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Yeh we have lots of experience with coral beaches so no problems there, we are both water babies so thats our groove. Good info on the C130's, we stay in Destin a lot and see them all the time flying real low overhead but not doing that. Thanks

Cruze ships aren't running so thats great. Just 2 adults, well 1.5 maybe but we aren't in any hurry and have plenty of time to stop along the way
 
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Good thread. I’m in the early stages of planning a trip that way. Thinking 10 days. Drive out from Texas, stop in NOLA for a couple nights, stop at DW for a day, then head to the keys for a few days. 3 young teens in tow.
 
Spring break 2020, right before the lockdowns, my family and I spent a week in the keys. Our first time there and it was pretty great. Flew to Miami and drove down the keys and back, stopping a few nights along the way. One restaurant we enjoyed was Marker 88, had a small private beach (actual sand) the kids could play at while we drank and waited for food. Great sunset there too. Got a deep sea charter out of Whale Harbor Marina on Islamorada. There are charters everywhere. Bud & Mary's is another popular one. Key West was cool, but would have been a lot cooler with only adults.
 
The Rum Bar on Duvall Street has quite the selection if you're into that sort of thing. We didnt stay on Key west and only spent two days there when we were in the Keys. No Name Pub on Big Pine has an amazing snapper sandwich. We went to many other places to eat, but its been a few years and I was usually inebriated. We did take a fishing trip out of Marathon that was fun. hit up the Tarpon feeding up at Robbies Marina. Smathers Beach was the only one in Key West we found that wasnt packed. We'll go back for the fishing, not for anything else. Whole area is pretty run down.
 
Being that I live between Fort Lauderdale and Miami and Key West is about a 180 miles South of me I have a few tidbits as everyone else says 5 or 6 days tops you're done. Sync set booze cruise in snorkelling sunset sail with drinks off the West End of the island you have also snorkelling at Petit campus in many people have said the dry tortugas divil street itself will probably tell you to put your mask on every 5 minutes and you can basically telling the kindly fuck off I am speaking into my phone so this is just gonna be a really long run on sentence up in ile maryada you have a couple of breweries and also the I'll maryada fish house with the knockoff or a partition of Bass Pro Shops you have marathon key you got 7 mile bridge that might be interesting to look at as everyone says do the drift boat fishing and do the charter fishing the drift boats a lot cheaper and both of them you keep whatever you catch You can also do A-day trip of kayaking and swimming with dolphins most of the stuff is run by the same to charter groups that do all the activities I've not bothered to read anything what hotel are you staying in because that could also dictate a lot for you as well 3rd is the nightly ghost tours you can't really do much after 11:00 p.m. right now I think because of kovid the West side of the island has actually gotten very modern and a lot of new build-up there still the old East Side as far as other beaches I think if I didn't mention it already by the naval base is also aquarium and fishing for many beaches shorelines to waste of time get on a boat I was just down there a few months back for about 2 or 3 days and I have a short attention span so don't expect much for me I am just trying to recollect what I can think of if you come backup into the Homestead area in head out west you can see the Florida skunk ape which is like a big foot parody and you've also got more intimate airboat rides and swamp buggy riding than a crossing going to win would which is in the Miami area that has arts and graffiti that's if you have a car in your travelling down North or South if you flying directly into Key West disregard everything else I've said Key West itself is literally about 2 miles across and has very limited social sources
 
brmpipes said:
Because you weren't invited.:flipoff2:
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aaaaand now he knows he was the only one not there :laughing:

yup... for eternity ... I mean almost 5yrs

this was a wedding we were just at this past Sat .....

8362698A-02A3-47E2-8ABE-D21EA58F7CEC.jpeg
 
IMO, spent a day in KW and 9 in the others.

We have been vacationing in islamorada for the past few years. A house there is on my wish list.
 
Bump. Don’t wanna start a new thread. :flipoff2:


looking thru this thread and suggestions and trying to get a timeline for our possible trip. Option one would be driving out from Houston>NOLA>Pensacola and thinking of going thru Clearwater, Everglades, Islamorada, Key West, Miami, Daytona Beach, Savannah GA, then making the trek home. Wife and three kids on the trip and we want to do a driving trip while hitting as many beaches and views as possible. We decided to skip on the Disney bull crap. The problem is I have about 10 days to do it all in. So the other option would be flying into Pensacola or Daytona Beach. Ideas? Or I’m expecting too much? Or with the time limit should I skip on some stuff and spend more time at certain spots? Nothing set in stone but how would mid July look?
 
72blazer said:
Bump. Don’t wanna start a new thread. :flipoff2:


looking thru this thread and suggestions and trying to get a timeline for our possible trip. Option one would be driving out from Houston>NOLA>Pensacola and thinking of going thru Clearwater, Everglades, Islamorada, Key West, Miami, Daytona Beach, Savannah GA, then making the trek home. Wife and three kids on the trip and we want to do a driving trip while hitting as many beaches and views as possible. We decided to skip on the Disney bull crap. The problem is I have about 10 days to do it all in. So the other option would be flying into Pensacola or Daytona Beach. Ideas? Or I’m expecting too much? Or with the time limit should I skip on some stuff and spend more time at certain spots? Nothing set in stone but how would mid July look?
Click to expand...

