Not Europe - Florida Keys

Day 2 - Weather would determine what we did our first full day and since it was a perfect day for the beach the inner Minnesotan in us dare not take chances with the weather so we headed to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park on Key Largo to spend the day. We made reservations right away for the last glass bottom boat trip of the day and then parked it at Cannon Beach. This is a natural beach and is rocky, gravelly crushed coral which is quite uncomfortable if you are not used to walking on this type of surface. Appropriate footwear would eliminate this issue. Otherwise it’s a nice beach and has a swimming area that has submerged, rusting cannons in the deeper water out by the buoy. The water was refreshing (76F), warm air, sunshine and the smell of grilled food was just what we needed after our long (and not over yet) cold winter. A manatee visited the swimming area and surfaced a couple times so you could get a good look at it. After getting enough sun for the first day we went on the glass bottom boat trip out to Molasses Reef which is said to be the most visited reef in the world. These trips are always entertaining and educational and you get a good look at what you will see later on if you go diving or snorkeling. We’ve dived and snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef so our expectations have been set quite high but the Florida reef and inhabitants were beautiful and well worth the effort to see. The Florida reef is the 3rd largest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef and the one offshore from Belize. After the reef trip it was time to get to our rental home and purchase supplies for our stay.

Day 3 - Off to Bahia Honda state park for more beach time and a snorkeling trip out to the reef. The snorkel boat trip was out to Looe Key Reef. Wet suit rentals were $6 and were glad we got them because we never had to leave the water and never got too hot. Right away a large grouper came by and used the shade of the boat while we were moored. Angelfish and parrotfish were the most beautiful and yellowtail snapper (yum) were plentiful as were tiny transparent jellyfish (harmless). Coral reefs are my favorite earthscape and watching the sea creatures go about their daily lives and watching the sea fans bend with the flow is heaven on earth for me. Others on board saw sharks and barracudas. Afterwards we spent the rest of the day on Loggerhead Beach which has beautiful turquoise water and soft white sand. Just north up the shore is Sandspur beach which has been rated the best beach in Florida. We checked it out at the end of the day and it is similar to Loggerhead beach and could not tell what differentiates the two as both are equally impressive. Loggerhead is closer to the concession stand where you can get food, rent kayaks and book snorkeling tours. Plus, Calussa beach on the gulf side has gentler waves and is a couple minute walk from Loggerhead. Before leaving we walked to the end of the old train track bridge for views of the gulf and Atlantic. We also saw sharks swimming below.
Day 4 - was spent at Loggerhead beach, this time up the road near the kayak storage parking lot. This part of the beach was a bit rockier in places but still had the beautiful turquoise water and white sand beach. I would’ve done another snorkel tour but the boat wasn’t going out because it was too windy. So it was a relaxing day sitting in the sun, swimming and snorkeling. Not much to see here snorkelling but a few fish and jellyfish out by the sea grass where the water turns from bright turquoise to dark blue as viewed from the shore.

Day 5 - was selected as Key West sightseeing day since no cruise ships were scheduled to be in port this day. We visited West Martello Tower which is a civil war structure and has gardens to explore inside, scoped out Smathers and Higgs beach, the southernmost point marker, the lighthouse, Hemmingway House, Duvall street and then Mallory square to wrap up the day. We’re not foodies but ate at a couple wonderful places - BO’s Fishwagon which looks like a blown up junkyard (grouper sandwich) and DJ’s Clam Shack (Maine lobster roll). There were many other interesting places to tour such as the aquarium, secret garden, cemetery, little white house, shipwreck museum etc. but just walking around and shopping took precedence. We were going to watch the sunset at Mallory square but after watching a couple street performers the place filled up rather quickly and was too crowded for us. We never would’ve been able to see the sunset from the square as it was now impossible to migrate to the edge of the pier. If this is a must do for you get a table at one of the restaurants there or a 2nd story or higher bar overlooking the square. As it turned out clouds came in blocking out the view of the setting sun. No worries though since the street performers are entertaining and there is food and drink available and it is a fun atmosphere if you don’t mind crowds. Next time if we want to watch the sun set we will take a sunset cruise; or better yet, stop at portions of the old US-1 that is pedestrian only and watch the sunset and talk to the locals fishing there, or do some fishing too. You’ll see these spots as you drive to Key West, I just don’t recall the mile marker locations.
Day 6 - was back to Key West with a tour of the East Martello Tower civil war fort which includes Robert the doll which is believed to be haunted and is the inspiration for Chucky of the Child’s Play movies. It also gives a brief but interesting history of Key West during the civil war years and later. We then picked out a spot on Smathers beach under a palm tree to spend the day. This is supposed to be the overcrowded party beach but it wasn’t crowded where we were at far from the volleyball area. This is a very nice man made sandy beach and spent the rest of the day relaxing and swimming.

