KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — With powerful Hurricane Ike on an uncertain course toward the Gulf of Mexico, many on these low-lying islands took a wait-and-see approach to evacuation orders Sunday, perhaps a harbinger of the attitudes to come from Louisiana and Texas residents returning from an arduous evacuation and already showing signs of “hurricane fatigue.”

Forecasts show Ike crossing Cuba and skirting Key West by Tuesday on a trek to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, slowly strengthening to perhaps Category 3 strength on its way to a landfall late in the week somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and the Texas coast.

And once again, New Orleans — still recovering from the weaker-than-expected Gustav — is squarely in the crosshairs.

In Key West, evacuation orders became mandatory Sunday for tourists and the approximately 25,000 residents alike, but traffic off the lone highway from the island was steady rather than jammed.

Mike Tilson, 24, was preparing to ride Ike out in his houseboat, only planning to evacuate if the storm takes a sudden turn to the north.

“I got tarps and champagne,” he said as he pushed a wheelbarrow of supplies including Heineken beer, ice and a loaf of bread down the dock.

“It’s just a good party. I’ll stay.”

At 5 p.m. EDT Sunday, Ike was a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds near 120 mph, located about 75 miles northeast of Guantanamo, Cuba, and moving west at 13 mph. It was forecast to track over Cuba, re-emerging over the island’s western coast Tuesday morning about 100 miles south of Key West as a Category 1.

Ike was a dangerous Category 4 hurricane packing 135-mph winds earlier, but the National Hurricane Center in Miami said it had weakened “a little” in recent hours.

President Bush declared a state of emergency for Florida because of Ike on Sunday and ordered federal money to supplement state and local response efforts.

Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson said 15,000 tourists had already evacuated the region, and the Key West airport was set to close at 7 p.m. Sunday.

McPherson warned that anyone who thinks staying through a major hurricane is “champagne time” hasn’t thought it through clearly. He said emergency vehicles would be pulled off the road if the area gets tropical storm force winds.

Still, many residents of the nation’s most southernmost city said they

wanted to see what the storm does over Cuba and possibly reassess on Monday.

Among them was Claudia Pennington, 61, director of the Key West Art and Historical Society, who said she’s staying to care for the group’s three buildings and their contents. Don Guess, 50, was putting up plywood on a friend’s house Sunday and said he was sticking around because the storm didn’t worry him.