Florida Keys

[Russ Pagels]

Hey, wife and I are looking to spend a week or two in the keys. Any suggestions to what key and where would be greatly appreciated. Not bringing boat, may do a little fishing, pool, hanging out in the sun, sightseeing, restaurants, hotels or condos, etc.
Thanks,
Russ

[ljmauricio]

Russ, our family traditionally spent the month of May in Islamorada. Great restaurants, Fishing, hanging out etc. Our favorite things are: World Wide Sportsman has great shopping for both clothing and fishing gear, plus Zane Gray Lounge with views, cigar bar and food. Loreli retaurant has music, food, and great sunsets. Morada Bay restaurant has good food, great sunsets, and beatiful surroundings. Pierre's restaurant is the upscale place to eat, expensive, but nice ambiance. Cheeca Lodge is a great place to stay. Expensive, but worth a visit. Nice dinning atmosphere and you don't have to stay there to use the restaurant and visit the grounds. Lazy Days restaurant, good food and reasonable prices. Bud and Marys marina to charter both offshore and back country. All I've mentioned are on the water.

Wherever you stay, the Keys are a great place for boaters like us. Enjoy!

[MarkS]

Russ send a PM to Buju. He lives in Key Largo and last time I went to the keys he turned me on to some great eats and a couple other tips.
My $.02

[ed c.]

Key west, hands down. Your wife will love it and so will you. Good luck

[Russ Pagels]

thanks, Guys still looking. some of those places are a bit expensive. Looking into renting a condo, we will see. thanks again Russ

[PeterPalmieri]

Have you looked into Cheeca lodge? I have never been there but I hear it's pretty nice....

[Bruce]

Cheeca lodge is nice. Been staying there every Feb for a week for years. I like the beach bungalows more than the main building rooms. Lots of activities.

Stayed at a bunch of resorts along the keys including one in Duck Key that was the talk. It was nasty. Cheeca is the only one that has lived up to its price and reputation for me.

I have rented rooms before which can be a hit or miss unless you have personal knowledge of it. Online pics are mostly figments.

Key West is fun to visit. Last time there wife and I rented a scooter and drove around all day and had a blast including sitting at lunch n a second floor and watching the gay club across the street enter and exit some real characters. Food and a show to speak. Sunset at the southern most point is a big attraction. Lots of tourist shopping in KW and Largo and along the way.

Restaurants are hit or miss and you should get either recommendations from previous customers or locals.

If you do any driving, watch your speed to the number. Po Po likes to collect revenue.

Don't forget Krispy Kreme donuts in Florida City on US 1. A must stop.

[DanielM]

Russ,

I've only been there a few times but I like the middle keys. I've stayed at Key Largo a couple times, Key Colony Beach, and tent camped at John Pennekamp state park and Bahia Honda State Park ( The last one was in the middle of July when the kids were little 20 years ago. That was the end of tent camping for my wife. We had tent camped quite a bit when we were dating and first married, but mid July in the heat, humidity, mosquitoes, with no wind took its toll. Hotels or RVs from then on.) I don't recommend camping out, but if you're hearty it's fun. ;^)

I would suggest renting a car and checking out some of the different areas. We're not too excited by Key West but we usually make at least one run down there to see the sun set in Mallory Square and spend some time on Duval street. One thing about driving in the keys, its more spread out then you think and it takes longer than you would expect to get around.

Here are a couple items that you might want to check out.

Bahia Honda State Park – Figure on a big part of a day or maybe a full day here depending on how much you like the beach and want to stay there. This is far and away the best beach in the Keys IMHO. I did a snorkel trip to the reefs from the state park when my kids were about 6-9 years old. That was 20 years ago but we liked it. Did it again recently and still enjoyed it. http://bahiahondapark.com/

Visit Robbie's in Islamorada and feed the tarpon -it is kind of neat. Robbie’s is at MM 77 (MM=mile marker? Everything is based on the mile marker in the keys) . The restaurant is the Hungry Tarpon. Not much of a restaurant, an open air Key’s kind of place. Breakfast was good when we went there. It’s a little hard to find, but no problem with GPS I would guess. Just off the highway under the bridge. http://www.hungrytarpon.com/

The big Bass Pro Shop in Islamorada. Just a big store but kind of neat for guy shopping. There’s plenty of gal shopping everywhere in the Keys.

We have done most of our diving out of Quiescence Diving in Key Largo.

We went this April and it was the first time we stayed in the middle keys. Key Colony Beach near Marathon. We stayed at this duplex and were happy with the house and the owners. http://www.vrbo.com/263196 I found it on VRBO and don't know anything other than what I found out on that web site, but like I said it worked out for us. We didn't take a boat but I liked being on the canal anyway. Keep in mind, it's just a house on a canal, not a resort, but a clean place to stay. We bought some groceries but wound up eating out most of the time anyway.

Best of Luck,

Danny

[jspiezio]

Russ- I have to third Bruce and Peter. Cheeca has always been nice, and plenty to do there.

[John Brownlee]

Cheeca is fabulous but big money. There are lots of good, affordable choices here in Islamorada. Here are my favorites:

Breezy Palms Resort — I've been staying here my whole life, my Dad started coming here to fish in 1950. It's the classic old Keys-style resort on the oceanside just north of Bud-N-Mary's marina: www.breezypalms.com

La Siesta — Just north of Breezy Palms and another classic: www.lasiestaresort.com

Kon Tiki — On the bay side just south of Worldwide Sportsman. Individual duplexes/condos with a good marina. Very nice: www.kontiki-resort.com

The Chesapeake — This is a big resort at Whale Harbor, with lots of rooming options from ordinary hotel rooms to oceanfront suites and individual one and two-bedroom cabins. Great marina: www.chesapeake-resort.com

[Joseph Fikentscher]

I spent a lot of time in Sugarloaf in the 70's. The flats fishing was fantastic. Never should have sold the property.

