Isn't this the time of year with bumper to bumper traffic at 5 mph?

Looking to go in February or March

Yeah, after you eat pizza at No Name, drive over the bridge to the east to No Name key and feed the deer. Bring along some carrots and/or apple slices. Your not suppose to feed them, but we always do along with a few other folks. Sometimes you don’t even have get out of your car to feed them. Best to go in late afternoon or early evening.

Also OP, go to Mallory Square in Key West one evening to watch the sunset as well as all of the street performers. As long as you’re there you might as well go to Sloppy Joe’s too.They usually have a band of some sort in the evening.

I certainly am. For some reason I’m not getting my @ notifications.

Op like another poster said. If you’re not into ocean activities boating, fishing, diving, etc etc etc you may be disappointed in the Keys. Also the beaches here aren’t what you expect when you picture a south Florida beach.

You’d most likely be better off staying on the mainland somewhere and road tripping down for a day. Maybe even stay in Marathon or Islamorada for a night. That way you can still see the Keys but not feel rushed or having to spend all day in the car. The drive to/from the mainland can be a bitch at times.

The Keys are amazing and I love living here. That said it’s not what a lot of people think it is. I’d hate for you to waste a vacation based on unrealistic expectations of the place.

Hit me up if you make it down. Mahi tacos at Wahoos in Islamorada are on me.

Key West is a huge destination and place to live for the LGBTQ crowd.  

At his expense, or take it off the final bill.

Bar tender at the Brass Monkey had amazing titties but that was 10 years ago.  

Bahia Honda State Park is a nice stop.

You mentioned roaming around.  Dunno how it is nowadays, but I remember some trouble finding a motel room on the fly down there.  So a little planning might help.

Pilars closed early on the day I got there, opened late the day I left.

I have heard that but didn't see much evidence when I was there, apart from a few rainbow flags. The place seemed heavily heterosexual.

Worth seeing ONCE.  

Then driving away, and watching the end of True Lies to refresh your memory.

Agree.
No beaches.
Camped by the water on several of the islands and the shore smells really bad.
Key West was fun to walk around for a bit.
It was on my bucket list.
Won't go back.
Had a better time on the mainland.

We always visit the Cracked Conch bar and restaurant when we pass through Key Largo. Best Key Lime pie ever.

It was Chinese college student week when I went a few years back.

The definitely have homo week. Maybe several times a year.

The beach is basically a shallow water shoal with lots of e.Coli. Do NOT go in the water at the "beach."

Its a tourist trap.

Was down about 3 months ago, hot as hell. One of the guys that went has a  son that is a firefighter in Key West. He was our tour guide and he made the entire trip. I would highly recommend getting with someone that knows their way around down there.

Stay away from the bouncer that lives on a yellow concrete boat.

Love the keys wish I could afford to get some property.
We stayed 3 months last year on big pine in a camper.
This year only got 1 month and heading up to Florida city for 2 months.
Next year hopefully 3 months on big pine.
Beach with sand Bahia Honda state park Calusa Beach & Loggerhead beach.  Going north on 1 just before you get on the bridge to Bahia Honda you'll see the old Bridge there's a pullover parking it's a small sandy beach to lay out on and wade . The old Bridge and railroad is cool to check out.
There is some sand beach by the mile marker 1 in key west.
As far as a beach goes around here you need to remember this is a corral habitat great for snorkeling most beaches have sea grass &  corral not like beaches in upper Florida.

I like to swim and float around so the best beach for that is Fort Zachary Taylor Park.
Go to the very last parking area beach on left. Deep clean no sea grass but no sand bring a chair or rent one.
Great historic area Hemingway house go to Geiger key and watch the military jets take of & land.
No name pub has the best Chili I eat there one a week.

I shoot twice a week at a shop on Big Coppitt key

@tyrex13

Contrary to popular belief (and most of the advice posted here already), you can actually have a great time in the keys with kids in tow, even if you aren’t interested in having a drinking / fishing focused vacation. There is a catch though: it will cost you. We’ve done the keys numerous times over the last 25 years with kids in tow (we have 4) and always had a blast.

