Home of the Sunset
Norah Casey returns to Key West at the southernmost tip of America, the home of the Key Lime Pie, Hemmingway and the Margarita and where the locals are as obsessed with sunsets as the Irish are with rain.
Quite possibly my favourite place in the whole of the US is Key West. I think what I love about it is that it is almost the polar opposite to the rest of Florida. Firstly it’s a town with a heart and soul and it has streets with low rise buildings. It’s an unpretentious laid-back haven that enjoys a well-earned reputation for taking life easy. While in Ireland we seem to never tire of discussing the weather, and in particular the rain, in Key West sundown is the main topic of conversation.
The first time I went there an old-time resident told me about this mysterious green flash that happened at the exact moment the sun went down on the horizon according to Key West folklore. He, like most everyone else – locals and visitors – has been chasing that green flash ever since. I looked it up and apparently it is a phenomenon that can occur with just the right set of conditions. The flash is caused by the colours of the sun splitting and lasts no more than a second or two. The perfect ingredients for a green flash are a clear unobstructed view of the sunset (out on the ocean is perfect), a cloudless sky and a lot of wishful thinking. So about an hour or so before sundown, Mallory Square at the tip of the Keys and all along the seafront, a carnival atmosphere takes hold. Everyone congregates in wait for that moment when the sun goes down way out to sea – stalls peddle crafts and souvenirs, street performers take their turn to entertain and everywhere there’s music, sometimes dancing, artists paint portraits and cocktails are served from pop-ups.
And then in the final moment, as the countdown to sundown begins, there is only one topic of conversation. Will the cloud clear in time to see the green flasht? Is it a good sunset or was the previous night better? Is the sky as red and spectacular as it often is? Finally the sun dips below the horizon and the assembled onlookers accept with good humour that they must wait for another night for the green flash. The crowd disperses quickly to the restaurants and bars for a post mortem.
The next day might be littered with little snippets of conversation about whether it was a good sunset or whether the forthcoming one that evening might be better. My camera is jammed with pictures of sunsets in Key West – even the mediocre ones are spectacular. Can there be anything more pleasant than spending time in a place where the quality of the sunset is the main talking point? Key West is sort of a cross between New Orleans (as it used to be) and London’s Soho. The late night bars on Duval Street blare out live music nightly, the gay bars further up the street feature some of the best drag shows I have ever been too. Key West attracts lots of colourful characters and anything goes here.
A Travellers Delight
Key West is at the end of a spectacular drive along U.S. 1 (also known as Overseas Highway). There are two other ways to get there – by cruise ship (they dock daily) and by plane. We took a tiny four-seater plane down from Tampa once which was a challenge for my vertigo but my fellow passengers said it was great fun with fantastic views of the coastline. But you would really miss out if you didn’t drive down the Keys – it is one of the most beautiful stretches of road with lots of reasons to stop off on the way. We were driving from Miami but the real magic starts once you leave the mainland of Florida behind and start the 113 mile spectacular road trip through the Keys, especially those impossibly narrow stretches when the highway cuts through the Atlantic on one side and the Gulf on the other. The Keys are a world away from the rest of Florida. That tropical island feeling begins almost immediately and a sense of travelling back in time to the kitsch seaside resorts of yesteryear intensifies as you drive towards Key Largo. Dotted along the roadside you’ll spot wind chimes, sea shell huts, boho art galleries, beach shacks, local tiki bars. And time will start to move a little slower because on the Key’s the vibe is relaxed and carefree.
The highway is the one and only road in and out of Key West so mile markers beginning at 0 in Fleming Street in increasing mile marks are dotted along the Overseas Highway to Key Largo letting you know where you are – so directions will always include the mile marker.
There are so many temptations on the Keys, it once took me 10 hours to do that 113 mile stretch because we kept stopping – partly just because the scenery is so spectacular you keep reaching for the camera and pulling over to capture the moment - but there are also some amazing things to do and see along the way. During my many trips to the Keys I have stayed in a Dolphin Sanctuary in SugarLoaf Key - it was quite something to wake up to dolphins gliding through the waters outside your bedroom. We once stopped off at Islamorada during a ferocious lightning storm and ended up staying in some beach huts until it blew over – a great adventure. When Dara was small we used to stay at a family friendly motel near Duck Key where he played in the shallow waters all day collecting shells and fish and building castles. When my dad was alive his sole ambition was to see the African Queen – the boat made famous by the 1959 movie of the same name which starred Humphry Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. He read that the boat was moored somewhere in Key Largo and it didn’t take us long to find it – paint peeling and abandoned in a little wharf. I still have that photo of him standing proudly next to her with his hand on the prow – in wonderment that he was actually touching that very same boat that Bogart and Hepburn had taken that perilous journey in. It arrived in Key Largo in 1982 and I am not sure they knew what to do with it for a while. It was great to see it renovated and back to its former glory when I visited a few months ago – you can even take a trip on the African Queen now and Key Largo boasts a Humphrey film festival every year.