Day 7 – time to leave the keys in order to get closer to the Miami airport for an early flight home the next day. There were many places along the keys for brief stops (especially Robbie’s Marina to feed the tarpon) but instead decided to spend our time at Everglades National Park. From the Royal Palm visitor center we walked the Gumbo Limbo and Anhinga trails. Both are short trails with the Gumbo Limbo being a nature trail through a tree canopy and the Anhinga trail is where you encounter alligators, and on the day we were there, there were lots of alligators. The alligators were along the trail with no barriers separating them from you and sunning below the overlooks. At one overlook there were over 40 alligators sunning, jostling for position and defending personal space. Driving on we stopped at the Pa-hay-okee trail and then drove to Flamingo which is at the end of the park road. The drive to Flamingo was more exploratory on our part since we wanted to see what there is to see and check out the canoe/kayak trails and entrance points for a future trip. Otherwise there is no need to drive to Flamingo unless you are taking a boat trip there or want a nice relaxing drive seeing much of the same scenery. On the way back we went to visit one of the Nike missile sights but without a tour (Sundays only) there really wasn’t much to see. We didn’t bother getting out of the car since it didn’t look like you could do self-guided tours at this site.
After leaving the park we stopped at the “Robert is Here” fruit stand, which would be a great place to stock up on fruits and vegetables at the start of your trip. We ordered some wonderful milkshakes and then were on our way. The final stop was Coral Castle. I’m a big fan of the Roadside America website that lists some strange and interesting things to see on your way to other places, and this is one of those sites. It’s the story of a heartbroken man carving this “castle” out of coral blocks for his “sweet sixteen” who left him on the eve of their wedding. It’s quite a sad story but an interesting place to visit while wondering how he moved these giant blocks of coral and carved all the items within the castle by himself with no power equipment.
Day 8 – travel day back home. We’ll definitely go back. Too many things left to do and the weather was great.

Where to stay - Even though we would’ve enjoyed staying in any region of the keys our downselect process for where to stay eliminated Key Largo since it is an easy daytrip from Miami and we’ll most likely visit this city again. I originally wanted to split our time between Marathon and Key West but availability and cost made this option unappealing. We found a 2 bedroom/2 bath house on stilts with a large deck on Cudjoe key located in the Venture Out Resort complex. This was a great place to stay and centrally located between Key West (30 min) and Bahia Honda state park (20 min). A Winn-Dixie was 10 minutes away keeping us well stocked. The Square Grouper restaurant was also on Cudjoe key and had very good reviews. The place we wanted to rent jet skis from was conveniently located on adjacent Summerland key. Great place, great location for us.
Driving – driving the overseas highway is listed as one of the great drives in the world. It definitely is when the Atlantic is on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other showing off their wonderful shades of blue and on our drive to our rental home watching the sun set. But, in between these segments you are on the keys with businesses lining the road which seem like a never-ending strip mall on Islamorada and Marathon. But even paradise has to have businesses to support the people that are lucky enough to live there and the tourists lucky enough to visit. Fortunately there were no traffic issues which could have led to significant delays since there are no parallel side roads. Some have commented you only need to drive this once and then fly into Key West. Maybe, but I’ll drive it again for the scenery and to visit places along the way.

Great report, Bob - thanks! What dates were you in Florida? I've been dreaming about palm trees and sea breezes during this whole winter!

Thanks Sarah ! We went during the last week of March. Weather is always a concern during our spring break trips when our kids are out of school and you are not guaranteed good weather during this time of year unless you go to Mexico or the Caribbean. The weather was great for us being in the mid 70's to low 80's. There was one overnight thunderstorm. So other than the wind having an impact on some activities it was warm with cool breezes, just right. Definitely just what we needed after our long winter. The day I posted this we had 6 inches of snow.