Vacation in the Florida Keys
Well this was a very different vacation than our camping trip to the peaceful Black Hills (and way more expensive too)!!! Key West is the party capital of the United States, I think.
James and I spent 5 wonderful days in the southernmost city of the U.S. This was our first real vacation without kids since Rylee was born 6 years ago. We've had some long weekend trips, but nothing like this.
How we chose Key West
James had been wanting to go to a Caribbean Island and I just wasn't ready to leave the country without my babies. There's too many crazy stories out there about people being detained in foreign countries and I just couldn't go there. So, I told him I would go as far south as we could get without leaving the U.S. Thus, Key West. It turned out to be a good thing we didn't leave the country, because James lost his ID sometime after we used it to go through security in the Des Moines airport. I can't imagine how hard it would have been to get him back home without his ID in a foreign place.
Party Capital
I knew before we booked the trip that Key West is known for it's "anything goes" lifestyle. I knew it was very LGBT friendly and had lots of day drinking. What I wasn't prepared for was the "island time" hours. Because it is a stay-out-all-night-drinking kind of place (150 bars on one street!!), breakfast wasn't served until 8am or later (I'm used to breakfast by 7am) and while James and I were eating lunch at noon, others around us were just having breakfast! Shops were also open until 11pm and didn't start getting busy until the evening hours. James and I would be heading back to the Inn around 9pm to go to bed, while everyone else was just heading out to have supper and do some shopping (and drinking...but that starts right when you wake up). James and I aren't big drinkers (I had zero alcoholic drinks to be exact - lame, I know), so we chose to keep to our normal home schedule and get plenty of sleep each night. We didn't want to come home tired from our trip.
While we didn't partake in the drink all day and night scene, we still loved the laid back island vibe. We could go into any restaurant in our swim suits and flip flops and never feel out of place. Sometimes we would even be sitting next to people all dressed up and our server would be dressed better than we were, but it just doesn't matter there. I even read that business professionals working on the island do not dress up, so don't anticipate seeing any suits or ties. That's my kind of work environment!
It didn't matter what body type you have, how much money you have or don't have, how pretty you were or weren't....everyone is friends with everyone and welcome everywhere...and no one does a double-take if you are dressed strangely or wearing a bikini way too small for your body type. It was a very welcoming environment!
Restaurants and Food
I claim to not be a foody, but I have to say that the meals we had were amazing!! We tried lots of new foods and never ate at the same restaurant twice (except for a delicious dessert I had to order a second time at one place). There are more restaurants per square mile in Key West than there are in New York City and many of them are award winning. Some new foods we tried were:
Black Bean dip
Yellow tail snapper
mahi mahi
artichoke
cuban food - sweet paintains - YUM!!!!
coconut sorbet (I got this one twice!)
Sloppy Joe quesadilla
macaron
James and I are not seafood fans. Nearly every restaurant was a seafood place. By the third day we decided we better try something. We ordered yellow tail....it was just okay. We got mahi mahi on our last night there while we watched the sunset on the pier...it was very good!
We shared every single meal except one. The portions were big and food was expensive, so sharing was really ideal for us as neither of us are big eaters. We mostly ordered water everywhere we went too, so that helped keep our food costs down. I'm sure our waiters cringed when we ordered one meal and two waters, ha! James did try several local beers.
It's no secret that I have a sweet tooth....actually, a whole mouth full of sweet tooths. At home, I would not waste money on sweets though...I know I don't need the sugar or to spend the money. But when you're on vacation and walk past a dessert shop every 30 steps, it's hard to pass up! Since we shared meals and weren't spending money on alcohol, I chose to get a dessert for my afternoon snack many times. I got ice cream, key lime pie, chocolate key lime pie on a stick (YUM!), coconut sorbet (Double YUM!), and a macaron. I had never had a macaron before, but there was a store that sold just that. We kept walking past it and the store was so bright and cheery, I decided I needed to give it a shot. One small macaron was $3. I almost decided against it, but in the spirit of trying so many new things, I figured I better give it a shot. Damn, was it good!!!! I did learn on this trip that I really do like the flavor of coconut, which I'd previously always turned down.
