This song played on the radio on my way to work. For as long as the song was still on, I seriously thought of chucking it all and moving to the beach with a margarita in one hand and a bag of Doritos in the other.

It's that kind of day already. Hope it gets better!!

 

That is my karaoke song and a fantastic way to go about living life. Flying tourists around some lazy islands for a couple hours a day and wasting away the rest of the day on a sun soaked beach strung up in a hammock between a couple palm trees.

 

Having lived in Key West the last three years, I can tell you:

KW beaches are nothing to brag about.
Margaritas are too expensive.
Duval Street has the worst T-Shirt shops in the country
In your face diversity (Fantasy Fest) gets old
Gas is forty cents higher then Miami
Resturants have decent over priced food.
It's a myth.

Vagabond: I'd rather go to Gig Harbor.

 

I can second all of that. My last visit to Key West left me wondering what all the hype was about. Yes it was pretty, the water is stunning. Duval street is Cazily priced... I refuse to pay 90.00 for a T-shirt, that i can buy else where for 15.00.... Too many rainbow flags for my taste, and the food was only so so. I took a taxi all the time so i didnt buy gas, but it was expensive.

Now the up side.

There is a couple of stores I highly recommend. One is Peppers of KeyWest. They do alot of specialty hot sauces and marinades. Simply Amazing. I just ran out of the chicken wing sauce, and I am alreayd planning my next non rev down to get some more.

The other is Last Flight Out. This is an Aviation Buffs dream come true. I left there with several posters and a longing for about 100 or so of their shirts. Not to mention the owners story is simply amazing.

Other than that, In my day there, I did alot of walking, saw some pretty sites, saw some pretty people, spoke to one crazy as heck taxi cab driver, and ate a decent burger.

In my thought, Key west is a place I would like to visit, once in a blue moon, but not ever live there.

 

That's exactly what Buffet ended up doing. Too bad none of us came up with that song.

 

That's the ringtone on my phone....has been since college.

Only I've never really felt Margaritaville was Key West, having been there in various seasons. Margaritaville the main street in Marsh Harbor, best walked after a long day of slacking in a hammock strung beneath coconut palms. It's stumbling from Sapodilly's over to the Sand Bar where they close the vinyl window flaps on the tent-of-a-place when the storms roll in. They have good conch fritters and horrible karaoke. There really are pirates still in the caribbean too. My co-conspirator crewmember and I met one named Johnny "Fried" Cash and he explained the finer points of living on a boat, conch fritters and hunting boars in the salt marsh with a 5-gauge shotgun. (I think that was the Jack talking there...) We got invited to a gang fight scheduled for the following evening. We politely agreed, but secretly planned to vanish.

Next to Cap'n Johnny was a Kalik-plastered guy peeling shrimp...found out he was ex-management for Gulfstream Airlines.

That, my friends, is Margaritaville.

All of this was actually on a charter trip and we actually got per diem that more than covered the beer and fritters.

Bottoms up!

 

It should have been... Waisting away in Lahina. That's where my bones will rest.

 

agreed... I spent about an hour in there sampling sauces and marinades. Came home with a couple bottles. The highlight of my trip! Apologies for the camera phone picture.. but this gives you an idea. They've got a bar for the samples. Samples: free; Coke/water to wash it down: Not so much.


The normal sauces were in the paper cups. The plastic spoons were for the hot stuff, and the _REALLY GOOD_ stuff is served up on a toothpick.