The Schooner Wharf Bar maintains the Old Key West atmosphere: from the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster series

 

SCHOONER WHARF BAR & GRILL

KEY WEST, FLORIDA

This open-air hangout in the Historic Seaport District of Key West is known for its seafood complemented by live music and dockside views. Yeah, much of Key West is transforming into an ultra-modern manscape, but the Schooner Wharf maintains that "old Key West" atmosphere- salvaged wreckage, interesting characters and fishermen what nots embellish the interior walls and ceiling. The fresh mahi-mahi and snapper sandwiches are to die for.

I mention this place often in my spy thrillers since a CIA safe house sits only several blocks away on Eaton Street. The Schooner Wharf Bar is an excellent place for CIA operatives to meet with and debrief contacts!

Chickens strutting around on the sand floor, animal lovers with their dogs (and parrots) sit at the open-air bar or at a table while listening to daily live music. It’s fun to people watch there. Hint: their Rumrunners and Mango Daiquiris are featured during Happy Hour. Try one!

It’s become a favorite of visiting place for celebrities such as Beach Boy Al Jardine, and because of the rustic charm and warmth it became the saloon of choice for treasure salvor Mel Fisher, who often referred to it as "A treasure." "This must be the center of the universe," echoed the late broadcaster/author Charles Kurault after his visit to the bar.

Little wonder why it was voted “Best Local's Bar” six years in a row, the Schooner Wharf has been praised in the New York Times and Aqua magazine for its unique nautical decor, music and food, and open-air proximity to sweet ocean breezes.

I enjoyed the 3-egg omelet for breakfast, called the “Schooner Omelet”: where else can you get an omelet with large pink shrimp, feta, fresh tomato, and garden spinach?  My favorite appetizer while sipping on a cold brewski is the “Key West Conch Fritters” that is served with their special Key Lime Mustard sauce. If you like fresh stone crab claws, peel-and-eat shrimp, fresh-shucked oysters, or conch chowder and fritters, you’ll dig this place. They’ve also got plenty of landlubber food, too.

 

I slide in my spy thrillers scenes that take place at the Schooner Wharf. You can check out the latest thriller, MISSION OF VENGEANCE. Here’s a snippet from the PENUMBRA DATABASE spy thriller, where a CIA leader housed in a safe house on Eaton Street strolls down to the Schooner Wharf Bar to take a break from tracking down a Black Hat Hacker, known as BHH:

 

The aging ex-marine general felt culpable for trusting BHH and for carelessly allowing him to steal the upgraded database off Cheng Chow’s computer at MIT. He would tell both Corey and Pinkston of his gaffe, and for ignoring their misgivings about BHH.

He strolled past the Turtle Kraal. Today, he would pass on their crab cakes and try something different. A change of routine makes me more creative.

As he walked into the Schooner Wharf Bar, he noticed three CI agents already positioned inside. The couple who scrutinized the four unknowing men outside Harpoon Harry’s sat at a corner table. A lone male agent sat on a barstool with a camera case placed on the stool next to him…a .45-caliber Glock 30 with two extra 36-shot magazines nestled inside.

The informal, open-air atmosphere calmed Morrison down a bit. He sat at a small table and inserted his Montecristo cigar back into the black, gold-trimmed snuffer, then gazed out at the classic yachts lining the Key West Historic Seaport. A few dogs lay patiently under their owner’s barstools.

His mind wandered back to BHH’s unexpected appearance on Bimini. The guilt resurfaced… disregarding Corey’s reservations about the hacking genius after he recruited him at the Las Vegas convention… overlooking Pinkston’s distrust of the guy and his refusal to work alongside him.

A friendly waitress asked him what he wanted, interrupting his thoughts.

“A Key West Sunset Ale.”

“Anything to eat?”

A fisherman walked past, toting a large net satchel of oysters.

Morrison said, “I want that!”

The waitress laughed, “You can’t get ‘em any fresher! I’ll throw in some extra cocktail sauce with your order…be right back with your drink.”

Morrison’s smile evaporated the moment the waitress walked away. He feigned being in a good mood…but felt miserable for not listening to the gut instincts of Corey and Pinkston. BHH was an opportunist with sociopathic tendencies.

On a daily basis, BHH called him from the safe house outside San Francisco. He found weaknesses in the $1.8 billion deep data-mining algorithm that Hsin and Cheng were devising and embedding into the outdated Operation Jeannie database. Since BHH already perfected a failsafe firewall shield around the old Jeannie, why not have him perform the same function on Cheng’s MIT computer?

The waitress brought a full serving of oysters on the half shell from the raw bar. Morrison dug in. He tried to keep his mind off BHH’s treasonous deception but could not. The pleasurable atmosphere of the Schooner Wharf Bar- a place Charles Kuralt once called the “center of the universe” and what Mel Fisher, the treasure hunter who discovered the 1622 wreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha, referred to as “a treasure,” gave no comfort to Morrison.

He grew nauseous and stopped eating the fresh oysters. It wasn’t the oysters that sickened him…it was the thought that BHH had conned him. He hacked into Cheng’s MIT computer and stole the entire mathematical algorithm that boosted Operation Jeannie’s deep data mining capabilities a hundred times over…and now it was about to get into the hands of the terrorist network on the out island of Abaco, in the Bahamas. He left a fifty- dollar bill on the table and left.

 

Lastly, enjoy this excellent video of the Schooner Wharf Bar- the musician Michael McCloud plays his song “Schooner Wharf Bar Dog” as the video scans the place! 

 

 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), enjoys writing about the U.S. Intelligence Community, and relishes traveling to the Florida Keys and Key West, the Bahamas and Caribbean. He combines both passions in his CoreyPearson- CIA Spymaster series. Check out his latest spy thriller: MISSION OFVENGEANCE.