Most of the restaurants are open-air, or at least have an open-air option. I think we sat outside for every meal except one (luckily the cuban restaurant was indoors as it was raining the night we decided to go there -- we walked 4 blocks in the rain to get there). My two favorites were the upper deck restaurant we sat at on the harbor where we watched boats come in and out for a couple hours (we also saw a manatee and a small shark swimming in the harbor), and the restaurant on the pier where we watched a cruise ship depart and then the sun set behind the ocean.
Transportation
The island of Key West is only 4 miles by 2 miles. Before we arrived there, we had planned to rent a couple of bicycles to get around the island. We even researched to see where the closest bike rental place was from the Inn where we were staying. However, once we got there, we realized it was just as easy to walk everywhere we wanted to go. And that is exactly what we did. We logged 8-10 miles every day. James even ran 4+ miles a couple of days on top of that. We were both pretty exhausted by the time we went to bed. Being able to walk everywhere though was one of our favorite things about the island. We had to laugh when another couple our age said to us, "Did you rent any transportation yet? Walking sucks!" They told us how they had rented a scooter and bicycles and that it was nice that the island had scooter parking on every other street. Ha...we were both thinking "no parking worries when you travel by foot!". A person can drive a car on the island, but the roads are narrow and parking is limited. Most locals travel by bicycle or scooter.
When we were on our flight from Atlanta to Key West, we discussed walking to the Inn where we would be staying. It was 3 miles and appeared to be an ocean front walk. The guy next to us was a Key West local and said it was definitely do-able if we really wanted to. Once to the airport, where we deplaned on the tarmac and walked into the airport, we decided we didn't want to tire ourselves out the first day. Later in the trip while looking through a book titled "How to look like a local", it recommended NOT walking from the airport. Whew! Glad we didn't make that tourist mistake ;)
Where we stayed
We stayed at, and highly recommend, The Avalon. It is ranked among the top 5 places to stay on the island. It was on the quiet side of Duval Street (this is the main tourist street with shops, restaurants and bars - it runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico). We were only half a block from the ocean (Atlantic side) and the Southernmost point in the U.S.
The manager of the Inn was the cutest lady from England! I dearingly refer to her as Mary Poppins, as that is who she reminded me of! She brought so much life to the place. She has lived in Key West for 30 years and chose to make the island home after working on cruise ships for many years and always loving the stop in Key West. She was there every day, always wearing a bright colored dress, with matching earrings and heels. At breakfast, she even wore a cute apron.
Breakfast was served on the large covered front porch. It was continental breakfast style, but trust me, it beat any hotel breakfast you've had! I loved the fruit infused water she offered every morning.
My favorite part was coming back to the Inn in the afternoon to cool off and rest, and being welcomed by fresh baked cookies (and the smell of a bakery) and flavored water, tea or lemonade. I told one of the workers that it was my favorite thing about the Inn and he said so perfectly, "It's just like coming home from school to a freshly baked snack." I got so excited to see what the flavored drink would be. It was never the same twice. My favorites were raspberry tea, peach lemonade and basil lemonade (I have another use for my basil plant now!).
Our room was extremely small, which we knew when we reserved it. The smaller the room, the less expensive (though still quite pricey). We knew we wouldn't be in it much, and we definitely weren't. All I cared about is that I had a private bathroom. The Inn has 19 rooms and can accommodate 44 people. We chose a room on the backside of the building in hopes it would be quieter. The air conditioner was so loud that I don't think it would have mattered which room we were in. Due to the extreme humidity, the AC was recommended to be set on 72. It was quite chilly! We keep our AC on 79-81 at home.
The pool is very small; hardly any room to swim. We weren't on the island to swim though, so it didn't matter to us. We only saw people in the pool once.
