Florida Keys

We spent 6 days in the Florida Keys. "The Keys" is a very laid back destination. The Keys are a great place to go "chill" for a few days.

 

 

 

Places to Stay in the Florida Keys

Azul del Mar We spent two nights in Key Largo at the Azul del Mar boutique hotel. This is a very nice place. The facility consists of 5 or 6 rooms which each have their own private bathrooms.
	The owner, Dominic, is great. He was very accommodating. He really made our stay feel special.
We actually had one of the least expensive rooms. I believe it was called a "tropical room". We didn't have a direct ocean view, but we were steps from the ocean. The room was nicely appointed and it included a microwave and refrigerator.
The property has some really nice palapas that have stereo sound systems. We spent a lot of time playing cards by the water and enjoying the beautiful grounds. Overall, we recommend this property.
La Te Da
While in Key West, we spent three nights at the La Te Da hotel on Duval street. We really loved the location of La Te Da. You can walk down to all of the action of Duval street, but also stay in a nice quiet location.
We had the Deluxe room It was large and nicely appointed. Included with the room is a great breakfast! This is not a continental breakfast, but rather a full sit down meal. The bar at La Te Da is also very fun.

The Florida Everglades

On our way to the keys we spent a day at Everglades National Park. This park was a real surprise for us. We took the tram tour from Shark Valley. It was very informative.
	At one point we all got off the tram and walked over to a pond where there were numerous gators. This was very exciting because this was the real thing, no zoo fences!
The tram takes you to an observation point where you spend about 15 minutes. The view is great and there are more gators at the observation point.
	Just outside of the national park is the worlds smallest U.S. Post Office. It is the Ochopee Post Office. We drove through on Memorial Day so it was closed.

Things to Do in the Florida Keys

The first thing to understand about "the Keys" is that the attitude is more about "chilling" than "activities". With that being said, there is still some fun stuff to do in the Keys.
	When you visit Key Largo, you can't miss the African Queen. It is docked next to the Holiday Inn in Key Largo. This is a free activity and it is easy to find.
Mrs. Mac's in Key Largo was a nice little find. It is a local hangout which featured good food at reasonable prices. The Key Lime Pie was muy bueno!
On the way to Key West we ran into this guy. He looked like a creature from some cheapo science fiction movie!  This was actually a little roadside mall.
	One of the best "things to do" in the keys is just relax and watch the sunset. We found a nice little ocean side bar in Key Largo called Snook's. It is located behind a car dealership. It is a perfect place to "chill".
Much like the "giant lobster" shown above, the Keys have lots of interesting attractions......
	Probably the "most touristy" thing to do in Key West is to have someone take your picture near the "Southernmost Point" in the continental U.S.
We stumbled across Mile Marker 0 on our walk from the Hemmingway House to to downtown.  Mile Marker 0 is on Whitehead and Fleming.
The Hemingway Home is an interesting side activity while in Key West. The tour last about a half hour. The house is beautiful. The tour is full of history.
	There are cats everywhere! Opus the Cat says "Hemingway was a man that appreciated the finer points in life. Mainly taking care of felines!"
This cat was doing what most cats do, which is nothing! It does make for an interesting picture.
We also visited the John Pennekamp State Park while in Key Largo. It was a very stormy day when we were there so we opted not to go out on the snorkel tour. But the park is interesting and has some nice walks.
If you are in the Fort Lauderdale area and are itching for some crab, then you need to go to the Rustic Inn. This is a casual place that has awesome crab. The meal shown was the "combo" platter. We split the entree and still couldn't finish it.

The Duval Crawl, Key West

You've probably heard of the "Duval Crawl". If you haven't then here is the scoop. Key West has numerous bars along Duval street. The "Duval Crawl" is when you frequent each bar along Duval street. Duval street stretches from coast to coast, so you're really starting at the Atlantic and ending up in the Gulf of Mexico. We admit, that it was too much for us to accomplish in one day, but over the course of the weekend, we think we just about did it!
	There are obviously two places to start "the crawl". We started at the "busy" end of Duval street and headed back toward the "quiet" end. (Since we were staying near the Southernmost Point.)  The first stop is the Sunset Pier. This is a nice little bar that is located on a pier. It was pretty pricey, but the view of the bay was quite nice. Pretty quiet here so we had a margarita and started our crawl.
We had lunch at the Hogs Breath Saloon. The fish and chips were decent, but nothing spectacular. Nice little place.  But it was a little too commercial. When the bar has its own "retail shop" it kind of turns us off. (Except for Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville of course!)
	Sloppy Joe's is probably the most famous and popular place on Duval street. This was one of Hemmingway's favorite establishments. We had the Sloppy Joe nachos which were awesome! Nachos with some white trash Sloppy Joe mix.. Yummy. Overall we liked Sloppy Joe's. (Although it does have a retail store....)
Around the corner from Sloppy Joe's is Captain Tony's Saloon. This is the original Sloppy Joe's. Hemmingway helped the owner buy the "new place" around the corner.
	Captain Tony's is a very interesting place. Lot of bras hanging from the ceiling, very dark, and very funky. Jimmy Buffett mentions Captain Tony in a few of his songs.
One of our favorite places was Irish Kevin's. They have great entertainment. It is very "formula driven" but the entertainers are very entertaining. They really get the audience involved. Very fun. The "Horny Margarita" was our favorite. It was quite pricey, but was very large and delicious.
The next day it was pouring ran, so we stopped into Irish Kevin's again. During the day they get the "cruise ship crowd" but that even made it more enjoyable because there was a fun and lively crowd.
While we were enjoying happy hour at Craby Dick's, we ran into some really fun people from Coral Gales, FL. Before long we were old friends.......
As you can see, Carroll has a hard time meeting people and making friends!
	We all walked down to watch the sunset at Mallory Square. There were a few street performers, but nothing to write home about.
One of our favorite places was the Duval Beach Club. It was a block or so from our hotel and right on the beach. It is owned by Kelly McGillis. The drinks were very reasonable. We just found the place very relaxing. It is on the "quiet" end of Duval street so you shouldn't see big crowds at this place.

