Trail of the Pirates is a travel series exploring maritime history, culture and lore between Key West and St. Augustine on the east coast of Florida.
Illustration courtesy of Ste3ve on Flickr.
Ahoy maties! I began my journey yesterday in Key West where I interviewed the chief archeologist at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum.
I was all excited to have three fun and edumacating posts for you today, but wifi at the hotel was spotty. Also, you know I won't post anything unless it's fact checked. Unfortunately, there may be some lag time between each destination and interview, all of which deserve their own fully fleshed out post. There really truly is so much information about maritime history on the east coast of Florida -- I'm learning so much as I go along!
Alas, I will try my very best to write daily, but do not despair! Behold the twitter widget on the top right hand corner of the page where you can follow my microblogging via the hashtag #piratetrailfla.
As well, you can view posted videos on Youtube searching for the tag piratetrailfla. So far I have chatted with Sandra Riley, author of Sisters of the Sea, a novel based on the true story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, history's most legendary female pirates. Riley is a Miami-based author. I also spent some time with Nathan Samuels, an educator at the History Miami Museum, discussing the subject of Black Ceasar, a pirate who is said to have roamed the waters of Biscayne Bay. And last but not least, I spoke with the archeologist I mentioned above while sitting in the lab where they clean and prep artifacts for display.
Not all is lost. Yesterday, while I left my laptop in the hotel room to do its thing -- it took over three hours to upload the video interview -- I enjoyed a stroll on Duval Street and brought myself a birthday gift:
The t-shirt, you fools, not the cute Russian clerk. Did you know you can haggle in tourist shops? I got this one 50% off because I batted my eyelashes and nice people are always a sucker for birthdays. Thank you, Russian dude!
I'm dashing off to celebrate turning 40 all over again in Fort Lauderdale later tonight. In between, a quick stop at Biscayne National Park where you can explore Elliot Key -- one of Black Ceaser's supposed haunts. On Wednesday: Martin County's House of Refuge.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to Annie's Costumes, Florida Keys and Key West as well as The Westin Key West Resort and Visit Florida for supporting this leg of the trip.
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