Swimming and Beaches
Key West is not a beach destination. There are only three beaches and two of them are man-made with sand brought in from the Bahamas. We went to the natural beach just once and only swam in the ocean for about 30 minutes. The water was very warm, but not very clear. This beach is actually inside of the state park, Fort Zachary Taylor, which we visited twice. The first time was in the evening and we were so excited to have stumbled onto a private sandy spot where we thought we were going to be the only people there (how romantic as the sun was going to be setting soon). Turned out there was a naked homeless man sitting there eating a bag of chips. I don't think he would have minded us joining him, but somehow that sight just made it less appealing.
Weather
I knew the weather would be hot in the keys, but I was not expecting it to be SO HOT! It was their hottest and most humid month of the year. James will tell you it wasn't that bad, but I was sweating within my first 10 steps out the door. I showered and changed clothes 2-3 times each day. Some places we went had A/C, but many did not. Eating outdoors, we always made sure to get a shaded table, but sometimes that barely helped. I had to request the fan be turned on me and set to high at one restaurant, otherwise I thought I might pass out. We carried water with us everywhere we went, since we often walked an hour or more without getting into the shade or A/C.
One of the days we did experience a little of the weather that southern Florida was getting hit with. It rained the entire second half of that day. I welcomed the rain as it helped cool me down. Plus, that was the morning we had gone to the beach, so we were in our swim suits anyway and it wasn't a big deal to get wet.
That evening, after a shower and changing clothes, we decided to go try out this Cuban restuarant we had heard about. It was about four really long blocks from our Inn. For a brief second, we considered taking Uber there, but then decided to live it up and walk in the rain. The Inn had umbrellas and ponchos for our use by the front door anyway. By the time we got to the restaurant, our feet were soaked. It's so humid down there that water doesn't evaporate very fast and deep puddles quickly formed. The next day the sun was back out and all was well.
Excursions and things we did
On our first full day in Key West, we made reservations to ride on a sailboat that day and do some snorkeling and kayaking out in the reef. We had a great group to ride with - about 20 people. Our boat captain was actually an Iowa Native, having moved to Key West in his 20's (in his early 40's now). He told us he still returns to Iowa annually to visit his family.
The boat ride out to the reef was about an hour long and they served us fresh fruit and drinks. Once we got to the right spot, we were given snorkel gear and told "The pool is open". We jumped in and got to snorkeling. I only lasted about ten minutes -- I don't really like snorkeling -- and then I turned my gear back in and floated around in the water on a pool noodle for awhile :)
After about an hour, everyone was back in the boat and we cruised along for about fifteen minutes until we got to the kayak spot. We all got in kayaks and paddled around a small island, learning about the mangrove trees that create islands and the birds the inhabit those islands. The water was so shallow -- I always thought the ocean was deep everywhere -- I was in complete awe at how shallow it really was around the reef areas.
One really neat thing we saw up close from our kayaks (or sad, depending how you look at it), was a Cuban refugee boat that was discovered on July 15th (per the spray painted "July 15, '17" markings). Cuba is only 90 miles from Key West. This small wooden boat made it about 85 miles before being intercepted by the coast guard. They were so close! We don't know what happened to them, but it's assumed they were taken back to Cuba. There is a rule, that I can't completely remember, that if they arrive to Key West by foot, they can stay. But if they are found in the water, they are returned......or something like that.
After our hour+ of kayaking, we got back in the boat and headed back to Key West. We were served drinks and appetizers as we watched the sun set over the ocean. It was a very fun excursion and I'm so glad James chose that one!
Another thing we did several times that we really loved was walking the harbor boardwalk and watching the boats come in and out. There's just something about being by the water and watching boats that makes me feel at peace. I kept thinking about the maritime history I'd learned about the island and how impactful this harbor was to the island's success. Just as much as the island is known for it's "anything goes" attitude, it's also rich in history.
