Part 1 – Where We Should Have Been…
Norwegian Breakway 7-Day Caribbean Cruise
Well, it all started with what was supposed to be a 7-day Caribbean Cruise! My family LOVES to cruise and it has been many years since we have taken one (insert Covid, several health issues, etc.), I believe that our last cruise was actually about 5-6 years ago! During that trip there was an emergency and my husband had to leave and fly home during the first port…leaving me alone with the kids and about 5 other families for the duration of the cruise. It’s not my fondest cruise memory. We were very much looking forward to this one! Our bags were packed, we had all new snorkel equipment, all of our excursions were booked including a full day sailboat charter in St. Johns. So, I am certain that by now you are very curious about the fact that we did not go on the cruise.
Non the less, I will get back to the story, about a week prior to our embarkation date, I started to feel a little off. By the end of the day I had a sore throat, but this was not really crazy for me, because I have a silly issue that causes me to have frequent but brief sore throats (with has been very convenient during the new Covid era)…so, with our up coming cruise I just wanted to be sure it was not anything major and I took an at home Covid test. Negative! Relief!
So, my throat was really sore for a day, I was a little achy, with a cough. Nothing major, but my husband did get some cold like symptoms too. I took 3 more home tests, before our PRC tests that the Cruise required, and all were negative, so we were sure we just had a summer cold. I mean, those still do exist, right? So, Friday morning we head off (fully packed and ready for our cruise to leave on Sunday) to take our rapid PCR tests that I made appointments for weeks ago! We wait in line, masked up, with all of the other people. It’s quick, in and out…30 minutes after we are home I get the first notification and it’s for me. I check my phone and click on the link and I am shocked! My test is POSTIVE! I am honestly just dumb founded, after taking 4 home tests, I was certain it was not covid! Now I am so disappointed. I have to tell my husband and my kids. Then my phone dings again, I check and it’s my kids tests, they are both negative (neither have had any symptoms either) but now they are way bummed…is there any way they can still go without me, they ask, LOL. Wait, are they serious? Ding, one more time, this is my husbands results, I check and now look, ok so nope, they aren’t going without me because he’s positive too! Yikes! So…that is the first part of the story, the story of how we ended up in the Keys in the first place. But we totally turned around the best of the situation (as best as we could). We finished out our quarantine period at home and then once we were done and past our 10-days from the onset of symptoms, we were finally clear to be out in the world again. We decided on going down to the Keys for a few days and this is the information, recap and reviews from that 4-day trip. Although, I am sure that the magical 7-day Caribbean Cruise I had planned would have made for a fabulous first post…but could you imagine how long that would have been??? So, here is my official blog post, so I hope you enjoy it!
Part 2 – Where We Ended Up…
DAY 1 – Robbie’s Islamorada & Fishing Party Charter The Marathon Lady
We headed down to the Florida Keys on a Thursday. We were lucky because my Sister/Brother-in-law were renting a house for the month of July so we bounced around the keys during our 4-day trip. On the way down, we stopped at Robbie’s in Islamorada (mile marker 77.5). This has been a mainstay of the Florida Keys for as long as I can remember and we always make a pit-stop on our way down or back (or both), it’s a MUST DO! Robbie’s has a great restaurant with most fantastic Trailer Trash Bloody Mary, it’s served with a meat straw, but its really just a beef jerky with a hole in it and enough extras that it’s a meal by it’s self! There are cute little booths selling local goods, signs, and souvenir’s but the main draw is feeding the humongous Tarpon! You get a bucket of fish for about $4.50 and then pay about $2 per person to go out on the dock. You can just watch or feed the fish, it’s your choice, but watch how close you get because they will jump high and take the fish right out of your hands! It’s a very cool experience and the kids LOVE it! Additionally you can book snorkeling, jet skiing and other excursions from there too. There is a hyperlink to Robbie’s above!
After we finished in Islamorada and headed towards Marathon. My husband Chris had booked a “Party” Night Fishing Boat for him and the kids from 6:30 to midnight out of Marathon. What we didn’t know at the was, this was a BRILLIANT idea for more than one reason, but primarily because it was hotter than we have every seen it so night fishing was genius on the part of my husband! We met my Sister-in-law to collect my niece and nephew who would be joining our crew of three (my husband and two daughters). The fishing boat was the Marathon Lady and aside from a family of four puking on them at the beginning of the trip (the seas were not rough and this was not the fault of the charter company) they had a terrific time! Everyone caught fish! Our party of five people came home with 13 snapper! They all had an amazing time, saw a gorgeous sunset, caught several fish per fisher! My Brother-in-law filleted them the next day and turned some of the snapper into a delicious ceviche for one of our meals! It was a definite winning event all around!
