Day 30 - 12/19 - Key West


Today we woke up to a wet and blustery Key West. Before we could go shore side, we had to go through a US Border Passport Inspection. The Feds came totally unprepared for the volume of people and changed HAL's announced process at the last minute turning it into free for all for the US Residents and incredibly long lines for the international travelers onboard. One person reportedly stood in line for 4 hours. What an embarrassment! Even sadder is that everyone will have go through it again tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale.

After I went through the passport process in a half an hour, we ate breakfast before heading off the ship to find some batteries and Coke Zero. It was a bit wet, and we found a great deal on the Zero at Walgreens: $0.30/can compared to $2.50 per can on ge ship! We packed it back to the ship and headed back out to send some things home that we didn't need for the next segment.  

After we sent our package at the nearby local post office, we headed to the Southernmost Point in the Continental US monument at the end of Whitehead Street. With that picture recorded, we walked over to the dock at the end of Duval Street (the Main Drag). Walking back towards the town center on Duval Street, we encountered Dan V who highly recommended the Butterfly and Bird Museum with its extensive collection of live butterflies and birds that one walks among. Other friends pointed out there was a 2 for 1 coupon which I happened to bring along, so for $6 per person we enjoyed one of the best wildlife experiences of the entire trip. 

We continued walking around and stopped for a quick Subway Sandwich before making our way back to the ship with a brief stop for Key Lime Pie on a Stick. I had a little bite and it was yummy.

We ate our final Lido dinner this segment before attending the best variety show with the magician, Joseph Réohm, and comedian, Mike Robinson. Both were at the top of their game.

After the show, we returned to our room to pack (we're moving 3 doors down the hall for the next segment). And so ended our last port day. Tomorrow will find us in Fort Lauderdale for the turnaround day. We'll move our personal things and then have to disembark the ship until the US Customs and Border Protection is assured all passengers have departed the ship.  

The next leg is a large loop around the Caribbean with three new ports and a few repeat ports. Stay tuned as we'll have a focus on snorkeling.

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