This stretch of road is a feast for the senses – above the water there are wild birds, mangrove islands, and tropical hardwood groves while below the water the sea is teaming with marine life. Among the best things I have done along the Keys include kayaking through the mangroves in the beautiful John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, a stop off to see the owls, hawks and kestrels in the healing hands of the staff at the Rehabilitation Centre for Wild Birds at Tavernier. If you have little ones and even if you don’t, a visit to the Turtle Hospital at Marathon is really sweet or take a break at the US’s only living coral barrier reef at Pigeon Key. The cute little national Key Deer refuge in the pinelands of Big Pine Key is a great stop off. While you’re there grab an hour to snorkel – Big Pine has an underwater music festival every year to raise funds to preserve the coral reef. It is a sight to behold.
Let me detour for a minute to tell you about something else the Keys are famous for. The first book I remember that really captivated me as a child was Ernest Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. In the 1930s he bought a house in Key West (which is still standing) and wrote some of his best literary works there – A Farewell to Arms and To Have and Have Not. But by far my all-time favourite is the story of Santiago – an old Cuban fisherman who was 84 days without catching any fish when he set out for the Straits of Florida to try to change his luck. ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ features the epic battle that ensued between him and the great fish he has ensnared – a prized marlin. He won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 just a few years after writing that book – the last to be published in his lifetime. So another attraction for me to the Key is that this is also the home of sports fishing and saltwater fly fishing – Islamorada is probably the best spot for a charter. A little known secret about me is that I love fishing – all kinds but especially the thrill of sports fishing. So I have taken quite a few trips out of the Keys and in my own small way have re-enacted that battle with a marlin.
Hot Spots to Try
Dolphin spotting will definitely delay your journey south to Key West with various vantage points along the highway. I suppose what the Key’s can really lay claim to is some of the best dive spots in the world including wreck and reef dives. Don’t worry if you aren’t a certified PADI diver or haven’t done any scuba diving there are plenty of places that will offer you an introductory programme. Many years ago Richard and I stopped off for a coffee at Key Largo and ended up scuba diving to the one and only original underwater hotels in the world – Jules’ Undersea Lodge. Richard had scuba dived before but it was a first for me so I enrolled in an introductory programme which was enough to allow me to take the trip 21 feet below the surface to visit this amazing place. We didn’t stay over but this time round I went to visit to get an update and for $1,687.50 you and a friend can stay overnight and avail of a pizza delivery for supper (there are two bedrooms and a common room/kitchen (jul.com). The Lodge was actually built as a research laboratory to explore the underwater habitat and that’s what makes it so different. When you dive you emerge into a moon pool and the rooms are filled with compressed air. So once you rid yourself of your diving gear in the wet room you can curl up by one of the 42 foot round windows that feature in each room. There you can see angelfish and parrot fish and barracudas and lots of anemones, sponges and oysters. Jules’ hosts weddings and special events at the Underseas Lodge and they will even send a “mer-chef '' to cook a gourmet meal for you.
So when you eventually arrive at Key West you will be well and truly on ‘island time’ and ready for all that it offers. So what’s there to do – well the short answer is lots of nothing if you can. Yes there are places to visit but dial down the planning and let Key West envelop you. Try not to get sucked into the touristy bits around Duval Street during the day and get out and explore the real Key West.We hired bikes at the Island Bike Rental store on Greene Street for $17 a day and did the whole circumference of the Island a few times along the oceanfront. It’s flat so not arduous even if you don’t cycle much and it’s a great way to experience all that Key West offers at a slower pace. We also spent lots of time out on the ocean – fishing, snorkelling, paragliding or just enjoying the sunsets. There is an abundance of marine adventures available in Key West – we even visited an adventure playground out at sea and swallowed half the ocean trying to climb up steep rubbery walls and throwing ourselves on precarious platforms as they bobbed about in the waves – very energetic and we slept well that night! We lost hours meandering around the town, dipping in and out of art galleries on Upper Duval Street or Caroline Street, watching the old men roll Cuban cigars in the many tiny huts squeezed between shops on Duval. I have some friends who moved to key west and the most unlikely craic was had at what they promised was a local favourite – Drag Queen Bingo which happens at 5pm every Sunday at 801 Bourbon (801bourbon.com). Q. Mitch Jones, a witty and bitchy drag queen, is the host and for $5 you can play six games of bingo and you will laugh through most of it – the best three hours of entertainment and the young people fell about the place in hysterics.