Carroll's Florida Keys 2005 Blog

05/28/05 Saturday 

We arrived at the airport early enough to check in for you 7AM flight. Dave dropped me off with the big bag and I was to check in since I had an actual ticket. (Dave had an e-ticket) The ticket agent informed me that my reservation had been cancelled since the travel agent never "completed" the transaction. Southwest was going to put me on a separate flight. Dave and I were going to have to fly separately.

Dave met me after parking the car and I told him the bad news. I was now scheduled to arrive in Ft. Lauderdale 2 hours after him. We decided to try and change his flight to match mine. We were successful and flew together to FLL via LAX and then New Orleans.

Upon arriving in FLL we got our rental car, a Sebring convertible. We drove approximately 2 hours to Naples. We checked into our hotel around 12:30 AM. 

05/29/05 Sunday

We woke up early the next morning, at about 6:30 AM. Not enough sleep... We were staying at the Hawthorne Suites and they provide a free breakfast, so we had breakfast at the hotel. 

We then decided to try to find a swap meet that we had read about in one of the brochures. We didn't find the swap meet, but we did find Fort Myers. What a great beach and the drive was quite nice. I bought a couple of pairs of Reef sandals because the prices were good.

By now, Dave was getting tired. He had only had about 10 hours of sleep in the past 2 days. We stopped at "the Walmart" and picked up some water and snacks. They didn't have any coolers, so then we went to Publix and picked up a Cooler with some ice. It was very hot and humid! We then drove downtown and checked out the Naples Pier. This was a great beach.

We returned to the hotel and decided to sit by the pool. It was hot and humid so this was a nice activity. Dave was able to nap and I read for a bit.

We ate lunch at the Pub in the Venetian Village along the water. I had a Caesar salad and Dave had the Chicken Philly Sandwich. We were not that hungry for dinner so we went to a Checkers drive through and got a cheeseburger.

05/30/05 Monday 

We ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to our next destination, Key Largo. We stopped at Publix and got a sandwich for the road. 

We drove the Tamiami highway through the Everglades. We stopped at Shark Valley and took the tram ride. This was really great. It was narrated by a US Park Ranger. We saw lots of alligators and soft shell turtles. Since it was the end of dry season, the wildlife was quite concentrated near the watering holes. We also stopped at the Ochochobee Post Office, which is the smallest post office in the U.S. We mailed our NetFlix video (Ray) back.

After our Everglades tour we headed to Key Largo. We were caught in a torrential downpour and actually had to pull off the road for about 20 minutes. As the rain subsided we drove on through Homestead and on to Key Largo. The traffic toward Miami was quite heavy due to the end of the holiday weekend. We were lucky to be heading the opposite direction. We found our hotel and checked in.

Azul del Mar was quite nice. It was a house that had been divided into six guest rooms. We had a "garden view" room. The property was nice in that there were a few Chickee huts and plenty of lounge chairs near the water.

There really wasn't much to Key Largo. We ate dinner at Hobos. (Mainly because it was within walking distance and we didn't want to deal with the traffic) I had the ribs and Dave had the surf and turf which was a NY steak and lobster. This was a family run business and we enjoyed our meal.

05/31/05 Tuesday 

We drove around Key Largo and explored. We started the day at John Pennekamp State Park. They had a nice visitor's center. We walked the mangrove trail and then checked out the beach. Since it was rainy we didn't snorkel. 

We then tried to find the famed "African Queen" of the same name as the movie with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. After much driving and many dead ends, we found it off the main road at the Holiday Inn Marina. They also had the boat from "On Golden Pond". 