I enjoyed hearing about the history of the island via the trolley tour we took, the books I read, the stories on the backs of the restuarant menus and the keytv channel we discovered on the tv in our room. On our plane ride home, I even read 2 more Key West history magazines. It's so fascinating to me. I also love the Navy and Coast Guard presence there. It made me feel safe, but also the history of how they began on the island and the things they've accomplished was intriguing.
On the first day as we were exploring, James saw a Coast Guard cutter in the distance and just had to find it. We didn't think we would be able to get very close to it, but the next morning we discovered it was actually a museum that people could visit. We didn't pay to go inside, but looked at it up close.
Key West is also a popular cruise ship destination. We saw four ships there during our stay on the island. At one point, there were two ships docked at the same time. We were fortunate to watch one approaching the dock. We raced up to the dock to watch the 45 minute process of the ship getting close enough to the dock and the marina crew getting the ropes tied up to keep the ship from floating away. That was pretty amazing. And then that evening, as we ate supper on the dock, we got to watch the process in reverse as the ship prepared to depart. Watching a ship that huge turn in a circle to face the right way, was pretty cool!! I learned that the cruise ships have to leave before sunset, or they are fined. The reason for this is, Key West is known for it's sunsets and many people flock to the west part of the island to watch the sunset each night. The cruise ships block the view of the sunset as they are also docked on the west side.
We did many other things, like take the obligatory pictures with the southernmost point buouy (which was a block from the Inn) and the mile marker 0 sign.
Mostly though, our days were spent wondering. We walked up and down Duval Street twice each day, which is roughly a 4 mile loop, taking you from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. We never had a plan when we woke up, and just went wherever our feet took us. It was a great way to spend a relaxing vacation -- no alarms, no plans --- I didn't even need coffee!
On our last morning, before we had to head to the airport, we sat on the end of the pier near our Inn for an hour, watching the small waves of the Atlantic under our feet and the boats headed out to sea. James was in denial about having to head back to real life. He spent some time on Craigslist looking for boats for sale, homes for sale, and Captains' schools in Key West. It's incredibly expensive to live on the island, but a used house boat is the price of a car. If ever we can't find him, I think I know where I'll look....
Final thoughts
Something I noticed right away that I was not expecting was the amount of different nationalities visiting Key West. At one point, I felt like James and I were the only ones speaking English on the porch at breakfast. I was often afraid of striking up a conversation with someone for fear they didn't speak English. I'm not quite sure why Key West is a hot spot for travelers from so many other countries. Our Uber driver who took us to the airport asked if we were from Germany???? He said he has riders from all over the world every day. I was also surprised by the number of smokers on the island. I'm not used to being around that much second hand smoke, but it was everywhere! It appeared that most of the smokers were from other countries.
The locals were from all over the place as well. We only met one person who actually grew up on the island. James and I asked nearly everyone who waited on us either in a restaurant or shop, where they were from and how they ended up in Key West. Lots of interesting stories, but many were the "came for vacation and never left" type. Others were just young people without much of a goal. The gals on our boat crew came to Key West to learn to sail.
We jokingly asked a restaurant worker if they were hiring because we weren't sure James would make it back home without his ID. He told us they were and said that people new to the island always get hired because they don't have "Keys Disease" yet. Curious, we asked what that was. He informed us that after a year, people start living on island time and show up late, whenever they want, or not at all.
We will definitely make a return trip or two to Key West. It was nice to be on an island close to the Caribbean, but know that we were still in our home country. We loved the laid back vibe, the walkability to everything we wanted to do, the history and the friendliness. Even the airport staff was incredibly friendly and laid back. They didn't care one bit that James didn't have his ID. I looked like a trustworthy enough travel partner that they trusted he was who we said he was (makes you feel safe, doesn't it?!?!). He did have his permit to carry ID with, which isn't a government approved document, but in Key West....anything goes!
