An Afternoon in Key West

If you're staying elsewhere in the Keys and plan to visit Key West, I highly recommend checking out a cruise ship calendar in advance.  A quick Google search and I found which cruise ships would be docked in Key West during our visit and we avoided the day with two cruise ships.  If you're a planner like me, you can even look up the maximum number of guests per ship and work around that.  I know not every passenger disembarks at each port but I'd rather visit Key West when there could be 2,500 additional tourists versus 6,000.

The girls and I are not early risers so by the time we all got up, ate breakfast, showered, packed up for the day, drove an hour to Key West, found parking and took care of Anna's cathing needs, it was almost time for lunch.  I should note that my children regularly eat lunch before noon.  They've always had an early lunchtime at school and at this point, it has become a habit.





In the weeks leading up to our vacation, I had researched restaurants in Key West.  I'm not a foodie but seeing as we would only be eating a meal or two in Key West, we wanted to eat somewhere that was unique to that specific location.



We parked our car next to Conch Republic Seafood Company.  This is considered the historic seaport area.  Note that their restrooms are attached to their gift shop and they don't seem to mind street traffic.  (We did buy something at the gift shop though.)  I had a mental list of restaurants and was quite pleased to see Fisherman's Cafe right nearby.  This is the perfect place for breakfast or lunch and was on my list due to the online reviews.  It's basically counter service with limited seating, but we were able to grab a table for all of us.



This may seem boring to some of you but I absolutely love egg and cheese (or bacon, egg and cheese) sandwiches so I ordered the pressed egg and cheese sandwich on Cuban toast.



That's only half of the sandwich.  It may look underwhelming but it was delicious.

I didn't get any photos of the rest of our food but I can tell you about it.  Note that there is no menu for kids.  Emily and Anna shared the mac and cheese, which was a huge portion.  Allie ordered the Caribbean turkey sandwich, which she loved, and Rich had the fish sandwich with sweet potato fries.  I shared the fries with him and those were some of the best sweet potato fries I've ever tasted.  Rich also enjoyed his fish sandwich.



After lunch, we walked down the street and joined a Conch Train Tour.  On our way there, we stopped at Kermit's Original Key West Key Lime Shoppe.  While the Key lime pie there is highly rated, I wanted to pick up a slice from a smaller bakery later.  We did sample some of the Key lime cookies and fudge and it was really, really good.



Note that in the train depot, which is really a gift shop, there are public restrooms.  (If you can't tell, I'm obsessed with the availability of public restrooms.)  This tour was a great way to see the island and learn some of its history.  You can get on and off the train all day at the stops.  This is what we did in order to visit Hemingway's House.




Hemingway's House





I can't remember exactly how many cats reside there now.  Maybe 56?  Almost all of them were in hiding either from the heat or people, but we did find one with her paw out so the girls could see the extra toe.







I have to note that the real feel temperature that day was something like 101.  For most people, that's hot.  But for Anna, that temperature is amplified due to her medication.  We tried to keep our walking to a minimum because it can be physically exhausting for her.



Next up, per the girls' request, was the aquarium.  I've been here before and knew how small it is, but it's been awhile, so I was surprised at the size.  If you want to visit, I would definitely recommend adding the admission cost as part of a package if possible.  Otherwise, make sure you will be there during the scheduled shark presentations.  Currently, those take place at 11:00, 1:00, 3:00 and 4:30.  The aquarium has two sand sharks and a bunch of nurse sharks.  They give an educational/informational presentation, which was good and included some shark safety tips.  At the end, a limited number of guests can help feed the sharks.  The girls were like nope, not doing that.



The touch tank was also interesting.  It wasn't crowded and an employee took time to tell the girls about the critters in the tank and how to pick them up.



After the aquarium, we visited some of the nearby shops for souvenirs and gifts before making the trek back to the car.  Note that there are public restrooms, which were super clean, located behind the gift shops next to the aquarium in Mallory Square.

In the interest of getting Anna out of the heat for awhile, we decided to head back to our hotel and order pizza for dinner.  Most of the restaurants in the Keys operate on "island time" which means service is slow.  We had one last stop on our way out of Key West.  There was a bakery in somewhat of a residential area and we wanted to pick up some Key lime pie for dessert.  As we were waiting for Rich to take care of his iced coffee, another customer walked in with an iguana on his shoulder.  The girls' expressions were priceless and that completed our Key West experience.  (I do have a roundup of all the Key lime we ate coming up.)



Key West is a unique, quirky place and I wanted the girls to actually experience it, not just see it.  I'd say we were fairly successful.  We had tentatively planned to return for dinner and Mallory Square later in the week but a storm passed through at lunchtime and then another storm was forecast for Key West that evening and we didn't want to risk it.  Anna is terrified of thunderstorms and most restaurants are open air.  Not a good combo for us.


If you've missed my other Florida Keys vacation posts, here are the links:

Our Florida Keys Vacation

What to Do/See in the Florida Keys


Thanks for reading!