Here’s a great itinerary for you to consider:

Fly into MIA.
Rent car (hopefully this part goes smooth as the rental folks at MIA barely habla de engles’)
Drive to Hilton Miami Downtown and rent the one bedroom family suite.

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Price is probably going to be between $300-$400 night or just use Hilton Points 80k-100k.
Take the kids to the Science Museum which is a one block walk from the hotel.
The family suite is nice because there is plenty of room for a family of 4 and the kids loved watching the cruise ships come and go from the bay view windows.

The next morning, GTFO of Miami and head south to Key Largo to the Baker’s Cay Curio hotel by Hilton (1 hr 15 mins).
Check in for 2 nights. Rooms are $750/night or as low as 38k Hilton Honors pts. Relax and enjoy the resort and island for a couple of days. Plenty to do at the resort, and wife and kids will absolutely love it. In fact, mine liked it even more than KW. They have bikes to ride, trails, docks you can fish from with their poles, watersports galore, a great pool with waterfall, and a nice kids pool. Food, bars, service, activities, and views are all exceptional here.

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Video of Baker’s Cay Curio Resort

The next morning check out and drive 30 mins south to Islamorada and stop at Robbie’s and let the wife and kids watch manatees and then hand-feed tarpon from the dock.

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Then set out for Key West, stopping at any scenic sights along the way that catch your interest. It will take you about 1hr 45 mins to get to the heart of Key West - Mallory square.

Arrive Key West - head to North Duval street and check-in for 3 nights at The Pier House Resort and Spa which is around $700 per night (with the AAA rate). The key selling point to this resort (even though it’s not a Hilton), is location, location, location! Not having to deal with parking is a beautiful thing. Another big selling point to this resort is: they have their own “private beach” with white sand, beach lounge chairs and nice towels. As previously mentioned, if there is one thing to know about Key West -it’s that it really lacks any decent beaches, and this solves that problem quite handily. The pool is not huge, but it’s nice and we even saw big iguanas roaming the trees and bushes surrounding the pool.

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From this resort location you can set out and easily walk to most of the sites that KW has to offer. With kids in tow, you can easily walk to the bite, the Mel Fisher Museum, Aquarium, Hemingway House, and all the shops and restaurants you’d ever want to see. NOTE: the Southernmost point is a hike (by the S end of Duval), so maybe drive down there to get your obligatory tourist pic.

For food: eat what you like. I highly recommend you take the kids to breakfast at Pepe’s one morning, and Blue Heaven another, if nothing else.
Santiago’s Bodega is also great for lunch/dinner.

Final day: check out and drive back to MIA and return rental car.

It can be done. We have done it.
I promise it will be fun, but it won’t be cheap.

Good luck!

There’s a place called Cocomo.

Did you mean Crystal River, where the manatees are?

You're really talking about Old Florida (which IMHO is best Florida.)

They call it the Nature Coast for a reason, as it's not really a place to find nightlife, cultural events, etc.  You're more likely to find an old bar with a local band, friendly people, and local seafood.  It doesn't have the beautiful beaches found further south, but if you (like me) aren't a 'lay on the beach all day' kind of person, then you'll find plenty of relaxing fun.

Cedar Key is a great town to just 'hang out.'  My last vacation was a week at a BNB there.  I really enjoyed just driving around, fishing, eating great food, and taking lots of pictures.

Coastal fishing (redfish, trout, snook) all up and down the coast is superb, and there are a lot of charter captains who will put you on fish.

Weather can be a bit variable in January.  It can be a perfect 60-75°, or it can be kind of cold.

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Just landed in the Keys last night.
My in-laws come down every Christmas for 2-3 weeks.

Pretty much did everything my first week down here.

Lots of bars. The shipwreck museum was pretty cool.
And the Fort (Fort Zachary). The museum right off the airport is pretty cool too (old fort also).

