Hearing/reading so much about Key West in the past year made us want to test its waters. And so we did this summer. Clubbing the trip with Oh! My-ami en-route Everglades, we chalked out a major share of our trip for this country’s Rock Bottom. Yes, Key West is the southernmost part of the Continental United States, hence the rock bottom. And I got more excited when I knew about this.
Our meditation pose, one of the keepsakes at Higgs Beach, Key West
We got not-very-enthusiastic comments from people when they heard about what time of the year we were visiting South Florida. We had our reasoning. That was the spare time I had in between semesters and he had his compensatory offs that could otherwise have gone unused. You know, making hay while the sun is shining. Besides, the weather app was by our side. And it did not let us down. It predicted a pleasant 75 degrees and it was right when we got there. So a tip: Trust the app. Trust your smartphone for reasons more than one.
Adventure seekers that we are, water sports topped our to-do list. Tossing between Miami or Key West to do the sports, we chose Key West just for the sake of clearer, bluer water and still untouched beaches. And glad we did. We ended up booking a Sebago water sports package that is an entire day of activity with food and drinks. Now getting snorkeling, para sailing, kayaking, jet skiing, all in one deal is one to grab it before it’s gone. And that too in the middle of Atlantic Ocean, sure was enticing. Para Sailing was our first experience and the sail operator made sure it was a memorable one – for the initial ten seconds, he just had us throwing in the water and giving us jerks from the height that if all strings let loose, it would have been a dive of a lifetime. Oh! And the super swimmers in our group out there did have a ball. Suggestion: To get the maximum of any island, don’t just know swimming but know it very well.
Oh! My-ami
You know I just realized, adventure bit of our trip was on Day 3 out of our four-day trip, I jumped straight to the most fun part. Okay, coming back to Day 1 and Miami. Miami is everything a-beach-bum-in-the-day and a-party-owl-in-the-night has to ask for. Pretty straightforward, that was. And we did exactly that. We surrendered ourselves to the sun and sand of South Beach besides treating our eyes with candies. After looking at Yelp for lunch options in SoBe, we came across Maoz, a vegetarian falafel shop and we couldn’t resist checking it out for obvious reasons. Their falafel sandwich is tasty but the worth mentioning was their mushroom lentil soup, soup of the day. Strolling across the streets, appreciating the quaint street art and artifacts, we headed towards the World Erotic Art Museum. It was interesting to see artists’ imagination run really really wild. Well, I would not say much about this, what we saw there should stay there only. Right?
In the evening, we headed out to Espanola Way where a slew of restaurants wait for you. The craving for sugar after the good soak in the sun had me at Milani Gelateria, interesting little café with artworks and an ice cream wheel. Dinner was had at Oh! Mexico, that served us delicious guacamole straight from the lava rock. What after that? It was time to shake a leg. We got party dressed up and booked tickets for Cameo, one of the very happening clubs in the city. And of course, it did not disappoint us AT ALL. Next morning, we did the touristy downtown Miami and then to leave for Key West via Everglades National Park.
Adventure seekers that we are, water sports topped our to-do list. Tossing between Miami or Key West to do the sports, we chose Key West just for the sake of clearer, bluer water and still untouched beaches. And glad we did. We ended up booking a Sebago water sports package that is an entire day of activity with food and drinks. Now getting snorkeling, para sailing, kayaking, jet skiing, all in one deal is one to grab it before it’s gone. And that too in the middle of Atlantic Ocean, sure was enticing. Para Sailing was our first experience and the sail operator made sure it was a memorable one – for the initial ten seconds, he just had us throwing in the water and giving us jerks from the height that if all strings let loose, it would have been a dive of a lifetime. Oh! And the super swimmers in our group out there did have a ball. Suggestion: To get the maximum of any island, don’t just know swimming but know it very well.
