I am incredibly grateful for my friend, Dasha, who visited me immediately after I moved to Miami. She flew in from Denver and, as always, was ready to explore and go on adventures with me. So of course we had to take advantage of my proximity to the Florida Keys!
I visited the Florida Keys back in the summer of 2016 when my then-New Zealand boyfriend, Jono, and I traveled there via New Orleans. We had a great time exploring the food, kayaking the mangroves, and checking out beaches in the area. Dasha and I sort of mirrored this experience with a little slice of each of these experiences.
We kayaked a new section of the mangroves, revisited a beach I wanted to spend more time at, and ate a heaping pile of seafood! We did all this in about a half-day experience after a late start to our trip. All in all, I can't believe that day-trips to the Florida Keys are part of my life now! So awesome!
Getting To The Keys From Miami
I learned the hard way that you have to leave extra time or leave early when traveling to the Keys from Miami on a weekend.
Dasha visited me when I was a fresh, 2-week old resident of Miami. I had just moved in and I was just starting to adjust to the driving and traffic patterns of the area. I didn't have a Sunpass yet to easily access the local highways. So Dasha and I drove the long way through Homestead to get to the one-lane bridge to Key Largo.
Leaving earlier, having that Sunpass handy, or traveling on a weekday instead would have made the ride there much quicker.
Alas! We had ample time to spend catching up and simply enjoying the extra long almost 2 hour ride there.
Kayaking Mangroves
We only had part of the day to spend. Arriving around noon, our first stop was at Otherside boardsports to find out where they recommended kayaking. Their suggestion was to rent from them a little ways down the road at Otherside Paddle Shack.
You're not going to find your way there by searching google maps. But you will find this launch site at Lorelei Restaurant & Cabana Bar on Islamorada Key.
After parking, Dasha and I made our way along the path between the restaurant seating and an adjacent marina. The marina is home to several unique vessels for tours, like their Pink Cadillac (or "Nautilimo"), Cruisin' Tiki, or a pirate ship. Personally, I would love to go back and transport around the Keys in the Nautilimo—so funny!
The woman at the launch spot helped us map out our self-guided tour. She explained where to enter the mangroves and where we could come back up the channel and find a little beach spot to stop at.
Dasha and I went for a 1 hour tour. I don't remember the price but it was no more than $25 each.
The mangroves here were a smaller area than the ones I experienced near Robbie's. But they were perfect for a quick tour through and not as physically challenging. We could easily move through them, glimpsed lots of crabs, and enjoyed the views on the other side.
On our way back, we followed the channel along the coast to our right and found the little beach she mentioned. There were some people swimming there, whom we talked to briefly as we landed our kayaks and dunked in the water for a minute.
It was at this time that I saw something splash and scurry across the surface of the water. It was very sudden and Dasha just missed it. But I saw what it was—a huge iguana! I love that southern Florida has these iguanas. They are just like the ones I saw (and ate!) in Curaçao!
Beaches Change
After kayaking, I wanted to take Dasha to a nice beach and maybe a little snorkel experience. I remembered the last time I visited the Keys with Jono, we found a nice little beach called Anne's Beach. The water there was a beautiful, clear aqua color.
This time, the water was not as clear and the beach was not as nice I remembered. The boardwalk there was all chewed up from a storm, too.
It just goes to show that beaches can be nice on one visit, then change due to tides, storms, and other environmental factors out of your control!
Nevertheless, we enjoyed lying out on our beach blanket and chilling in the shallow water. It actually felt like swimming around in a pool—perfect for drinking a couple of alcoholic, summer beverages and chatting with each other.
Wharf Harbor Buffet
Eventually the sun started to set and we grew hungry. My new landlord mentioned to me a great seafood buffet place to check out in the keys. So we decided to give it a try.
Wharf Harbor Buffet is a huge seafood buffet. For the flat rate price of $34.95 per person, Dasha and I ate seafood like Queens. We piled on the snow crab, the cevices, and seafood salads, shrimp, clams, and plenty more.
We had a hilarious server who for some reason kept pressuring us to drink alcohol. I kept having to remind him I was driving! But he was really nice and informed us of which seafood to take advantage of that night—like the blue crab which is not always on the menu. The blue crab was probably the best thing we ate.
Other than that, I think the seafood here was of moderate quality. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best seafood I ever ate. If a visiting friend wanted to sample a lot of different local seafood, I would take them there. Otherwise, I wouldn't go again.
I had a lot of excellent seafood and other South Florida food when visiting with Jono. Those places I are worth another visit!
The Keys At Night
We left the restaurant in the dark and made our way back to Miami in the pitch black. I actually really enjoyed this part of the day. Dasha and I put the windows down, blasted old Backstreet Boys songs to sing-a-long to, and I drove onward back home.
Driving the keys at night is a neat experience because it seems there is just a pit of darkness on either side of the road. The ocean is all around you and you cannot see anything else but the cars on the road ahead and behind in a line. It's like driving on a one-lane highway through a starless universe.
In Conclusion
This was a really nice, short day-trip to visit the Florida Keys with Dasha. It was a really cool experience for me, as a new resident of Miami, to visit a place I've visited before on an extended vacation. I realized that this is my life now—the Florida Keys are a day-trip experience for me! How awesome is that?!
Soon, I will be writing about how I turned this day-trip experience into a weekend visit to Key West. Finally, I made it to the last, furthest away destination in the Florida Keys—and I fell in love with the place. More next time! :)
