This week it’s time to head down to Key West again for 11 days of fun in the sun. I know, I know. My northern friends are cursing me loudly, but even when I lived in the Great White North I flew all the way across this fair land to Key West on several occasions.
I first visited Key West in 1992. A bunch of us had performed at Sail Boston and figured that Boston was close enough to Key West to warrant a side trip there. That sounds a bit nuts, but we really wanted to have a little island time and flying from Boston to Key West beat flying all the way across the country from Seattle again.
It was a great trip. We had rented a house on Caroline Street and there, the seven of us holed up for five or so days, a few staggers from Duval. We were like a bunch of kids in a candy store.
In 2003 we flew down to Key West, this time to participate in our first Pirates in Paradise festival. This is a great reason to go to Key West, by the way, as it’s held between Thanksgiving and the first weekend of December… just as it’s starting to get cold in the north.
If you’ve never been to Key West, I really recommend that you go at least once. If you’re on a budget, don’t plan to go during Fantasy Fest, where parking alone can run you $50 a day. I would recommend the off season, which is right after Thanksgiving and goes through the winter months. April is also nice, which coincides with the Conch Republic Independence Days celebration.
The weather is still in the 70s during these times of the year, there are fewer tourists in town and you won’t have to wait forever for a seat for breakfast at Blue Heaven or one of the other legendary places to eat there.
When you get there, don’t be in a rush. Now one there is. While Key West is technically in the United States, the locals don’t think of it that way. They are on island time and the pace of life there is slower than on the mainland. If you try to be in a hurry all the time you’ll just end up having a crummy time. Part of the beauty of the keys is that everything is “soon come.” So kick back, have a margarita and take a deep breath. Enjoy the break from the frenetic pace of home.
That’s one of the reasons I love Key West so. It is as much a state of mind as it is a place to visit or live.
If you long to go to the places Jimmy Buffett wrote about, don’t get your hopes up. There are still places that are old Key West, but you have to look for them. They are often hidden behind the tacky tourist stores and endless t-shirt shops. Places like BO’s Fish Wagon, Captain Tony’s and the Key West Aquarium, are well worth the visit and give you a sense of what it used to be like before the cruise ships came to town.
Ah, the cruise ships. Every week, a half dozen ships dock, pouring forth wide-eyed tourists from their gangways and almost doubling the island’s population. If you’re there for a week, know that the boats don’t call every day. Ask the visitor’s bureau for the dates the cruise ships are in port so you don’t plan to watch a sunset at Mallory Square only to find you’re standing instead in the shadows of a mammoth cruise ship.
Getting to Key West is almost as much fun as being there. While many dread the drive down the keys, I love it. Even when I flew in from Seattle, I would book the air portion of the trip to Miami or Fort Lauderdale and drive the rest of the way. While it’s only 97.6 miles from Key Largo to Key West, don’t let Google Maps convince you that it only takes 2 1/2 hours to drive it. Perhaps in the dead of night, when there’s little traffic and the traffic lights are all blinking yellow, but in the daytime, forget about it. Chances are very good you will at some point end up behind a very slow moving truck or motor home that you just can’t get around. Passing opportunities are few and far between heading down the keys, unless you have a death wish.
My favorite time to drive down is at 2 a.m. from Miami. Just as you hit the keys, the sun is beginning to rise and the blackness of night gives way to the turquoise and blue waters of the Atlantic on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. There is nothing like it, especially if you’re from the north. You definitely know you’re not in Kansas anymore.
Even though I’ve been to the keys almost two dozen times by now, I have rarely seen anything of the keys between Key Largo and Key West. That’s because I rarely ever get to vacation down there. It’s always something that is taking me to Key West, and getting from Point A to Point B takes priority over sightseeing along the way.
In fact, I really haven’t even seen all the high points of Key West. I’ve still never been to Hemingway’s house or the East Martello Museum where the evil Robert doll resides.
Why is that I don’t seem to see much while I’m there? We’ll there’s really a good reason. Pirates in Paradise is a working vacation for me. My performance schedule is pretty packed from morning til night – there’s stage shows to do, tall tales to tell and people to walk off the end of a plank. A pirate’s work is never done, so free time is a bit on the rare side. We only have perhaps two days of free time when the schedule allows us to do the more touristy things.
Still, Key West is the bomb. I wish more of my friends got to go there. I think it’s a far better place to vacation than Hawaii, which I’ve been to three or four times. It can’t hold a candle to Tahiti true, but hey, if you’re one of those people who likes to vacation in the tropics and still like the comforts of home, Key West is a great choice.
I imagine that it will always be part of my annual travel routine. Ever changing, ever the same, Key West is one of those places that you could gladly call home, if you could only afford to live there. To my friends that do, I hate you all!
Out on the Treasure Coast, getting ready to go island in my favorite little corner of the world,
– Robb