After finding the boats we meandered over to Mrs. Mac's for lunch. I had fish and chips and Dave had a Reuben. We split a piece of Key Lime Pie for dessert. Yum!

We returned to our hotel and hung out on the beach for the afternoon. We played some Cribbage. For dinner we went to Snook's. We actually sat at the bar and had appetizers and drinks.

06/01/05 Wednesday 

We woke up and packed for our trek to Key West. Breakfast was delivered to our room. We had bagels and muffins. The muffins were quite good. Once breakfast was finished we headed south on US 1 toward Key West. 

It was a 100 mile drive past many keys and over many bridges. The most famous bridge we crossed was the 7 mile bridge. It's quite weird to think you are crossing the ocean on a bridge. We got quite a bit of rain on the way to Key West. (so much for the convertible)

When we got to Key West we checked with the Sea Plane people to see if they were going to be flying out to Dry Tortugas on Thursday. They assures us they wouldn't fly if the weather was bad.

We checked into LaTeDa and unpacked. We had a nice quiet room in the back with a king sized bed and sitting area. 

After settling in we walked down Duvall street to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville for lunch. We both had cheeseburgers and margaritas. We tried to walk through the gift shop but it was way to crowded.

After lunch we walked down to Mallory Square. Carnival's Celebration cruise ship was in port. We walked the other way down Duvall and checked out the Southernmost Point in the continental U.S. We stood in line and took the obligatory photo. We then headed to the Duvall Beach Club (owned by actress Kelly McGillis) It was happy hour so we drank rum and diet cokes for quite a while. We decided to eat some of the house special coconut shrimp. They were great.

We ended the evening at the LaTeDa bar. We had a great time and the bartender was quite nice.

06/02/05 Thursday 

We started our day with the complimentary breakfast at LaTeDa. It was quite good. We had awoken early and found that it was again a rainy day so our Sea Plane trip had been cancelled. With our plans foiled we decided to check out the Hemmingway House. They have a guided tour where they docent shares interesting facts and anecdotes about Ernest Hemmingway. You can then walk around on your own. We enjoyed the tour and the cats!

After the Hemmingway House we continued down Whitehead lane and discovered Mile Marker 0. We then walked over to the marina downtown. Afterward we returned back to Duvall street. The rain really started coming down so we ducked into Willy T's bar and had a few drinks to wait out the downpour. We had our first Mojito. The bartender was way to talkative so we decided to go back to our room and Dave was going to check email and I was going to write in my journal.

When we returned to our room the air conditioner was awfully loud. We were laughing at ourselves thinking that we hadn't noticed it before because we were probably too tipsy. Just about then the maintenance men arrived with a new unit to install. We were quite impressed since we hadn't even said anything. We decided to go back to the Duvall Street Beach Club while they were working in the room.

Princess Nicole was the bartender at the bar. Her attitude made for a fun afternoon. After a few more drinks we walked down to Crabby Dick's for happy hour. We drank wine and had half price appetizers. The chicken wings and fried mac and cheese were good. 

While at Crabby Dick's we met some nice people from Coral Gables. The 8 of us decided to walk down to Mallory Square for sunset. We were not impressed , but we had a great time visiting. After saying goodbye to our new friends, we crawled back to LaTeDa. (I guess that is why they call it the "Duvall Crawl".) We had a fun day but we drank too much....

06/03/05 Friday 

We started our day with the nice LaTeDa breakfast. Since we cancelled our Sea Plan tour we were able to sleep in. We decided to walk around and actually check out the shops. Most of the shops carry t-shirts and beach wear. We went to Kevin's Irish Pub on the recommendation of our friends from last night. The show was great and we enjoyed our first Horny Leprechaun, a margarita make with Sauza Hornitos. We then went down to Sloppy Joes to have some Sloppy Joe nachos. Sloppy Joe's was frequented by Hemmingway during his stay in Key West.

Captain Tony's was our next stop. This was the original site of Sloppy Joes. When the rent got too high they picked up and moved down the street. Captain Tony is mentioned in a lot of Jimmy Buffett songs.

We then moved on down the street to the Sunset Pier. We had one drink, which was rather expensive, and then decided to go back to Irish Kevin's for the entertainment. The show was great.

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Dave's meal was fine, but my salad was way too oily and not edible. We didn't have to pay for my meal. We did the Duvall crawl back to our room.

06/04/05 Saturday 

Moving day again. We had to leave Key West and drive back to Ft. Lauderdale. It was a long drive but we had a great time. We stopped in at some Tiki Bar in Islamorada for a snack and a soda. No, we didn't have a drink.... We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at about 3 PM and checked into the Courtyard Marriott. We then drove downtown and checked things out. We had an early dinner at Pusser's. We then proceeded on to the riverfront area but only found more bars and restaurants. So we decided to call it an early evening. Dave had some work to do and I needed to catch up on my journal. Tomorrow we will explore Miami Beach, South Beach and the area.