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Posts tagged ‘beach’

Dec 6

Key West, the weekend GETAWAY

We wanted to do a drive while in Miami and what better place to check out than Key West. It’s on the most southern part of Florida and boasts of cozy homes and blue seawaters. It’s the perfect weekend getaway from the hustle and bustle of Miami.

I like Key West. It’s an easy place to be. The drive to Key West from Miami South Beach takes about 4 hours and 30 minutes. Due to its location as a tourist destination, Key West offers many options to gather information. Jarmo wanted to check out some music stores but he didn’t find what he wanted to buy. Nearby the music store was a IT repair shop and blue eyes asked if they could fix his external hard disk, which couldn’t be read. The shop technician changed the cover for the hard disk and it’s all good again!

I initially booked Navy Lodge Key West for our one night stay. It’s offered by the US Navy and unknown to me, is only reserved for US army members and their families. Guests of the lodge have to be registered at the Navy Base Station before being allowed to enter the premise. We went to the station as directed and were caught by surprise when told there’s been a mistake by the (online) system – since we’re civilians and non-American citizens, we’re not allowed to be on base and our reservation shouldn’t have gone through.

What a hiccup! Here we are at sunny Key West with no place to stay for the night. Thankfully, the lady at the counter was kind enough to point us to some options and suggested us to check online at the nearby McDonald’s. The Tourism Centre gets discounts and offers free booking service and Elissa, who picked up my call, booked us a place at Silver Palm Inn for $149 per night. Silver Palm Inn turned out to be a wonderful stay (blessing in disguise!). Service was great and staff was genuinely helpful, and the room came with a nice breakfast, we took by the poolside.

One of the suggested itineraries while in Key West is to watch the sunset by Mallory Square. You know the saying that goes, “the best things in life are free” and this proves to be true for the sunset at Key West. It was a beautiful way to welcome the evening as boats came back to shore on the back of the setting sun. People around were in good mood. Live music was playing and we’re having beer, enjoying the arrival of the calm evening.

The Old Town of Key West is located on the main street of Duval, which is a walking distance to Silver Palm Inn at Truman Avenue. There are many boutique guesthouses, shops, pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants along Duval Street and the old American homes turned commercial were beautiful for picture taking. The nightlife is exciting and lively. We took dinner at The Hog’s Breathe and went barhopping after that – our IDs were checked every time; apparently this is the rule to ensure no underage drinks. The rooftop bar that we visited had one or two female guests baring their boobies! Needless to say, we all had a real good time while in Key West – we’re well rested and we saw some beautiful sights.

Nov 29

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Meet the Bahamians

“I like my coffee like how I like my woman – black, hot and sweet!” 

Meet KB, the proud owner of Chat N Chill @ Stocking Island. We had the privilege of meeting him on our last day in Exuma before we left for Nassau for the rest of our trip in Bahamas.

KB, which stands for Kenneth Bowe (B-O-W-E, KB reminded me), is a 62-year old Bahamian, born n bred in Exuma. He’s quite a charmer, the minute we sat down, he put us at ease by asking where we’re from. When I said I’m from Malaysia, he looked at me and say, “You’re Malaysian Chinese”. Wow, how did he know, I asked. Smiling, he said he was in Singapore in the 1970s and Lee Kuan Yew was his hero, and he discovered the ethnic diversity of Singapore and Malaysia.

They say, never judge a book by its cover, and boy, that rings so true with KB 😉 In his t-shirt and South Africa cap, he looked like any bar owner but in actual fact, KB’s an accomplished economist who completed his degree at the Chicago University School of Economics. By age of 31, he quit his job at the bank and became an entrepreneur, and has never looked back. “I’m 62, and I’ve no regrets!”, he says.

As we had our drinks (boys had rum & tonic while I had rum punch), we continued our chat with KB. He spoke in pride of his twin sons, one an orthopedic and another a banker, both work in Nassau, the capital of Bahamas. He talked about his travel, and how much he liked South Africa and Cape Town – “I want to start something in South Africa; maybe to teach,” he says.

We asked about conch salad, a Bahamian dish that we’ve been recommended to try, and KB pointed us to his other stall (literally) next to the beach. “AJ will dish you the nice salad fresh from the seawater!”

Later we found out that the conch was fetched from the sea upon order and mixed with tomatoes, capsicum, onions and hot pepper, and tossed in lime and orange juice. The fresh salad is refreshing on a sunny warm day like we had today. And Stocking island is the perfect place to have it, as the beach is gorgeous and the view of the many boats docking at the area makes it even better!

We returned to Chat N Chill after exploring the beach further, and KB was there, ready to suggest us another drink. This time round, I had the Bahamian Mama while blue eyes had the house drink that is the same colour as his eyes. Jarmo was finishing his pina colada and ordered the Bahamian Mama also. We were getting hungry so we ordered the house specialty – grilled ribs with rice and peas for blue eyes, groupa with fries for me and Jarmo chicken with rice and peas (rice & peas are Bahamian staple food). They tasted damn good! And conversation at the table was fun – KB was telling us how he once hooked up with a flight attendant while seated at the first class section 😉

Soon it was time to go. We bid our goodbyes, and thanked KB for his hospitality. As we walked towards our water taxi, we laughed about KB’s coffee and women. He’s definitely a colourful character!

Elvis – water taxi rider

Elvis was our water taxi rider to Stocking island and on our way back to Georgetown, he told us to look out for dolphins. We were hopeful and we’re lucky cos’ within minutes, we saw some jumping out from the water not too far from us. Elvis kindly drove the water taxi close to the dolphins so we can have a closer look and take pictures. There were about 3 dolphins (blue eyes counted 4 but that could be after his 4 drinks) and they were dancing in the water, as if performing for us! How beautiful and a nice closure to our experience in the Exumas 🙂

Nov 27

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Another day in Paradise

As I enjoyed the cool breeze on a sunny afternoon, this Phil Collin’s song came to mind 🙂 How apt since Georgetown in the Exumas, Bahamas does feel like a paradise! Sandy beaches, clear blue sea and palm trees bring forth a sense of serenity that is very much appreciated after the long days of travelling.

We landed yesterday evening and the flights have been way too long. It was 2 flights from Baltimore to Nassau,Bahamas (via Miami) and then a short domestic flight to Georgetown. We rented a cottage at HoopersBay for about $60/night/person – a little high for our budget – but it’s one of the cheapest we found. Exumas is one of the Outer Islands of Bahamas – the main islands are Nassau (Paradise island) and Grand Bahama – that are less crowded than Nassau. There are only 7,000 people living in the Exumas versus 250,000 in Nassau.

The driver who picked us up at the airport to the cottage, Luther said Exumas was well known for its friendly people and beautiful beaches. And so far, his words are proven quite true (i let blue eyes give the anecdote) as we’ve had very experiences here and it’s only been 2 days! The cottage, which is 10 minutes walk away, is well equipped with Wifi, functional kitchen (our only grievance: chopping board was missing and there’s no dish detergent!), air-conditioners as well as bicycles. Georgetown is about 5 km away and since I’m the only one who couldn’t cycle, I’m trying to fix the handicap by learning in the next few days (wish me luck!)

I’m looking forward to some good rest while we’re here. No rush, no plans, no museum or places to visit. Simply the beach 🙂

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