Oh! My-ami
You know I just realized, adventure bit of our trip was on Day 3 out of our four-day trip, I jumped straight to the most fun part. Okay, coming back to Day 1 and Miami. Miami is everything a-beach-bum-in-the-day and a-party-owl-in-the-night has to ask for. Pretty straightforward, that was. And we did exactly that. We surrendered ourselves to the sun and sand of South Beach besides treating our eyes with candies. After looking at Yelp for lunch options in SoBe, we came across Maoz, a vegetarian falafel shop and we couldn’t resist checking it out for obvious reasons. Their falafel sandwich is tasty but the worth mentioning was their mushroom lentil soup, soup of the day. Strolling across the streets, appreciating the quaint street art and artifacts, we headed towards the World Erotic Art Museum. It was interesting to see artists’ imagination run really really wild. Well, I would not say much about this, what we saw there should stay there only. Right?
In the evening, we headed out to Espanola Way where a slew of restaurants wait for you. The craving for sugar after the good soak in the sun had me at Milani Gelateria, interesting little café with artworks and an ice cream wheel. Dinner was had at Oh! Mexico, that served us delicious guacamole straight from the lava rock. What after that? It was time to shake a leg. We got party dressed up and booked tickets for Cameo, one of the very happening clubs in the city. And of course, it did not disappoint us AT ALL. Next morning, we did the touristy downtown Miami and then to leave for Key West via Everglades National Park.
Lily, the alligator ready to pounce on our airboat Date with the Gator
We booked ourselves to the Gator Park airboat tour at Everglades just for the sake of watching the alligator up, close and personal. And when we actually did, it was an experience to behold. Lily, the alligator kept on coming towards our boat as the guide kept calling her. Lily stopped at a distance and stared at us. The frightened me got a photo with her too, just for a memory, you know. Besides this extremely value for money sight, the way the guide blew the boat at very high speeds in the midst of woods was enjoyable too. An alligator wrestling session and a photo op with the baby alligator followed this airboat tour. Yeah, we did that too. The slimy baby was pretty innocent and camera friendly. We left the place with collecting a souvenir – gator tooth. I don’t know what we intend to do with that, but got it home still. On the way, we had quick lunch with whatever place Yelp suggested us nearby. That was a pizza place called Son of a Pizza. And don’t get me talking about the food – It was as you could interpret from the name of the restaurant itself.
We booked ourselves to the Gator Park airboat tour at Everglades just for the sake of watching the alligator up, close and personal. And when we actually did, it was an experience to behold. Lily, the alligator kept on coming towards our boat as the guide kept calling her. Lily stopped at a distance and stared at us. The frightened me got a photo with her too, just for a memory, you know. Besides this extremely value for money sight, the way the guide blew the boat at very high speeds in the midst of woods was enjoyable too. An alligator wrestling session and a photo op with the baby alligator followed this airboat tour. Yeah, we did that too. The slimy baby was pretty innocent and camera friendly. We left the place with collecting a souvenir – gator tooth. I don’t know what we intend to do with that, but got it home still. On the way, we had quick lunch with whatever place Yelp suggested us nearby. That was a pizza place called Son of a Pizza. And don’t get me talking about the food – It was as you could interpret from the name of the restaurant itself.
Watching the sun go down at Honda Bahia Key Best of Key West
And then the most awaited part of our trip commenced. Key West. I remember the time when we were looking at the car rentals before the trip and he asked, “SUV or a convertible?” “Convertible, hands down,” I prompted, after staring at the route from Miami to Key West on Google Maps again and again. It looked gorgeous and the more I zoomed in, it just got better. I was allured by the feeling of enjoying the panoramic beauty with the car top down. And it was, every mile of it. The drive was therapeutic coupled with the perfect weather. We took a couple of halts at the other little keys. They have the cutest names ever – Big Torch Key, Sugarloaf Key, Grassy Key, Little Duck Key, to name a few. Pull over to a spot and a beach awaits you, yes, they were that accessible. Our long stopover was at the Bahia Honda Key to watch the sunset from the old broken Bahia Honda Bridge. Watching the sun go down behind the palm trees made me go trigger-happy.
