Christmas in Key West

It's a wrap! 

We had a fantastic Christmas in Key West.....here's all the details

We flew with United from Dublin to Newark and then on to Key west. I rate this flight highly.  It took us about 13 hours (close to the fastest it can be done with connections etc) total to get to Key West with excellent crews on both flights along with really nice new planes.  One item I noticed was that there was no blinds on the windows in the plane. Instead there was a button below the window which allowed you dim the light and stop you seeing out (the cabin crew presumably could also control them and could open all the windows for landing). All very fancy indeed!

Below you can read all about where we stayed, where we ate out and what we got up to:

The Saint - A Marriott Autograph Hotel
What can I say about The Saint that you may not have seen in any of the reviews if you google it. Excellent staff, top notch bedroom, superb location just off Duval on Eaton, awesome bar with a brilliant happy hour along with the roof top bar Halo where we enjoyed some really nice cocktails and good entertainment. 
But my favourite thing was to chill by the pool with a glass of bubbles!
If you are looking for a cool hip hotel in Key West - look no further than The Saint.

 

 

Trolley Tour
It rained and rained for the first two days in Key West so we took in a few different things that we may not have done if the weather was better. One of the things we did was the trolley tour with Amy.  It was a bit of fun and our ticket then gave us free entry in to the Rum Distillery which was a great day out.

Amy and I were twinning in our Christmas reindeer jumpers - we had a lot of people remark on them ("Nice sweater") and then ask the usual "Are you twins?!"

"A beautiful day in the neighborhood" at the Tropic Cinema
Happy to have got to see this film as it may not come to Ireland due to it being all about "Mr Rogers" a very unique and brilliant man known by all of a particular age in the USA but perhaps not so widely known in Ireland.  Going to the Tropic Movie Theatre was a rainy day activity and I loved it!

Papa's Pilar Rum Distillery by the Hemingway Rum Company
A fun little tour with a taste of rum afterwards - sure why not?!

Sarabeths
Sunday nights mean fried chicken in Sarabeths!!  I had the Mahi Mahi which was very good too. We had a really lovely quiet night here and I had a nice glass of malbec with dinner.

Christmas Dinner in The Saint with Key Lime Martini's in Martins afterwards....

We had an awesome table in The Saint for Christmas dinner and really enjoyed the set menu with some great wine and company!

We followed up with an after dinner cocktail in Martins - altogether a lot of fun.

Fishing on the Gulfstream
Look at the haul!
We had a super day on the water with Amy's other half Patrick and caught enough for Amy and Patrick to put some fish in their freezer for a fish dinner or two.
It was a little choppy at times so I had a little moment down the back of the boat at one point, but I got through it and went straight back fishing afterwards!

Santiago's Bodega
This is a spot that we ALWAYS go to in Key West. The food is always excellent and it was no different this time.....the service was a little disinterested on this visit and I missed seeing some of the old staff that used to work in Santiago's.

First Flight 
Amy and I dropped in to what will always be Kelly's to us(!) on Whitehead Street. Home of the first Pan Am office in the USA it is also home to fresh lime margaritas and great food bites at the bar.  We love it - and it was also good to have a natter and great catch up with Amy.

Sunset on the Ingham
Oh my what a stunning sunset on our last night in KW. It was also a lot of fun meeting up with friends on the Ingham Coast Guard ship - great to see them all and hopefully see them again very soon.

Origami
Our last night was spent in Origami which is our favourite sushi restaurant in Key West.  We got a spot at the bar and didn't even look at the menu and instead we just asked the chef to make us some different selections and keep them coming!  Such a great night and really excellent sushi.  

Phew!  I think I've got it all in there!

Another great trip to Key West and I can't wait to return hopefully very soon.

Happy Hour in Key West

Alonzo's Happy Hour used to be a big favourite of mine, however, on my recent trip to Key West we didn't do happy hour there and actually ended up doing very few happy hours during the whole trip.

One place that we ended up doing happy hour at (twice) was Half Shell Raw Bar and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  I've done HH at the bar here a good few times (sampled their 50c oysters - but I don't know if they still run this deal) and always enjoyed it - however that was before I liked Buffalo Shrimp.

Now I love Buffalo shrimp so I lapped up their HH while sitting at one of their bench tables in the super atmospheric main dining area which is right out at the water on the bight. We also ordered beer steamed shrimp, conch and lots more. With friendly staff, great food and good drinks there is nothing to not like this place!

A couple of afternoons we ended up at First Flight on Whitehead Street during HH as it was convenient to the attractions we had just visited (Little White House and Custom House museum). They do great HH drinks and Ciaran partook in tasty Margarita's both days. On one of the days we sampled a sliders option from the HH menu. Two beef sliders with cheese for $7. Tasty little bites but I think Ciaran may have eaten his in two bites and thought it was small. I thought it was perfect!

First Flight was where Kelly's formerly was (previously owned by actress Kelly McGillis) and it is a historical building as it was the original Pan Am office in Key West. See here for further info.

On this Key West trip I visited The Saint Hotel on Eaton Street for Happy Hour as I heard really good things about their cocktails and also their HH burger which is raved about. Their happy hour uniquely starts at 4.17pm as this their address! Very clever indeed!! 

The Burgundy Bar is to the right as you enter the lobby and it is very salubrious and darkly lit, the perfect place for a special date.

The cocktail list is very cool - it is based on the 7 deadly sins. I had the "Wrath" which was a rum based cocktail which was very good indeed and was 40% off for Happy Hour. The cocktails here are top notch as they use top shelf liquors which always makes me a fan!

After most Happy Hours we ended up back in The Green Parrot listening to brilliant live music. This is a great chilled out joint full of locals and tourists having a great time. I reckon it is my favourite bar......I think it may also have a happy hour but am not sure what time it is on for and because they don't do food it is just drinks specials.