What to do in the Keys when you're not actually in the water...

[FLArmyBrat]

Please don't flame me for asking a question that might be answered by doing a search, but I would like some fresh answers....

7 DAYS and COUNTING!!!

Going to the Keys next Thursday and will be there for 5 days. The dives are already planned, but what I want to know is if there are any land bound points of interest or activities that we absolutely MUST do? We're staying in Marathon and doing the Fantasy Fest thing at night in Key West.

Thank you in advance,
Laurel- The Frog Queen
:royal:

 

[OneBrightGator]

Go to the Tiki Bar, it's at The Quay in Marathon, it's not the nice restaurant, it's the downtrodden bar on the water, best fish sandwich in the Keys and you can't beat the scenery.

Ben

 

[Virus]FSLR2[]

But that's the point, there's really not much for you to do but be in or on the water except relax. If you have access to a boat, and make this a diving/fishing week, then the schedule is pretty easy. Wake up, go dive, bottom fish during the SIT time (because you located a good location while you were diving and marked it), and dive again, troll around during the next SIT for some dolphin, go dive again, and then go back and get something to eat, go back out and dive again, and then troll around for more dolphin and dive again. Sunset, make another dive, and then go back to your place, clean/cook the dolphon, snapper, and grouper and don't forget the lobster, have dinner and a drink and listen to the tarpon rolling. If you have a place on the water, go out on the dock and cast a heavy line out with a live bait and see what bites.

Go snorkel Bahia Honda for a day, and do the Key West thing for a day (and night). Stop by the Peek-a-boo lounge and tell Amanda I said Hi! <I'm sure she doesn't still work there, and if she does, she shouldn't be> Never mind... I think I owe her money anyway.. Forget going here...
If you're in Key West, and plan for the extra time, try to schedule a day in the Dry Tortugas. It's a whole day.

Key Largo, Marathon, and Key West are the only ones with much of anything, and Marathon is geared more for fishing.

You can go up to Islamorada to Robbies and hand feed tarpon, but after a 1/2 hour and $10.00, you're finished with that. You can go all the way down to Shark Cut and snorkel the bridge, and see all the nurse sharks.

I seem to remember a bowling alley somewhere around but I was probably halucenating (which is entirely possible). Come to think of it, I think the bowling alley was in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine; another great vacation spot with absolutely nothing to do but relax. Never mind about the bowling alley <laff>

Although you need a watch for diving, you shouldn't use it down there for anything else. Just put it in your dive bag along with your gear. Relax, forget about the rest of the world. No phone, no pager, no computers, no nothing! I don't even turn on a TV while I'm down there.

Fish....Dive...Hunt....Eat....Fish....Dive...Hunt....Eat....Fish...Sleep... Repeat as necessary


-=V=-

 

[FLArmyBrat]

Virus...

Thanks so much!! If I see Amanda at the Peek-a-Boo I've never spoken to you!!!

The whole pager/cell phone issue has been worked out. He's an on call 24/7 computer geek and his aren't even leaving the truck the whole time so I had to agree the same thing. Its hard but since my mom will have my son I guess I can trust her to handle anything that might arise eh?? LOLOL

We have 8 dives planned for both Friday and Satuday and one for Monday leaving Thursday and Sunday open for anything and everything. I have only insisted on 2 things....#1 is as soon as we hit the Keys we find a piece of REAL Key Lime pie and #2 is we see a REAL Key West sunset. Other than that I am open which is a good thing since it is Fantasy Fest Weekend!!!

Laurel- The Frog Queen
:royal:

 

[KeyLargoBrent]

arguably the best beach in the Florida Keys... at mile marker 37 oceanside is worth a visit. Take a walk up on the old bridge to nowhere... look down... see where the Gulf of Mexico meets the Atlantic Ocean.

If conditions are right (low wind, high tide), take a snorkel or dive charter out to Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary... awesome shallow spur and groove reef.

For some good down-home grub, check out the Seven Mile Grill (just north of the seven mile bridge) at mile marker 47.5 bayside. I think they're open from 7am-9pm (closed Wednesdays).

I look forward to your trip report. Have fun!

 

[XJae]

Sounds like you'll miss Halloween in Key West.

A few years back we drove down there after diving all week in Key Largo.
Coincedentally, it was Halloween. We had no idea.

The parade was interesting, to say the least.
I held my wife's hand the entire time.

 

[mcse_jacksonvil]

This is an official flame.

I hereby flame you not because you neglected to do a search, but because you do not even understand what you are venturing into.

You are about to enter the land which Jimmy Buffet has made famous for being a slackers paradise. What is there to do in the keys? Well, it boils down to three things.
1. Get wet - Scuba, Swimming, Snorkeling etc..
2. Get Drunk - No one can go to the keys without doing the "Duval Crawl". This is where you start at one end of Duval street and drink your way to the other end, then crawl back to your room.
3. Relax - do nothing and simply enjoy the atmosphere while thinking about, well, nothing


That is the keys in a nutshell, you will arrive as yuppie scum and leave as a professional slacker. Always know that the keys are more a state of mind than a geographic location.

 

[100days-a-year]

Dinner at Cafe Sole',Rooftop or Latitudes.Latitudes it the best view of the sunset.It is on the island you see the sun set on from Mallory Square.A trip to the forts,lighthouse,Hemingways house to see the cats,Mel Fishers museum,Key deer at sunup and dusk on Big Pine,a cheesburger in paradise at Margaritaville.The freaks outside Sloppy Joes.Wylands shops,a day trip to Fort Jefferson.The Key West Aquarium,the nightlife and performers at Mallory Square.I spend up to 7 weeks a year vacationing in the Keys,I couldn't live there but it's fun to visit.Hit their websites for more ideas.