Discover Casey Key: A Flash of Green

 
Have you heard of the legendary "Flash of Green"? The brilliant emerald green flash that supposedly appears for a few fleeting seconds as the final bits of the yellow sun sink below the horizon is a phenomenon many visitors seek as they watch the Gulf Coast sunsets.
A recent Gulfshore Life article ("Close Encounters of the Green Kind") provided hints on "Stalking the Green Flash." It even went so far as to provide the ingredients for concocting the Green Flash Cocktail. However, for the long term residents of Casey Key, the chief memories associated with this rumored flash are from the 1980's movie "A Flash of Green," which was partially filmed on Casey Key, and which features some locals in bit parts.
The movie was based on the book by famous writer John D. MacDonald. MacDonald is best known for his Travis McGee mysteries, but he wrote others that were often used to drive home his concerns for our fragile environment. One of those was "Condominium," and another was "A Flash of Green."
By the way, when John D. MacDonald first relocated to Florida in 1951, he rented on Casey Key before buying his first home on Siesta Key.
The preface page of MacDonald's "A Flash of Green" tells a great Flash of Green story: 
Two old men are fishing from the end of a public pier as the round sun moves toward the gunmetal horizon of the Gulf of Mexico.
The one from Indiana says, "What I want to know, do you ever get to see that flash of green?"
This one from Michigan spits toward a floating tern. "The only flash of green down here to make a wish on is the flash of money you miss out on. I bought one lot for $600, held it for five years and sold it for $3,000. I could have bought 10. Makes you sick to your stomach."
"But people say they've seen it, the minute the sun disappears."
"Now it stands to reason, mister, any damn fool stares into the sun long enough, he'll end up seeing exactly what some other damn fool tells him he's going to see."
"Well, I'd like to see it. Just once." -- From "A Flash of Green", by John D. MacDonald

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Information provided herein is from sources deemed reliable, but it is not guaranteed. Opinions expressed are those of Thomas E. Stone, Broker-Associate with Michael Saunders & Company, and not necessarily those of the company.