DAY 2 – Key West – Casa Marina Resort, Duval Street, The Best of Key West
The next morning we headed to Key West for a quick 24-hour stay. We checked into the Casa Marina Key West, Curio Collection by Hilton. This hotel has been around for many years and has long been one of the best, high end resorts available in Key West. That being said, it recently changed from a Waldorf Astoria property to a Hilton branded property and the reviews were really awful. These two things honestly peaked our interest enough to take a chance on a one-night stay and check it out. I will be quick to say that we definitely saw several things about the property to give us pause…but I think I will do a separate post about the hotel and then link it back here at some point. Enough to say for now, we wouldn’t choose to stay there again.
Back to the real fun, Key West! We checked into the hotel and immediately headed to the pool. I think I’ve mentioned that it was HOT in the Key’s, so starting out by the pool was definitely the right call. The kids wanted to check out wave runners, mopeds and various things, so they headed over to the hotel’s on-site rental and their rules were quit strict compared to what we have seen elsewhere. Also, they couldn’t even be a passenger on a moped unless they were 18 or older and we were looking for a way to get around that didn’t include trying to park all day. We decided to get dressed and go on search of a fun means of transportation to get us around in the heat…I googled to see if I could find a Moke rental (if you don’t know what this is, see the pic of me in the cute pink jeep-ish vehicle below) location, but came up empty. We settled on a golf cart, which worked out perfectly (but was certainly not as cute as a Moke).
We headed to Duval Street to see the sights of Key West. Our kids had not been there for 5 years so they didn’t remember much. My Sister-In-Law and her family had just gotten to town too, they were meeting some friends in town from visiting from Australia and they took the Key West Express (a jet powered catamaran from Ft. Meyers to Key West) down to see them for the day. We meet up with them at the infamous Hogs Breath Salon, one of the most legendary watering holes in Key West but a totally kid-friendly place during the day. We stopped in for a few cocktails and some snacks for the kids, met their friends from abroad before heading our separate ways and checking out more of what Key West had to offer. My family then headed off to do some shopping. The girls wanted to hit Ron Jon’s Surf Shop. We then headed toward the Marina area where there is the famous Kermits Key Lime Shop for a frozen Key Lime Pie on a stick, getting one chocolate covered and one white chocolate covered! There are so many cute little shops that surround the marina area, along with great restaurants, and for those of you that know me, this is also the part of Key West where you will find the Lilly Pulitzer store!
After shopping we were hot and tired, so we headed back to the hotel to cool off in the pool and rest before dinner, but not before finding some baby chickens and their parents to play with! The pool was warm, but refreshing compared to the heat in Key West! Sadly we were hoping to get a snack to hold us over for dinner but that was not available at the hotel because they were switching over from lunch to dinner and there was no food available. I can honestly say, I have not ever see a hotel pool restaurant only offer a limited menu of about 6 items between meals, so this was very surprising and we opted to wait until dinner.
We headed to dinner at Two Friends restaurant, which was recommended to us. After the pool, we relaxed, changed for dinner and headed back towards the action! I will start by saying that Two Friends was highly recommended. It was cute, casual and very lively! There was live music, it was pretty full, but no wait, a bachelorette party, lots of families eating dinner, friendly staff, chickens and baby chicks walking around while we ate our meal, it was just very Key West! We had Fish Dip and Conch Fritters for appetizers and they were both great! From there things went a little sideways, I was between two menu items because I was not hungry by they had a seafood pasta that sounded really great. I asked the waiter his opinion and he said that he always recommends the pasta because it was amazing! My husband (allergic to shellfish) had already decided on the cajun chicken pasta (you will soon learn, he’s a boring eater) and one daughter ordered a Caesar salad (not too hungry) and the other one ordered an Ahi Tuna appetizer. Well, both pastas were awful, we both took a few bites and that was it. Fortunately, we were full because the appetizers were awesome and we were already full. My daughter’s were both happy with their food (how can you screw up a Cesar salad?) and the Ahi was great! The waiter was awesome and said he would bring me oysters because I didn’t like the pasta, but honestly I was stuffed and to full to eat anything else anyway. Live and learn, stick with the obvious in Key West. If you want creamy pasta, find a real Italian restaurant, LOL! Like I said, the vibe, staff and most of the food was great! We moved on from there, cruised around and showed the kids what Key West was all about at night. They had a blast. They couldn’t believe some of the outfits, didn’t understand why some people were dressed like skittles (wigs and dresses that matched), or oddly a collection or 80’s characters walking down the street together. It’s definitely great people watching. We did some more shopping, lots of cruising around, stopped for some Kilwin’s (the BEST salted carmel ice cream ever, if you see one you have to stop in!) and then we called it a night.
