Getting to Key West via the Key West Express ferry
I had heard about the ferry from Fort Myers Beach, but had never taken it myself. We booked our departure for Saturday morning and return for Sunday evening. The trip each way took about 3.5 hours, and luckily it wasn't too choppy because neither Sam nor I feel great when aboard boats. The round trip ferry cost $140 each (a small discount was due to booking more than 4 days in advance). Our Saturday 8:00am departure was met with no delays, some COVID-19 precautions, and an overall pretty quiet ride to the downtown area of Key West.
Day 1 in Key West
Once we arrived, we went straight for food at Date & Thyme Organic Cafe and Market, a small eatery that specializes in healthy wraps and juices. We each got a juice and decided to split a hummus wrap, which was surprisingly delicious. This helped our energy levels tremendously as we moved on to our next stop, the Key West Cemetery.
Now I bet you're wondering why we went to a cemetery on vacation. Well, I had read it was something neat to do in several blogs prior to our trip and I also hadn't gone the last time I was in the area. Supposedly there are several funny sayings on many of the tombstones, but unfortunately we found none. I would highly recommend joining one of the tours that are given because they will be able to easily point out where the quirky tombstones are. Perhaps next time for us!
The last time I was in Key West I remember there being a tremendously long line to get into the Ernest Hemingway house. This time around, most likely because of reduced visitors to Key West due to COVID-19, we walked straight up and went right in. I'm sure there is a restriction on number of visitors at a time, but we didn't have to deal with that because there were so few people. Anyway, we began to explore the outdoor garden on our own before taking a coordinated tour to learn a bit more. Our guide was great and spewed out a number of different facts about Ernest Hemingway's many wives, one of whom decided to build the largest privately owned pool to spite him, and also the 50+ cats on the premises, all of which have 6 toes.
We decided to go check in early to our hotel, The Garden House, because our backpack was quite heavy considering we were only there for one night. After an initial failed attempt at reaching the front desk by phone, we received a call back from our new friend Sammy Miami. That's what he called himself and we could tell he was a fun guy. He got us upgraded to a King room (even though we booked the cheapest room called the "Tiny Queen") and showed us around the small but comfortable Garden House. We enjoyed our very brief stay here and found the bed exceedingly comfortable and our host very helpful.
The rest of our first day was spent enjoying beers at Willie T's while listening to live music, and dinner at Blue Heaven. This restaurant had a wonderful outdoor vibe and the food was okay. I wouldn't say the food was amazing, but the atmosphere definitely made up for it. Sam said the Key Lime pie was stellar.
Day 2 in Key West
The next day we enjoyed a casual breakfast of homemade waffles and fruit made by our friend Sammy Miami. This energized us for several more trips up and down Duval Street throughout the day. The first of these trips took us all the way to the opposite end of Duval to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. Although a bit pricey, it was an awesome indoor activity that allowed us to see butterflies and birds up close and personal. We took many pictures and enjoyed the stroll through the indoor butterfly sanctuary.
Next up on our list was second breakfast at Glazed Donuts. After a bit of a wait and no indoor dining due to COVID-19, we left with 3 donuts and a coffee in hand. We decided to walk to Truman Waterfront Park to enjoy our hobbit meal of second breakfast with a waterfront view. One would hope that Glazed Donut would master the donut that is their namesake, and they 100% do. It was delicious and in hindsight we would only have gotten the glazed had we known. Instead our second and third donuts were of some fancy variety that I won't even mention because there's simply no other option than glazed when ordering at Glazed Donut.
We had several hours to kill until our 6pm ferry departure, so we decided to continue our walking journey to the southernmost point in the US and then on to US1 mile marker 0. This is where the US roadway system begins or ends depending on how you look at it. It's a simple sign that has now attracted two souvenir shops to accompany it. We skipped those, don't worry.
Sam had never been to Key West so we had to go to Sloppy Joe's. It was early afternoon so we avoided the crowds that I'm sure would gather at nighttime. The draft winner was Sloppy Joe's very own ale.
Our second to last meal of the trip was at Garbo's Grill. It's a food truck that is parked within the lot of another restaurant/bar. The reviews online were excellent and the tacos we got were pretty good. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the hype for us. But it was an extremely pleasant place to relax with some live music, drinks and snacks.
After several more ups and downs of Duval Street, we decided to get a cheesesteak at Mr. Z's. While the service was pretty fast, the cheesesteak just didn't cut it. It was severely understuffed. Luckily this kept us full the remainder of our journey in Key West back to Fort Myers Beach on the ferry.
After a long day of walking and exploring we felt like the ferry ride couldn't have been any slower. It also didn't help that there were some very loud people who had been clearly drinking throughout the day. Luckily we got a booth and didn't have to be near anyone. We arrived about 9:30pm to our final port and were met by my parents who were waiting for us right at the exit.
Overall this trip was extremely easy on the ferry. There was no traffic and you knew exactly when you'd be getting there and leaving in order to plan your activities. We felt that two days was plenty of time to go exploring and see everything we wanted to see in Key West and would highly recommend a trip for anyone considering it!
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