Scott and I had so much fun last year in Key West, that we headed back down to enjoy the holidays with our good friends Ben and Maria earlier this month. There is so much to do in Key West and this was our fourth visit. Key West is about a 3.5 to 4 hour drive from Fort Lauderdale, depending on traffic.
On our way down, we stopped at the Lorelei Restaurant for lunch in Islamorada. We hadn’t been there in years, so it was fun to go back and enjoy some cold drinks and a great lunch! Lorelei also is home to many charter and activity companies, so it’s a great starting point.
Opal Key West Hotel
On this trip, we stayed at the Opal Key West again and they did not disappoint. The hotel upgraded us to a suite and took fantastic care of us. Upon arrival we were welcomed with milk and muffins with a welcome note from the team.
We love visiting Key West during the holidays because they go out of their way to deck the city out for the holidays. Scott and I are still getting used to living in flip flops and palm trees, when all of the songs and commercials are about bundling up for the holidays. The Opal Resort does a wonderful job decorating for the holidays!
On our second night, we received a bottle of wine, plus a variety of waters and a nice gift box of snacks.
On top of that, our view was fantastic!
Day One
On our first night, Ben made reservations at Blue Heaven and it was fantastic! We highly recommend dining here. The restaurant is situated in an outdoor courtyard and the grouper was the best I have ever had.
We wrapped up our first night at The Bull bar, listening to some great live music. You can say that Maria and I got pickled that night too!
Day Two
We started the next day with a tour of Harry Truman’s house. There is so much history here, that this blog doesn’t do it justice. Be sure to watch our YouTube episode to get the full story.
Our tour guide was fantastic and one thing he pointed out, was there were ash trays in every room and on every table. This is an actual copy of a Camels ad!
The tour was a bit surreal, thinking that we were standing in the house that one of our US Presidents dined and vacationed. In fact, the last US President to visit was Clinton and his wife. They don’t allow video, but they do allow photos.
Conch Tour
The tour guide at the Truman house encouraged us to take the Conch Train tour, which was $57 per person. The tour did take us all around Key West, including the beach, but the guide’s bad jokes were killing us. We hopped off at Duval Street and grabbed some lunch.
The four of us had lunch at The Two Friends Patio and it was fantastic! Great service and the potato chips were homemade. During our trip, we also made sure to place our sticker where stickers were allowed. If you find one of our stickers, take a photo, share on social and tag us. If you do, we’ll send you a Boating Journey hat!
Rum Tour
From lunch, we headed to the first legal rum distillery in Key West, Key West Rum Distillery. They give complimentary tours and our guide was fantastic! The rum and the vodka were outstanding and you can only buy their liquor from them directly.
Evening in Key West
Our hotel faces west and it offered some of the best sunset views. The four of us watched the sunset before heading to dinner.
We had heard about the Half Shell Raw House restaurant down at the marina and it had good reviews, so we headed there for dinner. The marina is also decorated to the hilt for Christmas.
Along our way, we remembered we had placed a sticker along a wall at the marina and we found it! See if you can find it when you are down there.
Famous Bike Parade
That evening Key West had their famous holiday bike parade and over 4000 bikers decorate their bikes and head down the heart of town. We watched it this year from the balcony of a bar.
Day 3
The following morning, we headed over to climb the 88 steps of the famous Key West Lighthouse. The climb wasn’t physically hard, but it is very steep and being scared of heights, I didn’t look down. Beware that the hand rail is very rusty, so have handwipes ready!
The views were pretty amazing, so it was worth it. Going back down was harder than going up and our legs sure felt it the following morning!
After our tour, we headed to Duval Street and checked out the shops.
Sunset Champagne Cruise
Since we didn’t go snorkeling this trip, we still wanted to get out on the water, so we booked a sunset cruise. We chose an intimate tour of just 14 people on a small catamaran named “Echo” and the crew was fantastic! The choices of wine and champagne were great and they had a nice spread of cheeses and crackers. I highly recommend this tour over a party booze cruise with tons of people.
The cruise ran from 4:30pm to 6:30p and the views were amazing!
Ben and Maria headed to a 5-star Michelin dinner and we chose to stay casual as I had been under the weather. Scott and I ate at the Boat House Restaurant for lighter fare and after that we headed to Irish Kevin’s for some live music. Who knew that Scott would end up on stage in a contest to get the crowd loud! LOL. Be sure to watch the video on YouTube!
Despite being under the weather, it was another great trip to Key West. There is so much to do and we look forward to our trip next year! Another big thank you to the Opal Resort for taking such good care of us (and no this is not paid sponsorship).
As always, thank you for following our blog and please be sure to subscribe to our channel on YouTube and on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Have a wonderful and safe holiday season.
Cheers, Scott and Ally