Just around the time of our dinner, we reached Key West. Tired after driving almost the entire day, we still didn’t want to call it a day. We threw our bags in the hotel room and walked towards Duval Street – the liveliest street of this Key. It may seem laidback with the architecture or accents/behavior of people, but the city doesn’t sleep either. At 11 in the night, it was bustling with people and Sloppy Joe’s where we went to catch a grub, was as we heard, loaded with people and conversations.
Next day was all about adventure and activity. Leaving the hotel early to make it up to the catamaran, we walked to the deck just so that we soak in the morning feel of the city. Exploring the city on a bike or a rented scooter made the riders look cool and the city relaxed moving at its own slow pace. Talking about the adventure bit, I made sure I spilled it out in the first few paragraphs above. I was super excited, after all.
So, after doing that, we were all by ourselves and decided to hit Duval Street with a bang. We started with shop hopping for some souvenirs shopping. But what caught our eye were the art galleries and local designer boutiques. We spent a lot of time appreciating art and a few curators got us interested too. For dinner, we stopped by another fancy looking but with a traditional setting Mexican restaurant – Old Town Mexican café. They are so firm with their traditions that they don’t serve any cocktails, which is good. Their chimichanga with spinach and beans was lip smacking and very filling.
Next morning, we woke up really early to catch the sun as it rises. We took our camera-tripod and drove to, as suggested by our concierge, Higgs beach. And this sunrise was beautiful too, as every sunrise is. It is hard not to immerse yourself in the beauty of the water. And the hues of blue in here, yeah talk about it. It gave a perfect setting for someone who writes or meditates, close to nature and closer to peace. It gave us a lot of photo ops, including one that shows us meditating over our swanky red Mustang. More photos have never harmed anybody, has it? Unless the photographer and the model are same sometimes, just like we were.
Once the day was out and bright, it was time for us to do some more touristy stuff and then bid goodbye to this lovely city. On our list now was touching the southernmost point of this southernmost part of the country, which is just 90 miles away from Cuba. That anchored concrete buoy was a cool thing to get clicked with and remember. We also saw the Zero Mile marker that marked the end of highways in the South of USA.
This little town boasts of residences of two legends – Ernest Hemingway and President Harry S Truman. Hemingway’s house, we were keen on, growing up with reading some of his stories had me intrigued with his very colorful life. Checking out his house was the next thing to do. Truman… Truman… we could not contemplate the reason to tour his personal life and hence, we didn’t. At Hemingway’s, it was a quick tour, with a well-read guide who had read ALL of his works. The tour digs deep into his life that included four marriages and one affair. His cat love is also quite prominent, including the six-toed cats that find a place in home till today, so much so that he has a dedicated space for cat cemetery. Standing at one of the decks, we saw a parallel view of the Key West’s only lighthouse. Peeping among the tall trees, it demanded a closer look.
We hopped in there just to have a bird’s eye view of this lovable town after walking up all that spiral stairs of a lighthouse. It is supposed to be the highest point of the island and how far we saw from up there, unfortunately, we still couldn’t see Cuba. One just can’t.
With that, it was time for us to say sayonara and be home with bagful of experiences and, of course, photographs. You know, this belt of South Florida is vicious. It doesn’t let go of you so easily. It does make you come back to its gorgeousness again and probably, again. Not that I am complaining!
Have you visited South Florida? How was your experience?
Please share in the comments section.
