Travel Dates: May 2021
Hotel: Casa Marina Key West, Waldorf Astoria Resort
The location of the resort is along the south coast of Key West, and is great if you’re looking for a beach vacation. Not only do you have a private beach, but it is also next to Higgs Beach and a 5 minute drive to Smathers Beach. However, the hotel is not really close to any stores or restaurants, let alone Duval Street (typically the main attraction of Key West for most visitors). You will have to either rent a car, Uber/Lyft, or rent a bike or scouter from the hotel. Otherwise, you will have to walk for 20 – 30 minutes, if not more.
The resort has two separate pools: one for adults-only and the other for families. They also provide towels, beach chairs, and umbrellas for you. There is a jet ski tour on the premise–$150 per jet ski for 2 hours around Key West.
For a Waldorf Astoria property, it was shocking that the hotel was pretty outdated. We were fortunate to be upgraded to an ocean view room, but the ceilings of the balcony area were cracked. Although the beach and pool area are very nice, some other parts of the hotel felt like a motel, and a few of the elevators were out of order.
Overall for the price, Casa Marina Waldorf Astoria isn’t worth it unless you’re looking to spend most of your time at the pool/beach. As a heads up, the beaches in Key West are generally reef beaches and the sand is very coarse.
Food:
Blue Heaven is known for its brunch menu, but we went for dinner. Before 6pm, you will be able to get a table without waiting. However, after 6pm is when everyone arrives for dinner and you’ll have to wait at least 15 minutes. Good news is they have an outdoor seating area just right across the street where you can grab drinks and listen to live music. Or you can go next door to a wine bar.
The restaurant is mainly outdoors and it really feels like you are in a backyard–there are hens and roosters running around. In terms of food, I recommend the Macrobowl and key lime pie. The Macrobowl is an Asian-fusion vegetarian bowl and includes kimchi and wakame seaweed. The key lime pie was light and not too sweet, although their take on it has lots of meringue.
If you’re looking for a stronger lime flavor in a key lime pie, then I recommend Kermit’s Key West Key Lime Shoppe. The shop also sells other key lime flavored items like hot sauce, honey, ice cream, etc. There’s a nice garden and koi pond in the back where you can relax and enjoy your dessert/drink.
Easton Street Seafood Market & Restaurant is the place to go if you like seafood. Because it’s a market, you get wholesale prices and the seafood is fresh. We had lobster tail, grouper with salad, and fried conch. The grouper was my favorite as it was very tender.
For anyone in need of a coffee stop, I highly recommend Cuban Coffee Queen. Their Colada and Cafe con Leche are smooth and delicious. The shop is actually a coffee stand so there are no tables and seats.
Other places we had drinks/food at were El Siboney Restaurant, Moondog Cafe, and Bistro 245. Most restaurants close around 9-9:30p in Key West so we had to order delivery from El Siboney one evening. We had a cuban sandwich and shrimp enchilado. The shrimp enchilado was delicious and came with rice & beans and plantains. It was pretty decent for takeout so I’m sure eating at the restaurant in person would be even better.
For Moondog Cafe, we just got drinks to kill time and cool down from the Florida heat. The bartender was very friendly and they have a daily Happy Hour from 4:30-6:30pm. It’s right next to the Hemingway Home and Museum if you need a place to stop by.
We went to Bistro 245 just to watch the sunset because it’s a waterfront property with a second floor outdoor seating area that has unobstructed views. Otherwise, I do not recommend this place as the cocktail drinks were horrible and prices were a bit high.
Activities:
Mallory Square and Duval Street – Main tourist areas in Key West. People go to Mallory Square to watch the sunset, or you can find a waterfront bar and watch the sunset from there, like what we did at Bistro 245. Duval Street is the main commercial street where you can find shops, restaurants, and bars.
Southernmost Point of the Continental US – The most anticlimactic site with a very long line of tourists waiting to get a picture with a statue buoy. Skip the line and walk to the front so you can quickly see the buoy and then go on with your day.
Higgs Beach – Small, public beach with a pier that has steps that lead right into the ocean. Unfortunately the day we went, it was very windy so the sand made the water very murky. Otherwise, we heard that this place is usually great for snorkeling. A Key West resident said he swam out and saw a nurse shark and sting rays there before.
Bahia Honda State Park (Big Pine Key, Florida Keys) – The water at the beaches here are very shallow and clear–you can see many reefs through the water. It costs $9 for two people, but we were lucky that when we went, the computers for all state parks were being updated so they did not charge us. This is definitely a great place to snorkel; we saw fish, cuttlefish, and several Portuguese man o’ war (though the latter is a bit concerning in terms of safety).
Turtle Hospital (Marathon, Florida Keys) – 2 hour tour where you learn about turtles and walk through the hospital where they care for injured and sick turtles. We saw a turtle go through surgery to remove one of his many tumors. Then we saw where all the turtles are housed for recovery. At the end, we were able to feed the turtles in the tank.
It’s very heartbreaking yet nice to know there’s a place in the Keys where people take care and look after turtles. Each ticket is $27 and although it is pricey, it’s going to a great cause. Do try and make reservations beforehand as spots can fill up quickly.
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park (Key Largo, Florida Keys) – People come here to take boat, snorkeling, or scuba tours. Similarly to Bahia State Park, it costs $9 for two people (again, we were lucky we didn’t have to pay because of the computers). Since our day was packed driving up from Key West to Miami (total of ~4 hours), we did not have much time to spend at the coral reef state park so only had a chance to take a look at the beaches there. Cannon Beach (closest to the entrance of the park) had a lot of seaweed while Far Beach had some kind of sewer smell to it. All in all, not worth the visit unless you are paying for a tour. The tours do take you out to the reefs where you see more marine life and there’s even a underwater shipwreck and Christ of the Deep (sunken statue of Jesus Christ).
Globe Trotter 