and some of the people were pretty good.  None of us gave it a try.  We headed back to the boat to drop the dogs off and head to Mallory Square for the Sunset Celebration. On the way we encountered a pirate looking for a ship.

We donated a couple of bucks to help him get a new ship.  Neither of us were offering passage on ours.   While walking back along the dock, the tarpon were active.  Impressive fish as they are all around the boats picking up scraps.  It is an impressive feeding frenzy and a really good reason not to swim around the marina.

The Sunset Celebration happens every night.  People from everywhere on the island gather to watch the sunset.  The square is still a circus and we all enjoyed some Conch Fritters.

Beth is a sucker for an act with a dog.  This guy was playing a banjo and the dog went around and collected the money and put it in the bucket.  Well trained dog.

We got back to the boat around 10:30, walked the dogs which were very happy to see us, and went to bed.