THE 30TH OF THE FIFTH

DRY TORTUGAS!

OK, sports fans...............On my second cup of Pike Place Roast and a Jimmy Buffett CD.

  It's time to waste away again!!

Does it get any better than that?

I mean anybody that can make the song "Lets get drunk and screw" into a national hit is my kinda guy...or at least in my imagination.

A hundred years ago in 1997 I had the opportunity to go to florida for the express purpose of photographing the lighthouses for a book publisher.  All they needed were the photos.

It took me eleven days, three of which in airplanes flying "Low and slow".  I started in Jacksonville at Amelia Island and did the East Coast to Key West and then North to and West to Pensacola.  I cannot begin to tell you how many miles I drove, but it was a lot.  It was September and all the "Professionals" told me not to go because of hurricane season.  Well, no storms but some of the best afternoon skys any photographer could ask for.

Had I been born in the Mid 1800's, I think that the Keys of Florida would have been my destination in life.  Back then only those that needed to lose themselves ended up in the keys.  And God forbid, if you were real bad you might end up in Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas.  More than likely you would end up in Key West where that just left you alone.

It's only a short sea plane ride from Key West to the Tortugas.  The water is crystal clear and along the way one can see all the sharks and turtles you want.  Coral reef's hold the mistakes the a hundred years of mariners made and the wrecks are all over the place.  A cooler full of drinks, cheese, crackers, snorkel, mask and flippers and your day at Fort Jefferson is complete.  It is a one day treat that not too many of my friends in the mortal man ledger have made.

OK Jimmy, now I'm ready for that "Cheeseburger in Paradise"!