This week is Premier Racing week. The 25th-anniversary challenge features world-class competition and yachting teams from more than 12 countries and 24 American states. Nearly 300 racing yachts compete for class championships in this international regatta. To view the action, fans can book seats on spectator boats ranging from excursion catamarans to historic tall ships or from land at Key West’s Atlantic-front restaurants, resorts and beaches.
Sunset Grille is located at the south end of Marathon on Knight’s Key. We ate lunch here a few days ago with some friends and we were really impressed with the food and the great layout. This is an open air tiki bar / restaurant with a pool overlooking the ocean and the 7 mile bridge. In fact the only thing that bothered us was that the beautiful vistas of the ocean to the south was partially obstructed by a huge screen which they use to show sporting events. I wish they would have put up a retractable screen instead.
Driving to Key West? Many people do not realize that the Florida Keys are a chain of islands connected by a series of bridges, and Key West is the very last island in the chain. Driving time from Miami to Key West takes approximately 3 hours, although due to traffic it may take longer. But the vistas are breathtaking, making the drive well worth it at least once in a lifetime.
Below is a charter showing milage from different major FLorida cities to help you plan your drive. (more…)
Enjoying a beautiful Key West sunset on the water is an awesome way to spend an evening. There are several options to choose from, all of which I am sure would be enjoyable, but the America 2.0 is an amazingly beautiful boat.
For 2 hours you sail through the harbor, by Fort Zachary Taylor State Park Beach, and get a tour of Mallory Square while the revelers there wave exciting wishing that they were on the water too. The crew is so friendly and they serve up bottled water, beer, champagne, and wine, as well as snacks like a fresh fruit and veggie platter.
Most people know the tale of Hemingway and his six toed cats, descendants which still roam the grounds of his Key West home. Well right next door to the Hemingway Home and Museum on Whitehead Street is a cute little eatery called the Six Toed Cat. They have both indoor and outdoor seating available as well as a small retail shop that sells Six Toed Cat souvenirs like mugs and tee-shirts. The outside of the building is a cute white conch style house and the inside is wide open with colorful island decor.
There are really lots of events happening to celebrate the New Year’s arrival. Here are a listing of events and special menus for the holiday for you to peruse and help make your holiday plans!
Watch the crowd gather to ring in 2012 with our 19th Annual Dropping of the Conch Shell live from the roof of Sloppy Joe’s Bar at the corner of Greene and Duval in Key West. Sloppy Joe’s will lower the Queen Conch Shell at the stroke of midnight to ring in 2012. The Hyjinx Band will take the stage at 10:00pm to ring in the New Year! For those in the bar at midnight the dropping of the Conch Shell can be viewed on closed circuit TV in the main bar or Joe’s Tap Room.Sorry no reservations. Door charge.
Running from December 27th through the 31st is the Florida Keys Art Guild Festival, a free art festival held at Bayview Park. It was billed to have dozens of artists from around the country joining local artisans to display their work, ranging from fine jewelry, sculpture, paintings and photography as well as fine crafts. However, I would be surprised if there were a dozen total vendors peddling their wares.
We stopped by yesterday thinking it would be a fun afternoon. It took us maybe a half hour to peruse the few tents. There were some great products there; some beautiful paintings and photographs along with some slightly disturbing works of art. There were really nice jewelry pieces there as well with reversible stones set in silver. My favorite display was of the rock oil candles. The artist takes natural stones, attaches part of a recycled bottle to the bottom as a reservoir for oil, and drills a hole in the top and attaches a fiberglass wick that never needs replacing. Ingenious! (more…)
There are a few things happening on our island this week and next. Some are holiday related and others are not. But they are all interesting! Definitely something for everyone happening this time of year!
After ordering overly expensive personal pizzas for take put a few weeks ago I decided that I did not want to cook so my husband and I had dinner there the other evening. Inside there were less people than the last time I stopped by to pick up food; it was still loud though. We ended up eating outside to avoid the noise. Plus it is a beautiful waterfront view sitting out there. And the weather was perfect for sitting outside and enjoying a meal.
Located at the Marquesa Hotel on Fleming Street, this classy restaurant has a unique international menu that is constantly changing and very good service. Menus are actually printed daily so the servers will not have any specials to tell you about. My husband and I had dinner here for our anniversary this weekend. The decor is elegant with huge framed mirrors, large windows, and beautiful molding. This all helps with the illusion that the dining area is larger than it is. The tables are fairly close together. Luckily, we were seated next to a very friendly and interesting German couple and we had a nice conversation throughout dinner. It is slightly noisy in the restaurant, but not obnoxiously so; there is foam glued underneath the tables to help combat the noise level. There were a few older gentlemen sitting at the bar that were quite loud, but it quieted down loads after they left.
We are now just 10 days away from Christmas and it is still in the high to mid 70’s here! And according to the extended forecast it is to remain in the high 70’s for quite some time. While the warm weather does not do much to make it feel Christmasy around here, I am sure all of the visitors to our island during the holiday will find it a warm welcome (pun intended) compared to the primarily cold climates they are now experiencing back home.
Genn,
Just a quick note to let you all know that we had a great outing. I was on the South Paw with Captain Brad & his 1st mate Heath. Not only were these guys friendly & jovial but their professionalism was clearly evident in the level of preparedness of tackle, bait & boat! All day long they put forth the effort to make sure we had a great time and to give us every opportunity to catch fish. I’ve been on enough charters with other outfits to know that Team Southpaw ranks at the high end of high! I’ve attached a few pictures that sums up the day for all of us on the Southpaw!