Key West and doing the Duval Crawl
Written: Jul 01 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Bars, fishing, lot's of action
Cons: Not many sandy beaches
The Bottom Line: If you are into booze, fishing, relaxing, and just having fun . . Key West is for you.
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| mauitiki's Full Review: The Keys and Key West |
Memoir's from our 2nd trip to Key West June 12-16, 2004
Can anyone out there get a good nights sleep before a "I can't wait to get there" vacation? I know I can't. Add to that a slight fear of flying and not because of 9/11. Anyway we had a 6:04am flight on Jet Blue, NY JFK to Ft.Lauderdale. First time flying Jet Blue. With not much sleep and catching a cab at 4:30am to the airport had me kind of loopy. Tired but really looking forward to those little TV's in each and every seat. For those of you who can grab a chance to fly Jet Blue "DO IT". Next to first class, this was the best flight (coming and going) that we ever had. Even though I was tired, that little TV kept me intrigued even though most of the 31 channels at 6:30 in the morning had infomercials on them. The Jet Blue channel actually had a map of where we were at the time, altitude, and air speed. Really cool. Before I knew it we were landing in Ft.Lauderdale.
Landed 15 minutes ahead of schedule (thanks Jet Blue) and since all we brought was wheeled carry-on luggage, right off to Alamo for the rental car. Sales person pushing the convertible on us. This is June in Florida and it's HOT with a capital H. The only thing I want is a mid size (that was paid for) with kicking AC and maybe a CD player which is exactly what we got. On the road by 9:15am and off to Key West. No Traffic the whole way and we did not get lost.
We made only 2 very quick stops the whole way. The first was in Key Largo to fill up the portable cooler we brought with us. The second was to Holiday Isle to see what this area looked like. I was tempted to have a Rumrunner at the World Famous Tiki Bar but decided I would hold off the first vacation drink for Key West. This area looked ok. A friend of mine stayed here years ago and had a great time. We almost booked here but glad we were going to Key West instead. Driving through the Florida Keys is so worth it. I almost forgot how beautiful that blue blue blue water is on both sides. So many times we were tempted to just pull over and take a dip, but instead just kept on driving.
Made it to the Hyatt Resort & Marina at 2pm. Lucky for us our room was ready and add to that we were upgraded! My whole review on the Hyatt Resort & Marina can be found on Epinions.com for those who are interested.
http://www.epinions.com/content_144750579332
One of the first things I wanted to do was take a dip in the pool. The second was to check out a place that I heard about from a key west message board called Schooner Wharf. I now have a favorite bar in Key West. I loved this place. First off it was a easy walk from our hotel, second the music here is great, third their signature Mahi Mahi Fish sandwich is great, third my husband like the cigar's from the guy who has a little stand there, forth it's right on the docks, fifth the drinks are good, sixth I just love the whole atmosphere about the place. Seventh . . . well you get the picture. When we first got here we ended up having a couple of drinks and then taking the walk up Duval or should I say the Duval Crawl? We just felt like hitting a few places we remembered from our first trip 10 years ago. Since this was the last night of Pride Week in Key West, and the parade was due to start 8:30pm, we just decided to Duval Crawl a little and then get back to our room. Actually by the time the parade started we were sitting in Hogs Breath Saloon. The rest of my report is now just going to be broken down on places we went to and other excursions:
BARS / FOOD:
Fat Tuesdays - loved this place 10 years ago but just was not my style anymore. Came, saw, and after 1 frozen drink left. I'm not knocking this place. The MANY frozen drink concoctions are enough to satisfy anyone. I think I was just too darn sweaty and sticky to enjoy myself even with my frozen "Pain in the A.." slurpee. Hubby tried a drink called "Swampwater" which had something called 190 octane in it. He liked it.
Sloppy Joes - have to stop in this place. It's a landmark. Great band playing there the night we did.
Hogs Breath Saloon - this was my husbands favorite bar. Went here often. Had dinner here which was also good.
Schooner Wharf - enough said above. This was my favorite bar and eatery. In fact we had lunch and dinner here as well. As mentioned there is a Mahi Mahi Fish sandwich (I had mine blackened) with mango hot sauce on the side that I loved. I must be nuts but the 3 times I ate here that's all I ever had. The music was always good both afternoons and evenings. I enjoyed the music of Michael McCloud one afternoon. I'm sorry I did not buy his CD. Just may buy one now off of his website.
Kelly's Caribbean Bar & Grill - hubby found this place while looking through one of those tourist book guides. It mentioned happy hour so we decided to try it. I'm sure happy we did. They have a Super Margarita (Pint size glass) for $2.50 which was awesome. First time I ever tried a non-frozen Margarita and I like it better. Hubby tried their Wheat Ale which he said was good but could have been a bit colder. He then switched to tasty Super Margarita instead. They also have a special on Chicken Wings which were good. I also tried their coconut shrimp with pineapple dipping sauce which was very good as well. I'm sorry we did not go to dinner here however we are more the late lunch type.
Conch Republic Seafood Company - had one of our late lunches here and guess what I had? Fresh Catch fish sandwich of the day blackened which was not as good as Schooner Wharf. The place is huge, right on the Historical Marina Walk, and there is nightly entertainment.
Ricky's Blue Heaven - I am so happy we tried this place upon reading recommendations from the internet. We went here for breakfast and loved it. Great outdoor atmosphere with chickens and roosters running around. I had Shrimp Eggs Benedict with lime hollandaise sauce which was delicious.
