Key West Day 4 (Saturday December 25, 2021)

February 05, 2022

Key West Day 4 (Saturday December 25, 2021) - Christmas Sunset

We had to make it to our 8:30 am port of call for the "Island Adventure" excursion with Fury. The Island Adventure is a snorkeling and sandbar/kayak/paddle board all in one adventure combo trip. We thought our trip to south Florida would not be complete if we did not visit the sandbar.

This morning departure of the excursion also includes breakfast and lunch since the total time is 4.5 hours. We got dressed in our swimming suit and flip flops and started our walk to the Historic Seaport area shortly after 8:00. GG was craving for coffee so we stopped by the Koffie House. The gourmet drink was really good but also took a dent in my Apple Pay ($8 for the drink ordered).

We gathered around the Historic Seaport along with an emerging crowd of ragtag tourists awaiting their sea adventures. "Island Adventure this way!" yelled the stocky skipper of ours. He gave us the load down on wet suits and basic weather conditions and off we boarded our boat - "The Salty Cat".

Christmas Day at the Historic Seaport

Trinity Presbyterian Church on Simonton

Key West Methodist Church

Hemingway Rum Co, located at the historic Curry House building

Christmas at the Historic Seaport

Getting ready to board the "Salty Cat"

The Florida Keys area has one of the largest coral reef habitats in the world. Our first stop is a patch of coral reef where we would be let off to snorkel. We borrowed the wet suits since the water temperature would be in the 60's (vs. 80's in warmer season). The skipper explained to us that we should not put our foot down and should not touch anything.

Once we anchored at the spot, we were the first to jump in. The coldness of the water hit me pretty hard even with the wet suit. I felt I had a bit of hard time breathing due to the cold and it took me quite some time in the wavy salty seawater to acclimatize to the temperature. We were in the water probably around 20 minutes or so before we got out. We would have much to improve respect to our snorkeling skills.

Suited up

Our stocky skipper taking bunch of tourists out to sea

Heading out

Passing by the Sunset Key cottages

Off the Salty Cat on the reef

See anything?

Wow, we did it! It was cold

We continued to head southwest until we reached the islands around Woman Key. At this point, we were probably about 20 miles from Key West. After we anchored around the sandbar, we got off to wade in the water. The water was at about waist deep at this point of the day so we could not actually lay in the sandbar. The kayaks were being unloaded off the Salty Cat for whoever wanted to partake in the kayak adventure. We got on the kayaks and followed our guide to the mangrove of Woman Key. After a short stop by the mangrove, the ragtag group returned to the Salty Cat and took our turns on the paddle board.

Heading to the Woman Key area

Mangrove and sandbar

Reaching Woman Key, our guide Kolby ready to anchor the Salty Cat

Sandbar at Woman Key

By the mangrove of Woman Key

Making our way back

Trying the paddle board

MM's turn

GG balancing on the board

We wrapped up our adventure shortly after 12:30 pm and headed back to the Seaport. We got back on shore shortly after 1:00 pm just in take to grab our daily fix of Cuban Coffee Queen by the old Seaport.

Making our way back to Key West

Got our fix just before they stopped taking orders 15 minutes before the official close time of 2:00 pm

After getting our Cuban Coffee, we recouped some energy to make our way back to the hotel on foot under the balmy afternoon sun. We got back to the hotel and took a shower to wash off the saltiness from us before heading out to partake in the daily sunset party at Mallory Square.

Later that evening, we would dine at El Meson de Pepe, a staple Cuban restaurant right by Mallory Square. We feasted on hearty dishes, sipped our concoctions, and took in the the music from the live Cuban Band playing.