Just got back from a quick trip to the Key's. We stayed in Marathon at Tranquility Bay resort which was very nice. We had a 2 bedroom 2.5 bath condo with a gulf view. The resort had a nice small private beach area, but we really didn't do much there besides sleep and lay out a couple of times.

Day in Key West:
Ate lunch at El Sibonay, the cuban sandwich there was my wife's favorite meal of the trip.
Walked and saw southernmost point then walked up Whitehead street and saw the Hemingway House. Stopped at Garbo's for Korean BBQ taco's (overrated in my opinion) and went and checked out Captain Tony's, a must visit.
From there we grabbed a coffee at Cuban Coffee Queen (amazing coffee) and did the Shipwreck Museum and Mel Fisher Maritime museum. I recommend both museums. We went to Mallory Square for the sunset celebration which was really cool and then had dinner at Conch Republic, pretty standard seafood place with a nice atmosphere. We headed back to the car walking down Duval and stopping at Kermit's from key lime pie which was amazing.

Day 2 we took a private charter out of Marathon with Island Girl (Captain Ricky) for a quick reef fishing/snorkeling trip. We limited out on yellowtail in about 2 hrs and then went to sombrero and snorkeled for a bit. We were probably the first boat to pull off the fishing reef so I would say he put us on the right spot. In the afternoon we went to the turtle hospital which I could have skipped, but my wife enjoyed. Learned some cool facts, but hearing about every single turtles issues got repetitive

Day 3 we went mangrove kayaking with Marathon Kayak (Daniel). I had never done this before and kayaking thru the mangrove tunnels was really cool. After the kayaking we hung out on Sombrero Beach (where we launched). According to Daniel it's one of the nicest beaches in the keys and not as crowded as the more popular Bahia Honda beach. I would agree with that, went to Bahia on our last trip and enjoyed Sombrero beach much more.

Food:
Got lots of recommendations off the TD food & drink board and also from our guides. Below is a review of everything we had.

Breakfast:
Key's News and Coffee (marathon) - Best coffee on Marathon, we didn't eat here but they had lots of pastries.
Marathon Bagel Co. (marathon) - Really good bagels, breakfast sandwiches.
Cracked Conch (marathon)- Tiny diner style breakfast with eggs benedict, was OK, nothing to write home about. Don't get the fried oyster benedict.
Porky's (marathon)- BBQ joint that served breakfast. We didn't eat here till the day we left, but would have eaten here every day probably. Best breakfast we had on the island by far. Sausage links were amazing.

Lunch:
Key's Fisheries (marathon) - Was recommended by the food board and I can't say enough. Lobster Reuben was phenomenal, stone crab was very well priced and the dipping sauce was amazing. The raw tuna special was good. The coconut shrimp were good. The tiki bar overlooked the water, the food was well priced, and very good. Would go back for sure.

Lazy Day's (marathon) - Recommended by our fishing guide to cook the yellowtail we caught. Ignore the 4.2 rating. We had the yellowtail cooked blackened and "lazy way" and it was the most delicious fish meal I've maybe eaten in my life and I've done catch and cook in Key West a handful of times. The Lazy Way fish was absolutely phenomenal.

El Sibonay (Key West) - Amazing cuban and roast beef sandwich. Sweet plantains were excellent.

Garbo's (Key West) - Skip this place, mixed reviews on recommendations, but we didn't enjoy it. Guy Fieri DDD visit.

Herbie's (Marathon) - Did not get to eat here, but came highly recommended from our Kayak guide. Also a Guy Fieri DDD visit.

Coast to Coast Pizza (Marathon) - Did not get to eat here but came recommended from Kayak guide. Apparently Portnoy did a review and gave it a NY 7.6 is what I heard.

Dinner:
Florida Keys Steak and Lobster - Good, not great. Don't order anything beef related. Lobster was good. Best coconut shrimp we had on the trip and we pretty much got that as an appetizer for every meal. Sushi rolls were good, raw sushi wasn't impressive for some reason.

Key Colony Inn - Wasn't expecting much when we walked in, but the meal was great. We had some fish we caught cooked Senator Style, which was very good. The cheesy garlic bread was amazing, could have eaten that just as a meal. We didn't get anything else, but the pasta dishes looked amazing and everyone around us cleared their plates.

Island Fish Company - frick this place. I was still pretty full from lunch at Lazy Days (fish was so good I probably ate 2 lbs worth). I ordered the stone crab legs and a cup of seafood bisque. The bisque was the worst I had on the trip. Tasted canned with some chopped up leftover seafood thrown in. Paid $40 for 2 stone crab legs. At key fisheries for lunch the day before I paid $20 for 5 legs so could have gotten 10 for $40. We left to go to Key Fisheries so I could get some more stone crab, but they were closed already.

Weather was perfect up until yesterday, we got stuck on the tarmac in Ft. Lauderdale for like 3 hrs due to storms.

This post was edited on 2/6/23 at 9:18 am