The haunted tour was kind meh, same with the "conch tour", but the Tour is good if it's your first time and you wanna get to know the area.

Other than that just relax, drink, and enjoy the show.

It would take weeks or months to see and do everything. If you make it to Key West you should go the the Pilar distillery tour.

we were there in October. Stayed three nights on Ilsamorada at the Islander resort and 2 nights at the
Ocean Key resort on Key West.

Islander view from our room

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Ocean Key resort view

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I stayed in that room at the Pier House Before

Thanks for the great info! Gonna take the time to digest all this

We have been to key west about 4 times and each time with kids, and it has been a blast!

Normally try to go during the boat show in Miami and make it a Miami/Key West Trip

Yes.

When people thought the government could re-define marriage and were pushing to have the government try and fake that here, one of the earliest if not the first lawsuits over that came out of KW.

It's the same for disney world.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=gay+days+at+disney&ia=web

... and unless things have changed (I highly doubt they have) disney doesn't issue any sort of notification or warning for those.

As if the gun control and fingerprinting of kids wasn't bad enough.

Gravelly.

Not gravely.

IIRC, they blew up that part of the old bridge in reality, it wasn't CGI.

If you don’t want to dive, fish or drink, the keys isn’t for you.

Islands of Misfit Toys. Hot, muggy, mosquito infested, islands of Misfit Toys.

Wish I was wealthy enough to have one of those homes with a tropical looking backyard and in ground pool. Looks very cozy.

Are you planning to be here over the Holidays?

Everybody and their Little Brown Dog will be here.  Everything will be crowded.

January and February have a lot of Snow Birds but are sparse on tourists.  That is the best time to go to the attractions like Disney.   Just get here before the Spring breakers.   After the Spring breakers leave it OK for a few weeks until school is out and then it gets crowded again.

The Brass Monkey is the best bar in all the Keys! The kids will love it!

Kokomo

It is not what it was like in the 80s and 90s as far as gay life.  A lot of gays have moved on to other locations.  I think it is because gays can be more open now with their lifestyle and are more or less accepted by the general population.  There are still a lot of gays there but they are living a more staid life than the guys in the 80s and 90s, getting married, adopting kids, buying houses, running businesses.  On the other hand, there is the 801 Bar.

Yeah, but that is in Indiana.

The cats have opposing thumbs.

I confirm - and I do live in Sarasota.

Sarasota is booming, by the way - I myself am a new resident, after moving from La Jolla, CA (San Diego).

We recently did the keys with the kids and it was wonderful; I think it was a couple of months ago. We loved it. I'll try and remember some detail so that we can suggest but if main concern is escaping the cold, you'll succeed with little effort and the scenery and amenities are still worth it.

Cool. Hope it helps

Question on the POTA…. do you ever use a slick line to setup a temp antenna for that?

Yeah sometimes. I’ve had most success with a ground spike and 17’ telescopic vertical.

Now is the time to go, weather is outstanding

Tickets booked! Jan 21-29

The keys are expensive.
The middle keys are more fushing oriented. Key West is designed to separate you from your money however the performers at Mallory square are worth seeing. Fort Jefferson too and of course the Dry Tortugas.

Where will you be?

There's lots of good advice and some, not so much, in this thread.

If you are not into drinking, still walk down Duval street during the day.  You can still get lunch at the Hard Rock without booze.

Make sure to walk the Garrison Bight docks, lot's of fish, boats and history.

Fort Zachery Taylor park is the best beach in Key West.  Also, check out Mel fishers, Hemingway house.

The further south you go in the keys, the more fabulous it becomes.

Marco island is what you seek. Shorter drive, full house rentals with water access/dock, great restaurants, very nice farmers market, boat rentals delivered to your dock. Many backwater areas to explore with small islands and sand bars all to yourself. Beaches are very nice.. we love tiger tail. The family will be going beginning of February!