And then the most awaited part of our trip commenced. Key West. I remember the time when we were looking at the car rentals before the trip and he asked, “SUV or a convertible?” “Convertible, hands down,” I prompted, after staring at the route from Miami to Key West on Google Maps again and again. It looked gorgeous and the more I zoomed in, it just got better. I was allured by the feeling of enjoying the panoramic beauty with the car top down. And it was, every mile of it. The drive was therapeutic coupled with the perfect weather. We took a couple of halts at the other little keys. They have the cutest names ever – Big Torch Key, Sugarloaf Key, Grassy Key, Little Duck Key, to name a few. Pull over to a spot and a beach awaits you, yes, they were that accessible. Our long stopover was at the Bahia Honda Key to watch the sunset from the old broken Bahia Honda Bridge. Watching the sun go down behind the palm trees made me go trigger-happy.
Just around the time of our dinner, we reached Key West. Tired after driving almost the entire day, we still didn’t want to call it a day. We threw our bags in the hotel room and walked towards Duval Street – the liveliest street of this Key. It may seem laidback with the architecture or accents/behavior of people, but the city doesn’t sleep either. At 11 in the night, it was bustling with people and Sloppy Joe’s where we went to catch a grub, was as we heard, loaded with people and conversations.
Next day was all about adventure and activity. Leaving the hotel early to make it up to the catamaran, we walked to the deck just so that we soak in the morning feel of the city. Exploring the city on a bike or a rented scooter made the riders look cool and the city relaxed moving at its own slow pace. Talking about the adventure bit, I made sure I spilled it out in the first few paragraphs above. I was super excited, after all.
So, after doing that, we were all by ourselves and decided to hit Duval Street with a bang. We started with shop hopping for some souvenirs shopping. But what caught our eye were the art galleries and local designer boutiques. We spent a lot of time appreciating art and a few curators got us interested too. For dinner, we stopped by another fancy looking but with a traditional setting Mexican restaurant – Old Town Mexican café. They are so firm with their traditions that they don’t serve any cocktails, which is good. Their chimichanga with spinach and beans was lip smacking and very filling.
Next morning, we woke up really early to catch the sun as it rises. We took our camera-tripod and drove to, as suggested by our concierge, Higgs beach. And this sunrise was beautiful too, as every sunrise is. It is hard not to immerse yourself in the beauty of the water. And the hues of blue in here, yeah talk about it. It gave a perfect setting for someone who writes or meditates, close to nature and closer to peace. It gave us a lot of photo ops, including one that shows us meditating over our swanky red Mustang. More photos have never harmed anybody, has it? Unless the photographer and the model are same sometimes, just like we were.
Once the day was out and bright, it was time for us to do some more touristy stuff and then bid goodbye to this lovely city. On our list now was touching the southernmost point of this southernmost part of the country, which is just 90 miles away from Cuba. That anchored concrete buoy was a cool thing to get clicked with and remember. We also saw the Zero Mile marker that marked the end of highways in the South of USA.
This little town boasts of residences of two legends – Ernest Hemingway and President Harry S Truman. Hemingway’s house, we were keen on, growing up with reading some of his stories had me intrigued with his very colorful life. Checking out his house was the next thing to do. Truman… Truman… we could not contemplate the reason to tour his personal life and hence, we didn’t. At Hemingway’s, it was a quick tour, with a well-read guide who had read ALL of his works. The tour digs deep into his life that included four marriages and one affair. His cat love is also quite prominent, including the six-toed cats that find a place in home till today, so much so that he has a dedicated space for cat cemetery. Standing at one of the decks, we saw a parallel view of the Key West’s only lighthouse. Peeping among the tall trees, it demanded a closer look.
We hopped in there just to have a bird’s eye view of this lovable town after walking up all that spiral stairs of a lighthouse. It is supposed to be the highest point of the island and how far we saw from up there, unfortunately, we still couldn’t see Cuba. One just can’t.
With that, it was time for us to say sayonara and be home with bagful of experiences and, of course, photographs. You know, this belt of South Florida is vicious. It doesn’t let go of you so easily. It does make you come back to its gorgeousness again and probably, again. Not that I am complaining!
Have you visited South Florida? How was your experience?
Please share in the comments section.
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