James and I spent 5 wonderful days in the southernmost city of the U.S. This was our first real vacation without kids since Rylee was born 6 years ago. We've had some long weekend trips, but nothing like this.
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| first evening in Key West |
How we chose Key West
James had been wanting to go to a Caribbean Island and I just wasn't ready to leave the country without my babies. There's too many crazy stories out there about people being detained in foreign countries and I just couldn't go there. So, I told him I would go as far south as we could get without leaving the U.S. Thus, Key West. It turned out to be a good thing we didn't leave the country, because James lost his ID sometime after we used it to go through security in the Des Moines airport. I can't imagine how hard it would have been to get him back home without his ID in a foreign place.
Party Capital
I knew before we booked the trip that Key West is known for it's "anything goes" lifestyle. I knew it was very LGBT friendly and had lots of day drinking. What I wasn't prepared for was the "island time" hours. Because it is a stay-out-all-night-drinking kind of place (150 bars on one street!!), breakfast wasn't served until 8am or later (I'm used to breakfast by 7am) and while James and I were eating lunch at noon, others around us were just having breakfast! Shops were also open until 11pm and didn't start getting busy until the evening hours. James and I would be heading back to the Inn around 9pm to go to bed, while everyone else was just heading out to have supper and do some shopping (and drinking...but that starts right when you wake up). James and I aren't big drinkers (I had zero alcoholic drinks to be exact - lame, I know), so we chose to keep to our normal home schedule and get plenty of sleep each night. We didn't want to come home tired from our trip.
While we didn't partake in the drink all day and night scene, we still loved the laid back island vibe. We could go into any restaurant in our swim suits and flip flops and never feel out of place. Sometimes we would even be sitting next to people all dressed up and our server would be dressed better than we were, but it just doesn't matter there. I even read that business professionals working on the island do not dress up, so don't anticipate seeing any suits or ties. That's my kind of work environment!
It didn't matter what body type you have, how much money you have or don't have, how pretty you were or weren't....everyone is friends with everyone and welcome everywhere...and no one does a double-take if you are dressed strangely or wearing a bikini way too small for your body type. It was a very welcoming environment!
Restaurants and Food
I claim to not be a foody, but I have to say that the meals we had were amazing!! We tried lots of new foods and never ate at the same restaurant twice (except for a delicious dessert I had to order a second time at one place). There are more restaurants per square mile in Key West than there are in New York City and many of them are award winning. Some new foods we tried were:
Black Bean dip
Yellow tail snapper
mahi mahi
artichoke
cuban food - sweet paintains - YUM!!!!
coconut sorbet (I got this one twice!)
Sloppy Joe quesadilla
macaron
James and I are not seafood fans. Nearly every restaurant was a seafood place. By the third day we decided we better try something. We ordered yellow tail....it was just okay. We got mahi mahi on our last night there while we watched the sunset on the pier...it was very good!
We shared every single meal except one. The portions were big and food was expensive, so sharing was really ideal for us as neither of us are big eaters. We mostly ordered water everywhere we went too, so that helped keep our food costs down. I'm sure our waiters cringed when we ordered one meal and two waters, ha! James did try several local beers.
It's no secret that I have a sweet tooth....actually, a whole mouth full of sweet tooths. At home, I would not waste money on sweets though...I know I don't need the sugar or to spend the money. But when you're on vacation and walk past a dessert shop every 30 steps, it's hard to pass up! Since we shared meals and weren't spending money on alcohol, I chose to get a dessert for my afternoon snack many times. I got ice cream, key lime pie, chocolate key lime pie on a stick (YUM!), coconut sorbet (Double YUM!), and a macaron. I had never had a macaron before, but there was a store that sold just that. We kept walking past it and the store was so bright and cheery, I decided I needed to give it a shot. One small macaron was $3. I almost decided against it, but in the spirit of trying so many new things, I figured I better give it a shot. Damn, was it good!!!! I did learn on this trip that I really do like the flavor of coconut, which I'd previously always turned down.
