A week in the Florida Keys

Intro and first few days

In late April Shelly's frequent flyer miles with United were set to expire. After some shuffling with my miles we managed to get 50000 for two round trip tickets in the US. The question was where and when. The choice fell for as south as possible when the weather turns cold. We ended up with two tickets to Miami flying out on Thanksgiving Day in the morning and coming back on Friday the following week. The idea was to head to the Keys, at that point I figured we'll rent a car for the week and we'll drive around. However, in late summer, as the time came closer and I started doing some research, I found out about existence of Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail (FKOHT), which runs along the keys from northernmost Key Largo to southernmost Key West. Thus a plan was born to drag over our tandem and ride the trail.

The plan was to shuttle from the airport to Key Largo, ride the trail at leisurly pace, taking 3 days to get to Key West (ca. 100 miles away), spend a few days at Key West, last day rent a car and drive back to Miami. And that's what we did.

The flight on Thanksgiving was fairly pleasant, the planes were not overcrowded and on time. We had an 1.5 hour in Miami so we had a dinner at the airport at Chilli's, right before they closed up for the day. The shuttle was alright as well, though it arrived to Key Largo slightly later (it was on Keys time). We still had time for a few beers at the dockside Coconuts restaurant before we called it a night.
Friday was spent in Key Largo, we went snorkeling for 1/2 day in the coral reef outside of the island. Unfortunately it was fairly windy, so, I ended up getting sea sick. Still, it was a great experience, the reef was looking fairly good for the circumstances (better than the reefs I saw in Hawaii). We saw a lot of reef fish, a few barracudas and a stingray. For me the added benefit was that I could rent prescription goggles so it was the first time ever I did not have to mess with glasses and see things well under water.
We did not take any pictures at the snorkel but the rest of the pictures from the trip from occassions when we were stationary or walking are here.

Bike tour general comments

FKOHT website provides excellent information about the trail status. It is still a work in progress. While a quick look at the map may make one think that it's mostly finished, the reality is far from it. There are lots of gaps, most of the trail in the urban environment (Islamorada, Marathon) is sub-standard with narrow path and untreated (and thus dangerous) driveway and business crossings. Oftentimes, it is safer and more convenient to stay on the parallel US-1 highway, which has a reasonable shoulder most of the time. Then there are some beautiful sections on the rehabilitated historic bridges (from the old railroad that was destroyed by a hurricane in the 30s) and on a few islands, where the trail has been done recently and the profile is wider (10-12 ft). Overall, for a seasoned biker without small kids, to which we belong, the whole trip is fairly good, at least for the US standards. I am looking forward to the progress on the trail construction.
Before we go to a day to day description, a few highlights and a few snags. The highlights is definitely the natural setting, especially the small islands that the trail connects through the historic bridges. Beach opportunities are somewhat scarce since the environment is mangrove swamps, but, in the middle and lower Keys (from ca. mile 80 down), there is something every 5 miles or so. So, taking it easy and stopping for a swim is definitely a good idea.
Now the not so nice things. The worst experience is in the urbanized areas - Key Largo, Islamorada and Marathon. Overall ca. 30 miles of the trail. Key West is quite bike friendly and the drivers are expecting bikes. Except for Key Largo, the trail is narrow (ca. 6 ft.), wiggles around a lot, oftentimes is not well delineated with respect to driveways and business access, and totally ignored by the drivers. In Key Largo, the trail was recently upgraded, the width of the trail is good, cross-traffic treatment about as good as it can get (though I would prefer to have the crossings at grade of the trail not at grade of the driveways). Still, most drivers prefer to stop in the middle of the trail when turning onto US-1, and don't look out for a cyclist on the trail when going across or when turning from US-1 to the businesses/driveways. We have had a few near misses. Bottom line, look very carefully around yourself when going through the towns and assume drivers don't see you. Sadly, this also means that one can not go too fast through the towns on the trail, which is why we sometimes ended up staying on the shoulder. Second issue is shoulders of US-1. There is always some shoulder, but, in some places, especially in the lower keys, there are sections where the shoulder is about 2 ft. Cars and trucks often don't veer too much to the left when passing which makes for some tight encounters. Thankfully, it sounds like few of the next improvement projects include trail construction between miles 5 and 30, which is where this occurs the most often.

