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Stories Paul's great American novel We are in the business, after all, so who would have thought that two owners of a reservation service - experts in travel - would be bolting from a Coconut Grove inn at 11:30 pm one Saturday night, after a very long day, for a three hour drive home. But then again, it was not the only odd occurence on our recent business trip to Orlando. One Saturday, every April, the Marathon Runners Club commemorates the completion of the "new" 7 Mile Bridge by sponsoring a race across it. The race, spoken of locally as "the bridge run," starts on Knight's Key on the east or Marathon side of the bridge, and ends on Little Duck Key on the west side of the bridge. To prevent the mayhem that obviously would occur were 1,500 runners released all at once to jog across the span in the breakdown lane, vehicular bridge traffic (and with it all traffic between the Middle and Lower Keys) is suspended for the two hours it takes to complete the event. Travels in the Caribbean: Dealing with the Travel Gods We knew we were not going to have a very good day when we presented our travel documents to the American Airlines ticket agent at Washington’s National Airport the morning of our planned departure and, after searching through them for a moment, she paused, looked up, and asked, "Have you changed airports, sir?" My brain locked up. We had been planning and anticipating our trip for more than a month. Two wonderful pre-paid weeks at Club Med on Guadeloupe in the French West Indies. We NEEDED this vacation ... As a novice SCUBA diver kicking awkwardly toward advanced open water certification, the LAST thing I wanted was to be suiting up to dive the RV Thunderbolt. The T-Bolt, as she is known by her admirers, is a 200 foot long mine sweeper (later cable-layer, later research vessel) built during WWII and sunk - on purpose - in 1986. She rests upright on a sandy bottom off the ocean side of Marathon in 120 feet of water. I just don’t think you have to go to such extremes to enjoy the excitement and terror of recreational diving ... Offshore fishing in the Keys was once the exclusive venue of crusty adventurers, world class sportsmen like Ernest Hemingway, Zane Grey and, more recently, former Dolphins football coach Jimmie Johnson. These were serious men who (except for J.J.), when they came to the Keys, bunked in primitive fish camps, spent their money on boats and guides, fished off shore during the day, and devoted their nights to hard drink and story telling. If they failed to boat the big one, they didn’t mind emotional abuse from a surly, tough-minded crew. They could take it. It was expected. It made for better stories. Bigger than life men still come here to the Keys to fish. After all, fishing the Keys is as good as fishing gets. But they are joined on the water more and more by just plain people on vacation, first-time anglers who may never have dropped a hook into the water, but who feel the need to experience a roller coaster ride that could only have been dreamed up by Mother Nature herself. People like us. ... Had I not passed up an opportunity to be a movie extra, Nancy and I might never have gone to Cuba at all. |