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| Coconut Sorbet that I got twice! |
Transportation
The island of Key West is only 4 miles by 2 miles. Before we arrived there, we had planned to rent a couple of bicycles to get around the island. We even researched to see where the closest bike rental place was from the Inn where we were staying. However, once we got there, we realized it was just as easy to walk everywhere we wanted to go. And that is exactly what we did. We logged 8-10 miles every day. James even ran 4+ miles a couple of days on top of that. We were both pretty exhausted by the time we went to bed. Being able to walk everywhere though was one of our favorite things about the island. We had to laugh when another couple our age said to us, "Did you rent any transportation yet? Walking sucks!" They told us how they had rented a scooter and bicycles and that it was nice that the island had scooter parking on every other street. Ha...we were both thinking "no parking worries when you travel by foot!". A person can drive a car on the island, but the roads are narrow and parking is limited. Most locals travel by bicycle or scooter.
When we were on our flight from Atlanta to Key West, we discussed walking to the Inn where we would be staying. It was 3 miles and appeared to be an ocean front walk. The guy next to us was a Key West local and said it was definitely do-able if we really wanted to. Once to the airport, where we deplaned on the tarmac and walked into the airport, we decided we didn't want to tire ourselves out the first day. Later in the trip while looking through a book titled "How to look like a local", it recommended NOT walking from the airport. Whew! Glad we didn't make that tourist mistake ;)
Where we stayed
We stayed at, and highly recommend, The Avalon. It is ranked among the top 5 places to stay on the island. It was on the quiet side of Duval Street (this is the main tourist street with shops, restaurants and bars - it runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico). We were only half a block from the ocean (Atlantic side) and the Southernmost point in the U.S.
The manager of the Inn was the cutest lady from England! I dearingly refer to her as Mary Poppins, as that is who she reminded me of! She brought so much life to the place. She has lived in Key West for 30 years and chose to make the island home after working on cruise ships for many years and always loving the stop in Key West. She was there every day, always wearing a bright colored dress, with matching earrings and heels. At breakfast, she even wore a cute apron.
Breakfast was served on the large covered front porch. It was continental breakfast style, but trust me, it beat any hotel breakfast you've had! I loved the fruit infused water she offered every morning.
My favorite part was coming back to the Inn in the afternoon to cool off and rest, and being welcomed by fresh baked cookies (and the smell of a bakery) and flavored water, tea or lemonade. I told one of the workers that it was my favorite thing about the Inn and he said so perfectly, "It's just like coming home from school to a freshly baked snack." I got so excited to see what the flavored drink would be. It was never the same twice. My favorites were raspberry tea, peach lemonade and basil lemonade (I have another use for my basil plant now!).
Our room was extremely small, which we knew when we reserved it. The smaller the room, the less expensive (though still quite pricey). We knew we wouldn't be in it much, and we definitely weren't. All I cared about is that I had a private bathroom. The Inn has 19 rooms and can accommodate 44 people. We chose a room on the backside of the building in hopes it would be quieter. The air conditioner was so loud that I don't think it would have mattered which room we were in. Due to the extreme humidity, the AC was recommended to be set on 72. It was quite chilly! We keep our AC on 79-81 at home.
The pool is very small; hardly any room to swim. We weren't on the island to swim though, so it didn't matter to us. We only saw people in the pool once.
Swimming and Beaches
Key West is not a beach destination. There are only three beaches and two of them are man-made with sand brought in from the Bahamas. We went to the natural beach just once and only swam in the ocean for about 30 minutes. The water was very warm, but not very clear. This beach is actually inside of the state park, Fort Zachary Taylor, which we visited twice. The first time was in the evening and we were so excited to have stumbled onto a private sandy spot where we thought we were going to be the only people there (how romantic as the sun was going to be setting soon). Turned out there was a naked homeless man sitting there eating a bag of chips. I don't think he would have minded us joining him, but somehow that sight just made it less appealing.
