Road Trip Down The Florida Keys

Today we did a road trip down the Florida Keys.

Where we are staying is at the entrance to the keys so we thought we would pack up and maybe stay at Key West for the night.

I did look up hotel prices before we left and most of them are over $200 but we thought that maybe there might be a guest house or B & B that might be a little less.

It was a 3 hours drive to Key West but as with most of our trips, it took us most of the day.

We stopped at marinas and flea markets and walked around.

If there was a place that looked like a beach we stopped and had a look.

In all of the 44 Keys that you drive through, there doesn’t really seem to be a sandy beach as we know it.

The Keys are made up of coral and is the only living coral reef in America (and the world’s third longest barrier reef).

Which means the Keys are not a beach destination.

There appears to be more of a tourist and party atmosphere here.

And of course… there are pelicans.

We stopped at Robbie’s Place where they fed the tarpon fish and the pelicans were in there like a dirty shirt.

It appears that they not only like the bait being fed the tarpon’s but they also liked the tarpons themselves.

They had people there with long poles constantly shooing the pelicans away.

The pelicans were trying to balance on a wire and were sitting on anything they could find like boats, motors, pylons and even the tiki bar.

I was so close that when the pelican was standing up I couldn’t fit it in the frame of my camera.

+ +

But it was great for close up shots.

Along the way, Rob spotted a green iguana. Well, actually he almost ran over it but saw it in time as it crawled along the road.

It was a beautiful emerald green and sparkled in the sunshine.

They are considered an invasive species here in Florida but as a guest to this state, it was really exotic to see.

Finally making it to Key West and masses of people. You would have thought we had arrived at Disney World.

Turns out it is high season for the Keys and yes… you guessed it. The cheapest room we could find was $280.

Needless to say, we drove around a bit, got lost for a while but as it’s a point you really can’t stay lost for long and headed back down the Keys to our starting point.

Along the way, we stopped for dinner at the Sunset Bar and Grill which has the longest-running beach party in the Keys.

And it was full!

There is a swimming pool in the middle of the venue, a big screen where I’m sure they show movies or sports over to one side and we ended up in the games area as that is where the only seats were left.

Had some appetizers for dinner, watched the sunset which Rob missed as he was busy flirting with the waitress 🙂 and headed for home.

It was raining off and on all with a good wind and we stopped at a little beach to get out and walk around.

A couple of fellows showed up with two large bags and we proceeded to watch them set everything up and were out kiteboarding in about 10 minutes.

I asked them how fast they went and they said usually around 30 mph but can get up to 50 or 60 mph in a good wind, and today was a good wind.

They were up and off and almost out of sight within minutes. Awesome!

Found a new hotel to stay at tonight and it’s lovely and only $87, just before you get onto the Keys.

We have a room right outside the pool and tomorrow are heading for the Flamingo Visitor Center which apparently doesn’t have any flamingos.