4-days at Key West

[bambam]

Our 4-days on Key West: we started out from Hollywood Beach, Fl. in the S.S. Alamo, about 8:30am, and promptly ran into major Miami traffic, took us 90 mins to go about 45 miles, until we got to Route 1, Mile marker 122.

Found a Dennys there for breakfast, then out to the Keys. We stopped at a few places along the way for some photo ops, but nothing really jumped out. About noonish, we hit “Bahia Honda State Park” which prides itself for being the #1 beach in America in 1992. It must have been really nice….back in 1992……, when entering the park, you come to a dead-end and can turn right or left. If you turn right, you can go to 2-beach areas serviced by a small marina and store. Not many folks here, so we turned back and went to the other end where there were more folks, there were lots of shells on the beach, some seaweed, but the beach itself wasn’t ten-yards deep and almost everyone was in chairs (not much sand). The water was a beautiful turquoise green and very warm. I got the snorkel gear out, went out for a while, and saw only conch shells, almost no marine life.

We stayed there a little over 2 hours and left for Big Pine Key, home of the mini-deers. Drove down one of the side roads and saw one standing next to the road, it was really cute. Big warning here about watching the speed limit.

Got to Key West about 3:30ish and checked into Courtney’s Place, a small B & B smack dab in the middle of Key West Conch District (2 blocks from Duval Street), making for easy walks to Duval Street/Mallory Square/Southern Most Point. We left for Mallory Square around 5:00, stopped by some of the shops on Duval Street – really a tourist trap – but saw some interesting art shops and paintings. We got to Mallory Square right at 6:00, start of the Sunset Celebration, saw all the vendors and comedians, jugglers, escape artists, unicycle riders, etc. Some were really good, others were just hawking for money. We decided to eat at Bistro at Mallory, it was pricey, but we got to watch the sunset and enjoy some of the entertainment as well.

We woke up Thursday, had a simple breakfast at Courtney’s, and took off for Smathers Beach (Travel Channels’ #5 in Florida). A nice sandy beach, jet skis, parasailing, volleyball, etc are all there. The water was also a beautiful turquoise green, but the edge of the beach/water was lined with seaweed, not a pretty entrance into the water. I went snorkeling near the southern most point of the beach, saw some pretty fish (no many) and coral rocks, then I ran into some taller grasses and bam, schools of medium size fish (8-15 inches) that pretty much ignored me. While taking pictures, I ran into 2-barracudas, took their picture and quickly went my own way, ahuh. We left Smathers at 2:00ish, took a nap, and had dinner at Mangoes on Duval Street. Easily our best meal at KW, great service, I had their Filet Mignon, Pebbles had their version of Mahi-Mahi. For dessert, we tried their Key Lime Pie (good, but nothing spectacular) and a piece of their banana/butterfinger cheesecake – now that was worth the trip!!!

On Friday, we decided to check out the scooter/moped deals and found Moped Hospital a block away from Courtneys. Folks, if you are going to stay in KW for any length of time, mopeds are the way to go. We were very timid and intimidated at first, but got confidence as the day went on, we used the mopeds to go to Ft. Taylor Beach ($3.50 per person), and IMHO, Ft. Taylor is WAY better than Smathers. Taylor has 4 different little cove areas for swimming/snorkeling, the beach is a sand/coral/shell mix that made for …firm ground, so we rented a chair from the beach-house/refreshment stand for $6 a day plus a $5 deposit. The snorkeling was great, each cove area offered different scenes (one had rock formations with some colorful fish and crabby shrimp, another had very large (2-3 foot fish, schools of ‘em), another had some more colorful fish, and a big barracuda hanging in the wings).

Friday night we ate at Jimmy Buffets, I had a great rack of ribs ($17) and Pebbles had a fish sandwich that she sent back and got a Buffet Cheesburger in Paradise instead (she said the fish was too fishy and didn’t taste right). Nice meal, nice atmosphere.

Saturday, we did Ft. Taylor Beach again (10-1), ate lunch at Sloppy Joes (great service, great atmosphere, really good sloppy joe sandwiches) rode our scooters over to the Southernmost point, then to Smathers again (noticeable low attendance at Smathers @ 3:30) and turned the scooters back in. BTW, we were only charged for one day (24 hour) rental ($40) which worked out to $20 per day, a really good deal

Both Smathers and Ft. Zachary Taylor Beach were civil, almost no nudity/thongs or other extra activities, we both felt totally at ease (we are 51 and 56 ). On Saturday, a couple of 20-somethings did take their tops off, but there was no other noticeable…non-family…activities. Plenty of families and kids at both beaches. A final note – there were at least twice as many people at Ft. Taylor than at Smathers – probably because of the seaweed….