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| The beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park |
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| Fort Zachary Taylor |
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| canons at Fort Zach |
Weather
I knew the weather would be hot in the keys, but I was not expecting it to be SO HOT! It was their hottest and most humid month of the year. James will tell you it wasn't that bad, but I was sweating within my first 10 steps out the door. I showered and changed clothes 2-3 times each day. Some places we went had A/C, but many did not. Eating outdoors, we always made sure to get a shaded table, but sometimes that barely helped. I had to request the fan be turned on me and set to high at one restaurant, otherwise I thought I might pass out. We carried water with us everywhere we went, since we often walked an hour or more without getting into the shade or A/C.
One of the days we did experience a little of the weather that southern Florida was getting hit with. It rained the entire second half of that day. I welcomed the rain as it helped cool me down. Plus, that was the morning we had gone to the beach, so we were in our swim suits anyway and it wasn't a big deal to get wet.
That evening, after a shower and changing clothes, we decided to go try out this Cuban restuarant we had heard about. It was about four really long blocks from our Inn. For a brief second, we considered taking Uber there, but then decided to live it up and walk in the rain. The Inn had umbrellas and ponchos for our use by the front door anyway. By the time we got to the restaurant, our feet were soaked. It's so humid down there that water doesn't evaporate very fast and deep puddles quickly formed. The next day the sun was back out and all was well.
Excursions and things we did
On our first full day in Key West, we made reservations to ride on a sailboat that day and do some snorkeling and kayaking out in the reef. We had a great group to ride with - about 20 people. Our boat captain was actually an Iowa Native, having moved to Key West in his 20's (in his early 40's now). He told us he still returns to Iowa annually to visit his family.
The boat ride out to the reef was about an hour long and they served us fresh fruit and drinks. Once we got to the right spot, we were given snorkel gear and told "The pool is open". We jumped in and got to snorkeling. I only lasted about ten minutes -- I don't really like snorkeling -- and then I turned my gear back in and floated around in the water on a pool noodle for awhile :)
After about an hour, everyone was back in the boat and we cruised along for about fifteen minutes until we got to the kayak spot. We all got in kayaks and paddled around a small island, learning about the mangrove trees that create islands and the birds the inhabit those islands. The water was so shallow -- I always thought the ocean was deep everywhere -- I was in complete awe at how shallow it really was around the reef areas.
One really neat thing we saw up close from our kayaks (or sad, depending how you look at it), was a Cuban refugee boat that was discovered on July 15th (per the spray painted "July 15, '17" markings). Cuba is only 90 miles from Key West. This small wooden boat made it about 85 miles before being intercepted by the coast guard. They were so close! We don't know what happened to them, but it's assumed they were taken back to Cuba. There is a rule, that I can't completely remember, that if they arrive to Key West by foot, they can stay. But if they are found in the water, they are returned......or something like that.
After our hour+ of kayaking, we got back in the boat and headed back to Key West. We were served drinks and appetizers as we watched the sun set over the ocean. It was a very fun excursion and I'm so glad James chose that one!
Another thing we did several times that we really loved was walking the harbor boardwalk and watching the boats come in and out. There's just something about being by the water and watching boats that makes me feel at peace. I kept thinking about the maritime history I'd learned about the island and how impactful this harbor was to the island's success. Just as much as the island is known for it's "anything goes" attitude, it's also rich in history.
I enjoyed hearing about the history of the island via the trolley tour we took, the books I read, the stories on the backs of the restuarant menus and the keytv channel we discovered on the tv in our room. On our plane ride home, I even read 2 more Key West history magazines. It's so fascinating to me. I also love the Navy and Coast Guard presence there. It made me feel safe, but also the history of how they began on the island and the things they've accomplished was intriguing.
On the first day as we were exploring, James saw a Coast Guard cutter in the distance and just had to find it. We didn't think we would be able to get very close to it, but the next morning we discovered it was actually a museum that people could visit. We didn't pay to go inside, but looked at it up close.
