Key West sunsets are legendary, but the early morning event is not insignificant. The dawn show is much more subdued, due in part to the fact that locations for watching the sun come up are not as prevalent as the famous sundown spots such as Mallory and Fort Zach. To my knowledge, there are no sunrise celebrations featuring fire-breathers and trained dogs and wandering minstrels.
Still, if you know, you know. There are a quiet few who show up at my favorite spot with comforting predictability each morning. Together, we greet whatever beauty the sea and the sky care to offer.
That being said, we may be together, but the thing the pulls us here varies as widely as the picture before us from one day to the next.
As a resident for the month of June each year, I suppose I qualify as one of the locals. We aren’t hard to spot, most obviously because we aren’t dressed up in vacation outfits. Among the regulars is the small group who come for the human connection. Their coffee-fueled chatter is always lively and laced with laughter. Sometimes they barely notice the sunrise.
Then there are those who come as an act of defiance, poking a stick in the eye of fate as if to say, “I’m here - still upright - still kicking - so take THAT.” Very often, they arrive on bikes held together with zip ties and a prayer or two - shirtless and sometimes shoeless. Every now and then, one might be hauling all of his worldly possessions on the back of the bike in a makeshift cargo crate that he fished out of the surf or pulled from a dumpster somewhere. Their tans are years deep.
My “why”, of course, is for the beauty, and the privilege of walking by the sea as the earth wakes up.
There are others - runners, dog walkers, photographers, fishermen - all mixed in with the vacationers. That last group likely does not rise before 9AM at home, but they turn over a new leaf here. And I don’t blame them. Sunrises like this don’t show themselves around just any corner.
And here they do matter to a few of us. From all walks, we come together briefly at daybreak. No two mornings are ever the same - but each one, if properly savored, will take your breath away.
Photo of Key West sunrise by Beth Yarbrough.
