Ahoy! We made it to Key West! We had a short day traveling from Marathon Key to Key West and spotted not one, but TWO sea turtles along the way. Don’t look for pictures, there are none. Those babies can move quickly so grabbing the camera is useless.

The water is the most beautiful shade of turquoise in the Keys and so clear that we’re able to see translucent jelly fish off our swim platform. Having the disco lights on them really brightens them up at night! Note:  By “disco lights” I am referring to the underwater lights beneath our swim platform. They came with the boat and they cycle through all the colors. They provide minutes of fun by watching the fish swim around as they change.

We are docked at Stock Island Marina, which is a top-notch, 5 stars, yippee-skippee-style marina. From staff, to amenities, we are being spoiled. Bobby’s Fish camp needs to step things up a bit-just saying.

Key West has much to see and most of it provides some great people watching. Lots of cruise ships, wedding parties, guys on fishing trips, even Loopers bring lots of different folks to the area. 

One of the first places we stumbled onto is West Martello Fort. This was once a civil war fort that was in ruins. It was taken over by the Key West Garden Club and is beautifully landscaped with trails, plants, flowers and orchids throughout.

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We’ve taken one day just to drive around the island in search of a good beach. So far we found three and two of the three were perfect for swimming. We spent a bit of the same day touring Ft. Zachary Taylor-pictures below. 

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Key West has lots of claims to fame. Ernest Hemingway’s house is here and open for tours. There’s a spot that claims to be the southernmost point and people line up to get a picture taken with the big marker there. Key lime is huge and delicious in everything including, but not limited to, Pina coladas, candy, juice, lotions and potions, and, of course, pie. There is a home that is called Harry Truman’s Little White House which I hope to explore before we leave.

If you’re a fan of chickens you’ll love Key West. They roam freely and the roosters do their cock-a-doodle-doin all day long. The locals treat them as we might treat squirrels. They don’t seem to be pesky and some of them are very colorful. 

Our first visitors, Rob and Colleen Eisenbarger, were able to spend the week of the 2nd through the 6th with us and we were thrilled to have them! They are always willing to adventure with us and we have vacationed to some great places with them in the past.

We took them to explore Duvall Street and Mallory Square. We lounged for a day on Smathers beach, and spent a few hours boating around Key West. They had been kind enough to bring down our new anchor from Ft. Lauderdale which Rob helped install.  Their last night here was spent eating some Italian food and taking in drag show–a first for all of us!

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One evening at the pool we met a trio who worked on the Bahama Star sailboat. It’s a charter boat and the crew had just dropped off their last customers and were enjoying a dip in the pool to relax. We struck up a conversation with them and got ourselves invited to dinner on their vessel! Nancy is from the Bahamas and she was able to pass along great information regarding where to stay and what to do while in the area. A fun evening was had by all!

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A couple of the best restaurants sit within a mile or so of the marina. Hogfish restaurant is one that we’ve frequented and El Sibboney is a Cuban restaurant where I had the BEST roasted chicken I’ve ever tasted. Blue Heaven is a huge local favorite in the downtown area where we had brunch right in the middle of the week because that’s what you do here! Tom is just thrilled to be able to eat great seafood every day. As I have mentioned before, I’m pretty sure that’s one of the main reasons we’re undertaking this journey—his love of good seafood.

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Our plan is to move up the coast a bit (maybe Key Largo) then over to the Bahamas for a week or three. First, however, the weather window has to open up. We’re expecting some heavy duty winds here over the next few days, so, for now, we are staying put at Stock Island. I think we can hack it here for awhile–wink, wink.

Look for some of our additional KW pictures on the “Other Adventures” page. Again, there’s so much to see here so get on down here if you can.