[Russ Pagels]

And the winner is, drum roll, Cheeca lodge. Not cheep but looks very nice. And once we are down there we can look at other places. thanks again to every one for there help, once again the brothers came through....Russ

[John Brownlee]

You can't go wrong with Cheeca.

[Bruce]

Russ,
We've chartered a few flats boats in years past and most local to the area will pick you up on Cheeca's dock. They also have a snorkel boat that gets booked quick. If your interested i'd inquire before you go down for reservation. Last year we waited till we got down and it was booked solid from a couple of trade shows. Snorkeled off the kayaks though.

Even though the place was a well known fishing lodge in the past as you'll see by the pictures hanging, they were pretty lax in recomending charters. Do that before you come down on your own. John, Buju or Kevin should be able to recommend something in your area of interest.

They have really good food right there at the lodge. 3 local higher end resturants recommended to us sucked. There is one place just south on the west side of road with a hugh beach area that host a lot of weddings at sunset because of the spectacular view. Drinks only, food was so so. Beautiful place to watch the sunset. Forget the name.

Also if you like to bike, about a mile or so south on the east side there is a neat coffee and pastry shop. It was bright yellow last year. Very good. You can get the bikes right at the valet desk office. Many people don't bother with the adult only pool by the spa thats hidden in the landscaping. I higher recommend it. It has cabanas at the pool. The place is great just to walk around and look at the landscaping.

[wmachovina]

Bruce, the place bayside used for wedding, read my daughter, is Morada Bay next to world Wide Sportsman. Attached is Pierre's,$$$' Lorelei is just north, bayside. There is a Spanish, not Cuban, Tapas bar further on down south a mile or so that while lacking in panache, had an interesting menu.anybody going down, call me at 772-240-646, we are down at founders park on our 38 about half of every month, Bill

[Buju]

Cheeca used to be a great fishing lodge... But nowadays it caters more to trendy European guests, corporate meetings, and old millionaires with trophy wives that go out with the Jamaican valets while hubby is out on the flats skiff. I've been a fly on the wall there many, many days, and have overheard some pretty eye opening things.
It is a nice place, and the staff does a helluva job. My BIL is the head sushi chef at Nikai, which is the in house sushi restaurant... But he's leaving there shortly.
My flats skiff that I've been rebuilding for what seems like the last two decades used to be owned by Carl Navaree, which was the last real owner of Cheeca before it became corporately owned. I believe it now gets sold to a new entity every year or so.
The wife will love the spa. Bruce is right on with the bike rentals, the breakfast/pastry joint is the Midway Cafe, which is just south of Islamarine (mm 80) where I've been doing all their glasswork and boat painting for the last 6 months or so. Recently left there to peruse my own buis once again.
Morada Bay is great- more for ambiance and cocktails than the food, but the food isn't too shabby by any means, actually had lunch there with my daughter today.
Pierre's is really good... Yes, very pricey, but damn good.
Kaiyo, eighhh I'd skip it.... A lot of hype to me.
Chef Michaels, very good
Green Turtle does a good job, breakfast/lunch/dinner- and Sandy Morets fly shop is cool.
Spanish Gardens is the tapas place Bill mentioned. Great place to share a bottle of wine and apps with the bride.
Ootray is new on the scene, I've only been once. They did a pretty good job. Sit outside though, the interior is awkward.
All of these places are within two miles of Cheeca... If you travel a bit north into the uptown islamorada/Tavernier area, check out Marker 88 for dinner, drinks, sunset, etc. they do a good job and the place has a great feel to it.
My go-to favorite restaurant in the area is Old Tavernier, which is just south of the Tavernier Creek bridge. they do a great job on dinner and cocktails and have a very loyal following for a good reason.

If you need any rec's on fishing guides, or whatever else, feel free to ask... Or shoot me a call 305-394-2842 (mark)

[Russ Pagels]

Mark, Bill, Bruce,John and every one else, again thanks for all your help. places to go and things to see...Russ

[wmachovina]

Mistyped phone no. 772-240-6146,y'all. Bill

[Mikey]

Russ,
Sorry to be late to this party, but Bride had major surgery two weeks ago and I just got her home yesterday.
We have a place in Key West that rents.
http://www.1800atlantic.com/keywestcond ... itc439.htm
Not sure whether you prefer motel route or home type, but if you like to score fresh fish and cook yourself this is the way. Great Olympic size heated pool, and Jacuzzi, tennis and close to charter boats. OF course everything is close in Key West.
As I sit here at the blunt end of the polar express coming this weekend I envy your trip. If you catch fish we want pictures!

[Russ Pagels]

Hey, Mickey I hope your wife is doing well. We have already made our reservations. and if we like the keys, we will slowly be working our way to your end in the coming years. I will keep you in mind if we decide to spend a couple of weeks in key west. thanks again Russ

[Bruce]

Russ,
Here's 3 pics from CL from last year to tide you over till you get down.

[Russ Pagels]

thanks Bruce, It will be a nice change from the coming winter in NC....Russ

[Russ Pagels]

Thanks to every one for the suggestions on where to stay in the Florida Keys. we spent two weeks at Cheeca Lodge, excellent could not have been better. the restaurants within the area were also excellent. Wife and I had a great time. Russ