NOTE, if you want to make it to Mallory Square Sunset Celebration, make sure to get there near sunset or before because apparently they close up pretty soon after dark, so sadly we once again missed this area. It’s a great little area and fun to visit with vendors, street preformers and and amazing view of the sunset!
DAY 3 – Key West Fantastic Breakfast Joint/Ramrod Key Sandbar
Our next morning, we woke up in Key West and had breakfast at an amazing place called The Breakfast Club, Too! I decided I was going to check out TikTok and see what was recommended as the Best Place for Breakfast in Key West and @theshayspence did not disappoint! As promised, it did have the most Instagramable Bloody Mary…but I wanted to share it with my husband (I can’t drink a whole one by my self, too much tomato juice) but thankfully the waitress told us ahead of time that they put shrimp in the mix because my husband has a shellfish allergy and it might have killed him, YIKES!!! The Pancake Charcuterie Board was incredible, all kinds of amazing Eggs Benedict and I had the Croque Madame with was out of this world! A definite 2 THUMBS UP! After breakfast, we headed for a quick cruise around the island, checked out a few beach areas and then returned the golf cart. It was now time to start back back towards the house where our family was staying in Ramrod Key. However, on our way out of Key West, we stopped by The Marriott Key West Beachside Hotel because that was where we thought they were renting the Moke’s that we saw the night before! Low and behold, even though we googled and tried to find one the day before, there were at least 20 Mokes available for rent. We scanned the QR code not the side and found the link to Barefoot Billy’s where you can rent a Moke at this Marriott location! We will definitely do this next time!
We then made out way back to Ramrod Key and got ready for a boat day on the Sand Bar (called Looe Key) with our family! Thankfully my brother-in-law is an expert boater because the tide was very off, it must have been a weird moon or something…and it was extremely low for the time of day that they usually go out. Tides can be very tricky in the Keys in general, as the water depths change very quickly and you have to pay close attention, even during high tide…so the fact that we were attempting to go to a sandbar area with the tide very low was very risky. No worries here, Captain Steve got it done! It was very shallow, so a LOT of sandbar, but still beautiful! We hung out for a while, made a few friends and then decided to head off and check out an area to let the kids do some snorkeling. Then it was back to the house where my Sister and Brother-in-law cooked an amazing dinner, including fresh ceviche that my brother-in-law made from the snapper they caught on their fishing trip! It was amazing!
DAY 4 – Snorkeling & Wakeboarding
On our final day in the Keys, we headed back out on the boat for some more snorkeling and wakeboarding. It was another gorgeous Florida day! When we made it out to snorkel spot it was amazing. It was also already getting pretty packed! There were buoy’s in the water for you to tie off your boat, so you didn’t hurt any of the coral on the reef below and most of them were already taken. Were were able to tie up to one of the last remaining buoys and hopped in the water. Immediately the kids spotted a giant Goliath Grouper directly under our boat, this thing was HUGE! Probably about 400 pounds! It was so cool and it just hung around for about 20 minutes or so, kind of following us around. It was really amazing. The kids went off in search of other fish and the larger part of the reef and they were able to see all kinds of beautiful coral and fish. I stayed back by the boat happy to watch our giant Grouper swim around. My brother-in-law also spotted a shark, but it was happy to leave us and the other swimmers alone and remained along the bottom, near the ocean floor. The water was pretty clear and the assortment of fish was truly one of the better snorkeling experiences we have ever had! We snorkeled for about an hour or so and then headed off to try and find some place to let the kids do some wakeboarding. I should say that, trying to pull a boat to a plain with 9 people is no easy job! My niece and nephew are avid wakeboarder and our youngest daughter loves to wakeboard, but this was her first time doing it on a boat and not at a wake park (very different). All of the kids had fun, but it was a frustrating experience for our two girls that had never wakeboarded on a boat before…only made harder because the boat was so heavy with 9 people. We got some cool photos of the kids, they had some fun and then we headed in for lunch before heading home.
Our very last stop was at Boondocks Grille & Draft House for a quick lunch before we headed out of town. It’s worth a mention for a couple of reasons, my family has been coming to this area for years and didn’t really know the place well and our food was outstanding! We all had a variety of items and everyone loved their food, however, for me it was the Boondocks Famous Ranch Bacon Potato Salad which is an upgraded side (and well worth it!), and the reason I am including them in my post! It was the BEST potato salad I have ever had! AMAZING and worth the trip by it’s self, honestly! It is a super cute place, although not on the water, there is a mini golf course attached to keep your kids entertained and live music at various times. If you are in the area, definitely check it out. It’s a great place to hit on your way down to Key West or coming back, too! Then we hit the road for our drive home…and just like that our mini-vacay/make-up trip because our cruise got canceled was over. Until next time!
XOXO
Fabulously Adrift