Bike tour itself

Below is a map of southern Florida with our tracks overlaid.

First day we rode in the morning and in the afternoon and evening hanged out at the fairly plush Lime Tree Bay Resort on Long Key.
Map and fotos from Day 1 are here.
The resort has free sea kayaks but they limit their rental for 1 hour. So, we ended up just zooming around the resort. It was fairly windy with ca. 20 mph east winds so going against the wind was fairly slow. Then we did some swimming, hanged out in the hot tub and watched the sunset. The grounds in the resort were the best that we had during the trip, the other places were either multistory hotels or motels with minimum area around them.
Second day we enjoyed the resort till the checkout at 11am, and then rode to Big Pine Key.
Map and fotos from Day 2 are here.
Big Pine Key does not have too many places to stay or to eat, especially on Sunday night, so, we ended up eating in a Mexican place run by Vietnamese.
Third day we rode to Key West.
Map and fotos from Day 3 are here.

Key West

After getting settled in Spanish Gardens Motel, which is probably one of the lowest cost options in the town. Fairly clean and well run but still a motel. Thankfully we were offered a room in the back which was fairly quiet except for hearing what our neighbors were saying. But, we were not planning to spend too much time there (unlike some of our neighbors). Before it got too late, we got a sandwich across the street at a Cuban store and walked to South Beach, only a few blocks away. The beach is small but the sand went a bit further into the sea before it got weedy and muddy, so, I ended up having a fairly good swim there.
Tuesday was devoted to walking tour of the town, and to the beach. In the morning we walked to Ft. Taylor State Park, which houses an old fort, short nature trail and the best beach in town. Right next to the state park is Keys Eco Discovery Center, a free admission museum/visitor center run by NOAA that explains ecology of the Keys. It has two rooms with exhibits about above water and below water environment and a theater that runs a 20 min film every half hour. There are also several smaller aquariums which show corals, fish, etc. We have spent two hours there and it was one of the highlights of Key West. Then we walked back through the town, grabbed some lunch, napped some and rode back to Ft. Taylor to spend the rest of the afternoon and sunset on the beach. In the evening we went for dinner and a bit of bar hopping. The bar part was mildly annoying since it turns out that Florida still allows smoking in the bars. So, I was not as entertained as I was hoping to be, with burning nose and throat.
Wednesday we hopped back on the bike and rode to the botanical gardens. They are fairly small but do have a display of tropical trees and palms, and, an interesting collection of boats which Cubans used to float from Cuba to Florida. To my surprise most of the make-shift boats had car engines from western cars (Kia, Nissan, Fiat), which made me wondering how could they get these engines - it was nearly impossible to get a western car in socialist Czechoslovakia. After the gardens we rode back on the north side of the island, had a lunch at a floating restaurant, and in the afternoon walked through the residential part of the town to the harbor. Here we took part of the sunset cruise set up by one of the local joints, with live band and all you can eat and drink. It was a mild tourist trap, the boat just went out of the harbor and cruised back and forth west of the island, and the free drinks were cheapo margaritas with high fructose corn syrup, gallon wine and Bud Light and Michelob. The food was hotwings and meatballs. But, one can't expect miracles for $49.

Drive back

Thursday morning was fairly chilly, ca. 60F, we rode the few miles to the airport to get our rental car. Taking the bike apart was fairly quick, and it all fit in the Ford Focus. The car was alright except for all the electronic gizmos in it which we just are not used to. We drove for and hour and a half or so to Long Key where we spent good part of the day in Long Key State Park. First we hiked ca. 1.5 mile long trail through the mangroves and along the coast and then we rented a canoe and paddled along the marked canoe trail in the park.
Map and fotos from canoe paddle are here.
Then we grabbed a few beers and watched the sunset off the highway at the end of one of the Matecumbe Keys. Thankfully the at Key Largo held onto our suitcases, and we drove off to Florida City motel for further disassembly of the tandem and a short last night.

Overall, a great trip and arguably the best way to spend frequent flyer miles. Once we save some up again and the trail gets more improvements, we'll be back.

Back Comments or questions: <