We also discovered some great places to eat and chief among them was this great little spot at 314 Duval called The Grand Café – owned by an Irish woman no less (grandcafekeywest.com). This is a beautiful Victorian mansion with a wraparound porch and garden – it’s so different from the rest of Duval and I am so glad we found it on our first night because we went back again during our stay and on both occasions the service was exemplary and the food was wonderfully executed and presented. It didn’t take long for me to connect with Maria Weaver (nee Keane) the owner who comes from Killarney. We sampled lots of the menu at The Grand but we all had our favourites. Mine was the Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin with capers red onion and white truffle oil for $14.99 – I eat a lot of beef Carpaccio. It's one of my favourite dishes and the Grand’s version was simple and tasty. The fellow diners told me that the Red Thai Chicken curry had a healthy kick to it; we all tried the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake with Orange Reduction and Key Lime Mustard ($14.99) – delicious. The carnivore enjoyed a 10oz New York Strip, we also tried Grilled Bluefin Tuna Salad which was spiced up with sesame ginger vinaigrette and served with Mesclun Greens ($15.99). I am not a desert person but the teenagers really enjoyed the white chocolate bread and butter pudding (twice), the waiter told us that it was the Key West Master Chef Recipe winner. My female dining partner had the Chocolate du Jour - a chocolate bombe with hot chocolate in the middle which she declared was “most beautiful thing I have ever had in my life”. She might just have been caught up in the moment – the heat, the lovely Albarino, the chocolate high. But some recommendation nevertheless. If you make it to Key West, put it on one of your dinner lists – you won’t be disappointed and say hello to Maria. We also had a fun night and some delicious lasagne and spaghetti Bolognese at La Trattoria 524 Duval and some heady cocktails in the adjoining and very cool Virglios Martini Bar (latrattoria.us).
At night time the bars are hopping on Duval Street – you won’t last an evening without dropping into Irish Kevins – even though there doesn’t appear to be a fellow country man or woman in sight. Every night it blasts out live music – a U2 cover band had a regular nightly slot while we were there but they also turned their hand to the Galway Girl and The Auld Triangle – which surprisingly everyone in the vast, cavernous bar seemed to know. Sloppy Joes is another haunt on the strip which you will inevitably find yourself in at some point. We had a memorable night drinking Jack Daniel shots with Cathy in Coyote Ugly and you can’t escape Johnny Cash or Elvis blaring out nightly from The Bull and Whistle Bar on the corner of Duval and Caroline Street. It’s one of the few remaining old open air bars in Key West and the murals on the wall tell their own story about the history of the town. However…venture three stories up above The Bull and you enter the Garden of Eden – a clothing optional bar! So maybe not for you but I can assure you that lots of people there were fully clothed and only some hardened locals turned up nude – usually either topless or bottomless. Although you will be encouraged to undress it is usually with good humour. The drinks aren’t great, music is ok but still – it’s worth a visit just to say you’ve been. The Hard Rock Café was a favourite with the offspring late at night – especially for the nachos and the old memorabilia.
Night time wandering Duval is an experience. The kids (or chadults might be a better word) were wild to get henna tattoos and lots of stalls along the street featured menus of options which they lingered long over before choosing a Tree of Life and a Dragon’s Head – after some haggling we parted with $50 for both. So the next few days were spent in sleeveless t-shirts to show off the new body art. We strayed over to an Indian Palm reader – a distinctive man not dissimilar to Gandalf in Lord of the Rings who we spotted every night staring out into the street from his hut in a long flowing white dress a perfect match to his long white hair and beard. There never appeared to be much of a queue and after crossing his hand with paper ($40) he did a reading on my friend. She said it was remarkably accurate about some things although he did talk a lot about her organs, particularly her liver (we were in Key West of course) and her health. Anyway neither of us could remember much afterwards and we were disappointed there was no mention of a tall dark handsome stranger making an appearance.
Just up the street there was an amazing man who did airbrushed paintings – his name was Tony and having watched him on a number of occasions we came back to buy but he had closed up and disappeared. Then there was the man with the parrot on the street who charged for photographs and a trip to the “smallest bar” in Key West was a must – just a booth selling drinks really. If you want breakfast with a view head to the Southernmost Café on the beach for omelettes and bagels or Two Friends on Greene Street for great eggs benedict and fresh blueberry pancakes – great value breakfast specials. After dinner make a stop at Kilwins ice-cream shop on Duvall and try the Superman ice-cream which was great fun but didn’t bestow any special powers and as we were in Key West for a while we also managed to try the salted caramel, pistachio, chocolate, peanut butter pecan butter and coconut – all great flavours. We went to the Hyatt one night to try the Key Lime Pie because it won the top award the previous year and we all got to taste it – maybe we’re not as fussy as the locals because all of the Key Lime Pie we had tasted the same!