Looking at it. I think we’re better off flying into Pensacola or Savannah from Houston. I think we have our eyes set on Clearwater for a gulf beach, the keys for a southern beach, but haven’t looked much into an Atlantic beach....Miami, Cocoa Beach, Daytona?
 
72blazer said:
Looking at it. I think we’re better off flying into Pensacola or Savannah from Houston. I think we have our eyes set on Clearwater for a gulf beach, the keys for a southern beach, but haven’t looked much into an Atlantic beach....Miami, Cocoa Beach, Daytona?
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Why not fly into Miami if time is an issue ? Mo betta
 
72blazer said:
Bump. Don’t wanna start a new thread. :flipoff2:


looking thru this thread and suggestions and trying to get a timeline for our possible trip. Option one would be driving out from Houston>NOLA>Pensacola and thinking of going thru Clearwater, Everglades, Islamorada, Key West, Miami, Daytona Beach, Savannah GA, then making the trek home. Wife and three kids on the trip and we want to do a driving trip while hitting as many beaches and views as possible. We decided to skip on the Disney bull crap. The problem is I have about 10 days to do it all in. So the other option would be flying into Pensacola or Daytona Beach. Ideas? Or I’m expecting too much? Or with the time limit should I skip on some stuff and spend more time at certain spots? Nothing set in stone but how would mid July look?
Click to expand...

Every leg of that trip is 2-300 miles. Houston to NOLA is 5-6 hours, NOLA to Pensecola is 3-4 hours Pensecola to Tampa is 6-8 hours. Tampa to Miami is 6-8 hours. Miami to keywest is 3ish hours depending on traffic? I would add up all the time you will be in the car plus the time you will be sleeping and I bet actual vacation time is minimal.

If it was me, id fly into Orlando, and rent a car. Skip New Orleans with the kids, they wont care. You could still hit most of the places with a lot less driving. Take the wife to NOLA later. Take the family to Pensecola area later. You can spend a week there with plenty to do.
 
Void_of_Light said:
Every leg of that trip is 2-300 miles. Houston to NOLA is 5-6 hours, NOLA to Pensecola is 3-4 hours Pensecola to Tampa is 6-8 hours. Tampa to Miami is 6-8 hours. Miami to keywest is 3ish hours depending on traffic? I would add up all the time you will be in the car plus the time you will be sleeping and I bet actual vacation time is minimal.

If it was me, id fly into Orlando, and rent a car. Skip New Orleans with the kids, they wont care. You could still hit most of the places with a lot less driving. Take the wife to NOLA later. Take the family to Pensecola area later. You can spend a week there with plenty to do.
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Yes, so I think flying in is going to be the better option. Looking at flights using Allegiant out of Houston, they only offer fly ins into Punta Gorda and Destin and seems PG is the best option price wise and puts us right at Clearwater.

wife and I have been to NOLA but she thought it’d be nice to take the kids for a couple of days but we quickly scrapped that idea this morning. :laughing:

so looking at again, fly into PG, spend a couple of days in Clearwater, drive down and find something close to Miami/ the keys and spend 3-4 days there, then find a beach or two to check out on the Atlantic. Looks like a solid 10 days there.
 
Since it will be a long drive, stop by at Marathon (Mid Keys) for a break-
 
Book a few iguana shooting w/ pcp air rifle shoots while your down there. On foot, off of boats w/ dogs etc.
 
If you dig cool, quirky places, stop in Homestead and check out the Coral Castle: https://coralcastle.com

Little old guy quarried and moved huge blocks of limestone by himself. Pretty cool place to stop and check out.

Bunch of alien/stonehenge type TV shows have covered it in various episodes.

Graham Hancock might have the nicest write-up on it: https://grahamhancock.com/carrd4/


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We're driving from Baton Rouge, to Melbourne FL for 4 nights to party with some friends from Virgin Islands, then to Miami Beach for 4 nights, then to Key West for 6 nights. Then we will head north with no agenda and end up in The Villages above Orlando for 4 nights before making our way home, again, with no agenda.

We did book a float plane for the Dry Tortugas so that will be cool.
 
We spent 6 nights in Key West, could have done 10 easy. We had a great time and will go back, we got caught in the Tropical storm that blew through so we had a Hurricane party of about 20 people in the pool, drinking and cooking.
Key West - Beaches sucked ass, the water was a nasty brown and stunk. We didn't even bother.

Dry Tortugas - Is a one and done, no need to go back but it was cool to see. Took a float plane to the Dry Tortugas, really happy with that choice. Saw over 400 turtles from the air, 40-50 sharks, way too many sting rays to count.We were on the ground for 6 hrs, there is ZERO shade and you can't bring anything other than a small bag with you. Beach was great, spent the time snorkeling. Thousands of large hermit crabs, some as big as my fist.
We left @ 0800 and returned @ 1600, 30 min flight. There are half day trips instead of the full day we did.
The ferry takes 2.5 hrs one way

We drove from there to Naples, really enjoyed that place but its way too rich for our blood. Now we're in Sarasota and its a solid meh.
 
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We just booked a house on Cudjoe Key for next June. I've never been to the keys so hopefully it'll be worth it.
 
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