Saturday night, we found a little jewelry store that sold the Key West Bracelet for 25% less that “Little Switzerland”, and the owner suggested that we go to Awful Arthurs for a seafood dinner – and Pebbles had fried oysters that she went gaga over. I had some really good (and big) fried shrimp, and we walked out for less than $40. If you find Mangoes on Duval Street, Awful Arthurs is right down the little side street next to Mangoes. Outdoors eating, but the price is right…

We left Sunday morning for Ft. Lauderdale Airport, it took us 3 ½ hours to drive there following the posted speed limits all the way.

Final thoughts: There was not nearly the gay life exposure we were prepared to see, everyone was very respectful, peaceful, and very few were…drunk….. The street merchants/vendors in Mallory Square were nice to see, but once was enough. When we went back on Saturday night, you could see the same “fake” moves, as part of the show… we didn’t see the dog/cat/mouse act – he wasn’t there either night. It took a while, but we found Kinos in a little shopping center across the street from Mallory Square, nice place, cheap sandals, mostly for ladies (it was funny to see all the ladies inside looking the sandals over while all the guys were outside moaning and groaning…) and Hot, by golly it was hot there, just walking at 10:00 at night made us sweat profusely… [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

One of the best 4-day vacations we’ve ever had (next to Hawaii). Thanks Clay for the local info!!

BAMnJAM
Carnival Imagingation '96
RCC Majesty '98
Sun Princess '00
NCL Star '04

Cruisin's not just an adventure, it's an Attitude!!
Proud member (x2) of the PPS - yeah!!

[mokest]

Hoping to go to Elizabeth Tayor Beach with mom in her 80's - who has no interest in snorkeling, etc. - She just likes a nice place to swim. Is Liz Taylor it? If not, can you suggest a beach?
Thanks!

[bambam]

Here's what I saw while there in May:

The entrance to Ft. Taylor is a block or so off of Whitehead, and once you pay your entrance fee ($3.50pp or $6 percar), you have another 1/2 mile or so before you get to the beach. At the entrance to the beach is a medium-sized house that has bathrooms and changing areas, plus a concession stand where you can rent chairs for $7 plus a refundable $5 security deposit. There are several coves in the Ft. Taylor beach, with fairly calm water in the cove areas. The beach seems to be primarily made of sand AND crushed shells, so it is a little rough for lying on the beach with just a blanket. the entrance way to the water is bordered by rougher shells, but some entrance points were "softer" than others. This beach seemed to be more of a relaxing, get some sun, play in the water type beach.

Smathers Beach is located on the opposite side of KW (from Mallory Square) heading near the airport. It is open to the public, no entrance fee, and the sand is definitely softer. There is on-street metered parking, or across the street, there is some parking under shade trees - but no meters (first come...). There are lots of activities including beach volleyball and parasailing and jet skis nearby - a much more active beach, at least two or three times bigger (longer) than Ft. Taylor, and it has a bathroom house at the south end. Food and drinks can be purchased at the on-street vendors, as well as beach chairs could be rented (one place was $10 a chair). Our only problem with Smathers was the entrance to the water was lined, about a foot deep, with seaweed, that you had to step-over to get in. It wasn't nasty, just wasn't what we expected from Travel Channel's #5 beach in Florida.

The sand is definitely better at Smathers, the relaxation and atmosphere was better at Ft. Taylor. We are both over 50, the first day, we hit Smathers, the second day, we tried Ft. Taylor, the third day, we went back to Ft. Taylor, if that is any indication as to which beach we were more comfortable with. :D

Hope this helps...

[JMS920]

We spent 12 days in Key West in Feb.. We loved Smathers (for some reason FZT was closed while we were there. ) The water wasn't too warm so we really didn't go in just enjoyed the beach itself, it was only in the 70's most days. We also had a lot of seaweed. I thought maybe it was seasonal....being winter months, but it seems it's not. Such a shame for such a beautiful beach. I would definately not want to encounter that when I wanted to go in the water. We're going back again in Feb. of 05 hopefully FZT beach will be open this time.