Florida Keys - Driving down to Key West

At the first Key we stopped at the Visitors Center to use the bathroom and to get an idea of what we needed to be sure to see on the way down. We wouldn't have time to stop on the way back up because we had booked snorkeling on one of the keys and would be gone from 9am-3pm.

I went up to the lady that worked there and asked her and she pulled a map out and started drawing lines at mile markers and she started spewing out what I could see on the way down. She told me 5 different things and was going so fast I couldn't keep up with her. I told her she was going really fast and she said, "I know honey its fast, just keep up." I was shocked. She would then stop in the middle of our conversation to make sure that every person that walked in signed her visitors book. I think she cared more about the book than anything.

She told us that we should stop at a turtle nursery, see Hemingway's boat, some nature trail place, and then to go to No Name Pub to see the million dollars on the walls. I asked if all the things were free and she guaranteed they were. 

First stop was at Sportsmans where Hemingways boat was located. We looked around outside at the Marina and didn't see anything. We did see a menu for a restaurant there and were all shocked that dolphin was all over the menu. Later when we saw dolphin on all the menus in the Keys we asked a waitress about it and she said that was what they call "Mahi Mahi". We had never heard that before. 

We had to ask someone where the boat was and was told it was literally INSIDE the Sportsmans store (a retail chain selling outdoors stuff). So we walked around the ship inside the store. 

I commented how funny that Omar can't hold on to his glasses for a month and yet we still have Hemingway's glasses when he is already dead! 

Our next stop was the sea turtle nursery which actually cost money for an hour and a half tour, unlike what the lady told us. We didn't really want to do that so we then went to the nature trail place which also cost money and so we left there too. 

The main thing that she told me that we should see was the Key Deer. She put a line on the map and opened another booklet which was the Key Deer Preservation area. She pointed at a picture of Key Deer in the water and said you will see the deer here. I said "You just go to the mile marker and you see the deer?" She then got all crazy and was like, "Yes! You just see them like the one in this picture with the water, they are everywhere!" I was thinking that maybe it was like a petting farm or something. Key Deer are miniature deer and are endangered species. We drove to where she said and couldn't find anything. We drove around looking at the houses and looking for Key Deer. We saw some in someone's yard. They are so cute and it was sad becuase we saw a sign that over 200 of them were killed last year!

Love all the unique mailboxes

We were pretty much ready to get to the our condo and decided to skip the No Name Pub. We got to our condo a few minutes after 5pm and they closed at 5pm so they put an envelope with our key in it. The condo was nice and was not but a 5-10 minute drive from the main strip Duval Street. 

That evening we went and ate at a Cuban Restaurant El Siboney. It was pretty good.

We then went and walked around Duval Street some and then bought a pie at the Key Lime Pie Factory and went back to the condo. 

This was a crazy bike this guy was riding

Omar and I didn't sleep well any of the nights we were there. Starting at about midnight the roosters would start crowing every 1-2 minutes, literally!!! Everytime I would start to fall asleep, the rooster would crow again. It was horrible. Roosters are all over the island. I think I could live in the keys if they didn't have roosters.