There was another place we got take out food from to just bring back to the room along the Historical Marina Walk. I cannot remember the name of this place (maybe Good Food to Go?) And what did I get? You got it, FISH, and it was yummy.
SIGHTSEEING/EXCURSIONS:
Sunset Sail - aboard the Hyatt's sailboat "Floridays". I think that was the name of it. Very nice time. Free Beer, Wine, Champagne. They even put on a little drama show with one of the Sunset Sail Schooner Ships pretending to fire a canon at us. The sunset that night was not perfect. In fact the captain started heading back when all of the sudden the sun just broke through the clouds really low in the horizon. He immediately turned the sailboat around so we all could get good photo's. That was a nice touch.
Snorkeling Trip - This was one excursion I was looking forward to the most. We even lugged our own mask, snorkel, and fins in our carry-on's. 10 years ago we took our very first snorkel trip in Key West aboard " THE FURY ". It was what got us hooked on snorkeling and buying our own equipment rather then using the stuff on the boat. We have snorkeled many places since then and always said the reef " The Fury" took us to in Key West was the BEST. On that trip 10 years ago we only had about 30 people.
So the second day of this recent trip, we book a morning snorkel trip once again on "The Fury". I just didn't do my homework prior to booking this. And even if I did, some things were beyond my control. The new bigger "Fury" catamarans they now have equal more people. They had 2 catamarans and what I did not know is that they do BIG business with the cruise lines that dock there. When we got there we were told to wait until 8:30am to board. Meanwhile 90 other cruise shippers are boarding the boat that we were told we would be on. We thought something was wrong but it wasn't. Cruise people on first then load the local Key West tourists meaning us. Needless to say there was no seats left or standing room along the rail for us. I had to sit uncomfortably on the hard floor in the center of the boat (no trampolines anymore). But whatever, they had Jimmy Buffett playing and the main point is getting to the reef which before I knew it, we were there. Seemed longer to get to the reef the last time. Well lucky me, since I'm sitting right in the middle where the latter goes down into the water equals me getting off this crowded ship first. Yeahhhhh. I head down the water, swim out 90 yards to where my beautiful reef should be and I see nothing special. Yes, there was a reef. and yes there were SOME if not a few fish down there but where are the colors? Nothing seemed like the first trip 10 years ago. I only saw some yellow stripe fish, a school of some blue looking fish and a couple of barracuda . . woop-dee-doo. After 30 minutes I gave up and headed back to the BIG catamaran still knowing I have 30 minutes left of this snorkeling adventure. Out of the water and right away I am offered beer, wine, or soda. Given it's 10am I opt for the soda. Hubby comes out 10 minutes later and gets a beer. This reef was not what he expected as well although he saw a large Tarpon fish. By the way, if you want to see large & huge Tarpon fish, just take the Historical Marina Walk and stop by the table where they clean fish. If there is a person cleaning fish, heads and tails are usually thrown into the water and the Tarpon literally jump out of the water to get a bite to eat. All this right up close while you are standing on the dock.
So 20 minutes later the crew is calling everyone else back to the catamaran. Now comes the crews fun part . . . counting everyone to make sure we have not forgotten anyone out at the reef. And counting the crew did . . . over, and over, and over, and over, until all 4 crew members counted 92 instead of 91. 20 minutes of counting and of course we could not move. Now this is a good thing. I'm not in anyway knocking this. Just feel there was tooooooooo many people. Regarding the reef they took us to, I knew that there is a choice of 3 different reefs that THE FURY goes to and it's the choice of the captain on which he goes to that day. Obviously it was not the one we saw before which in fact is further away. Only wish I remembered the name of that beautiful reef.
Wave Runners - we rented wave runners right at the dock at the Hyatt Resort & Marina for 1 hour. Pricy at $100 each runner, but so worth every penny. Both my husband & I are not novice to wave runners and were very happy that we did not have to stay in any pre-set course. There is a little island (I think Sunset Key) that they ask you ride out to the other side of the island. From there just rip away . . go anywhere you want as long as you stay on the other side of the island. We had a blast!
Hemingway House - on my first trip to Key West I never got to see this famous house. This trip I made sure that I did. The grounds are beautiful and everywhere you turn there is a cat. Being a cat lover that I am, I found this quite impressive and I see that they are fed high quality food as well. I almost wished I was a cat living on these beautiful grounds. We did not take the guided tour. Just walked around ourselves. The house is beautiful in a Hemingway way . . . I could live there very easily.
Mallory Square - what's a trip to Key West without going to Mallory square for sunset celebration. Street performers and vendors everywhere. I was on a mission. To see the CAT MAN show that I missed on my first trip. And of course the day we picked to go the CAT MAN was not performing. There was actually a homeless guy right by where CAT MAN usually performs doing some tricks with his feral cats. Kind of put on his own show and he did get a small crowd. We ended up going again the next night and did see the original CAT MAN show which was very good. Wouldn't you know it, CAT MAN picks me to help him in one of his tricks. I loved the show and even got a autograph from him addressed to my cat Tiki. My cat could care less about the autograph when we got home. If your a cat lover . . this show is a must.
Well that that just about cover's my 5 day adventure in Key West. We ended up driving back and staying another 3 days right outside of Ft.Lauderdale at the Embassy Suites in Deerfield Beach but that's for another review.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
mauitiki
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Location: Long Island, NY
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 5 members
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