Key West is also a popular cruise ship destination. We saw four ships there during our stay on the island. At one point, there were two ships docked at the same time. We were fortunate to watch one approaching the dock. We raced up to the dock to watch the 45 minute process of the ship getting close enough to the dock and the marina crew getting the ropes tied up to keep the ship from floating away. That was pretty amazing. And then that evening, as we ate supper on the dock, we got to watch the process in reverse as the ship prepared to depart. Watching a ship that huge turn in a circle to face the right way, was pretty cool!! I learned that the cruise ships have to leave before sunset, or they are fined. The reason for this is, Key West is known for it's sunsets and many people flock to the west part of the island to watch the sunset each night. The cruise ships block the view of the sunset as they are also docked on the west side.
We did many other things, like take the obligatory pictures with the southernmost point buouy (which was a block from the Inn) and the mile marker 0 sign.
Mostly though, our days were spent wondering. We walked up and down Duval Street twice each day, which is roughly a 4 mile loop, taking you from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. We never had a plan when we woke up, and just went wherever our feet took us. It was a great way to spend a relaxing vacation -- no alarms, no plans --- I didn't even need coffee!
On our last morning, before we had to head to the airport, we sat on the end of the pier near our Inn for an hour, watching the small waves of the Atlantic under our feet and the boats headed out to sea. James was in denial about having to head back to real life. He spent some time on Craigslist looking for boats for sale, homes for sale, and Captains' schools in Key West. It's incredibly expensive to live on the island, but a used house boat is the price of a car. If ever we can't find him, I think I know where I'll look....
Final thoughts
Something I noticed right away that I was not expecting was the amount of different nationalities visiting Key West. At one point, I felt like James and I were the only ones speaking English on the porch at breakfast. I was often afraid of striking up a conversation with someone for fear they didn't speak English. I'm not quite sure why Key West is a hot spot for travelers from so many other countries. Our Uber driver who took us to the airport asked if we were from Germany???? He said he has riders from all over the world every day. I was also surprised by the number of smokers on the island. I'm not used to being around that much second hand smoke, but it was everywhere! It appeared that most of the smokers were from other countries.
The locals were from all over the place as well. We only met one person who actually grew up on the island. James and I asked nearly everyone who waited on us either in a restaurant or shop, where they were from and how they ended up in Key West. Lots of interesting stories, but many were the "came for vacation and never left" type. Others were just young people without much of a goal. The gals on our boat crew came to Key West to learn to sail.
We jokingly asked a restaurant worker if they were hiring because we weren't sure James would make it back home without his ID. He told us they were and said that people new to the island always get hired because they don't have "Keys Disease" yet. Curious, we asked what that was. He informed us that after a year, people start living on island time and show up late, whenever they want, or not at all.
We will definitely make a return trip or two to Key West. It was nice to be on an island close to the Caribbean, but know that we were still in our home country. We loved the laid back vibe, the walkability to everything we wanted to do, the history and the friendliness. Even the airport staff was incredibly friendly and laid back. They didn't care one bit that James didn't have his ID. I looked like a trustworthy enough travel partner that they trusted he was who we said he was (makes you feel safe, doesn't it?!?!). He did have his permit to carry ID with, which isn't a government approved document, but in Key West....anything goes!
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| "Sponge Bob" statue made of sponge |
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| This is a typical house on the island. The average price for a 2 bedroom is $700K. |
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| Strolling through beautiful Fort Zachary Taylor state park |
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| This was the old customs building, now an art museum. The sailor kissing statue is new to the island. I loved walking past this every day!! |
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| Last night on the island. The small island behind us is Sunset Key, where Kenny Chesney owns a home. |
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| Taken right after we discovered the naked man and decided not to go any futher :) |
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| The famous sign pointing to other cities and islands, along with the mileage to get there. |
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